Follow the Blind

by

Blind Guardian

Edit

Blind Guardian is probably the best power metal band around, but their older albums take a decidedly more thrash metal approach. With the band's second album, 1989's Follow the Blind, you can start to see the band shift directions. Like their debut album Batallions of Fear, this is still largely a thrash album, but the band includes more melodies and more intricate arrangements. The fantasy themes are again quite prominent, and include a song about Elric (Fast to Madness) and what appears to be a Hobbit on the album cover. The album also contains one of Blind Guardian's all-time classic songs - "Valhalla" - which features legendary power metaller Kai Hansen providing guest vocals and guitars.

The album features two cover songs. The first is a cover of Demon's "Don't Break the Circle". NWOBHM purists may have a problem with this one, but I thought the band did a great job. Besides, how often do you run across a Demon cover? The second (and apparently universally hated) cover is a speed metal version of the Beach Boys' classic "Barbara Ann". I can see how metal fans would hate this song, but it totally cracks me up each time I hear it. It shows that the band knows how to have fun and doesn't take themselves too seriously, plus it takes guts to put such an absurd cover on a metal album.

Follow the Blind is still a bit rough compared to the band's later releases, and may not appeal to everyone. If you only want to hear the more refined modern power metal that the band does so well on later releases, you may want to pass on this album. If you're interested in where the band came from musically, you need to own Follow the Blind.

If you're new to Blind Guardian and are looking for a good starting point, skip this one and go straight to Imaginations from the Other Side. Once that one sinks in, listen to Nightfall in Middle-Earth. It will likely become the standard by which you judge all other concept albums, if not all other power metal albums.

It seems that lately, my random purchases have turned up some great music but lousy vocals. This album is a perfect example. In fact, the vocals piss me off because the music is so good, it's ruined by the singing. Totally different from the death metal grunts I typically listen to, you can actually understand the singer. However, what makes this so bad is the singing style. I could take it for a half, maybe one whole song, but not song after song. It's not that the singer can't carry a tune, but he sure doesn't take much advantage of his range, and all the songs tend to sound the same. The bright spots are Valhalla and Barbara Ann which don't sound much like the rest of the album because the singing is different.

Great music and I like that Beach Boys touch at the end. However, the vocal style makes this music almost un-listenable. I hear this is one of their earlier albums and they've developed into more of a power metal band. However, I also notice it's been the same band members so that means the same singer. That's the reason I'll probably not check out their later material. Too bad, good musicianship all around.