Fantastic review! Absolutely my favorite Blind Guardian album. That thrasy, speedy influence immediately hooked me back in the day when I first heard this. It also absolutely cemented for me Hansi's status as an absolute vocal god.
The Bard's Song is a love letter to Tolkien's work. As a huge Tolkien and Blind Guardian fan, this song is an anthem. "In my thoughts and in my dreams They're always in my mind These songs of hobbits, dwarfs and men And elves, come close your eyes. You can see them too" It speaks to my heart about a story that I love and that is important to me. And that's why Hansi only needs to sing half of it live.
Blind Guardian is my favorite band and "Imaginations From the Other Side" is my favorite album. That said, I think "Somewhere Far Beyond" is incredibly underrated. It's not the first or second album you think of when you think of them, but every song is awesome.
Imaginations blows this album out of the water imho, but still a great effort by the GREATEST band to ever do epic power metal. This band simply cannot be ignored. 10/10.
Yeah, this album is a stone cold classic. "Somewhere Far Beyond," "Imaginations from the Other Side," and "Nightfall in Middle Earth" are all top tier power metal bangers. And I don't think Blind Guardian ever really put out any stinkers.
@@TheComicBookJoker Oh, they did, in the latter years. On one side, Hansi is over 50 and cannot sing anymore like he used to. On the other side, their latest albums are pretty straightforward and commercial, as of lately. Sad, I miss the old days.
It's great but Imaginations remains the GOAT Power Metal album. With that said, it makes sense you chose this one. When Blind Guardian really became Blind Guardian.
Nice little review! I like it. Love the album and have great memories from hearing it when I discovered Blind Guardian. Could be my favorite album by that band. Hard to pick a favorite between this one and Imaginations From The Other Side.
Thank you for this video, it makes me so happy to see so many fans of BG in these comments! Also, Scanners first two albums never leave my rotation :D If I was going to make semi-obscure recommendations it would be Angel Dust - Into the Dark Past and To Dust You Will Decay. I saw Demons and Wizards before the first lockdowns and the crowd lost it when they covered Welcome to Dying and Valhalla.
My personal BG favorite is by far Nightfall in Middle Earth. Their most adventurous, heartfelt, varied and catchy album to date. Really love the concept too with spoken words punctuating the songs and narrate the story in a different way. Also they enlarged their palette with surprisingly great taste, I hear some Queen influence on The Eldar for exemple (may it be concious or not doesn't really matter) and I've never been touched so deeply by any of their album, previous or after this one. BUT Somewhere Far Beyond is my second favorite! It's a gem too.
For the very few times actually someone's doing it properly, from the backstory that you nailed it up to the Scanner suggestion or even the 1st press European copy you are holding for the presentation! Bravo 👏
When it comes to my "favorite" Blind Guardian album, I go back and forth between Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations from the Other Side. I also really love Tales and Nightfall, but there's just something about Somewhere and Imaginations. And yeah, I laughed out loud when you said "Gamma Ray was not yet good". Too true.
So great to see you in a video about BG, Sarah. You turned me on to them a few years back so I always pay attention to when you release a video on here.
love this album. BG are doing the Somewhere far beyond tour that of course has been postponed over and over again, hope this year it's going to happen for real!
Thank you for the reminder about Scanner! I'd forgotten all about them, but I owned Hypertrace on cassette back in the day. Ahhh...I can smell it now. 11yo me was obsessed with that album art. 🤓🤘
Somewhere Far Beyond was a) my FIRST BG album and b) my absolute fucking favorite, if for no other reason than the title track is a Dark Tower song and the Queen cover kicks ass. I definitely prefer the early stuff though.
I have tickets for the 25th anniversary tour of this album 😀 Initially the concert was sometimes in 2020 and has been constantly resceduled, now to fall 2022.
I absolutely love this album. I think that I can call myself lucky to live quite close to Krefeld so it is fairly easy for me to see Blind Guardian play. I've been to two of their shows last year and both times it was a really spontaneous decision to buy a ticket. I'm also really looking forward to seeing their Somewhere Far Beyond Tour this September, when they will play the album in its entirity. The show was supported to happen two days ago but thanks to Covid the whole tour got resceduled again. I'm just hoping that they don't need to rescedule again.
fav power metal albums: Morifade - Possession of Power Vision divine - vision divine Stratovarius - Destiny Hammerfall - Glory to the brave Helloween - Time of the oath
Imaginations From the Other Side was a watershed moment for me when I was first getting into power metal. Don't know how I've never gotten around to listening to Somewhere Far Beyond, but I think that needs to change asap!
This is their best album IMO and I WISH they were coming to Canada for the tour where they are playing the whole thing front to back. What an experience that would be.
I'm somewhat more partial to Follow the Blind, despite its more dodgy production, but damn you can't go wrong with the first 6 BG albums. Also, this album is amazing in it's own right, but can we also talk about that incredible cover of Satan's Trial By Fire on the special edition? They absolutely nailed it!
For me Blind Guardian and EU-Power Metal in general reached its ultimate pinnacle with Nightfall, one of if not the greatest album ever. I‘d say it‘s the overarching epic atmosphere, the captivating setting and the story telling tone besides the amazing music itself that give it the little extra in contrast to the band‘s previous records. I can only recommend to every BG fan to check out the German band Don’t Drop the Sword, who play Epic Speed/Power Metal which feel like BG never changed their style after Nightfall plus creative extra elements, additionally the singer of the band sounds very similar to Hansi!
It dwarfs all the others? I see what you did there. SFB is reaaaally good though and I think it would be easier to hear for the first time before NiME than after.
Sarah, Great Review...However,Walls of Jericho isn't a Power Metal lp... It puts the last remenants of Helloween's days as a speed metal band on display
Incredible album by a fantastic band, they never disappointed to me even with the later more progressive stuff, it's a coherent evolution for open minded people. SFB is definitely one of the best album, varied and filled with memorable melodies. Can't get enough of them, there's a BG record for almost every mood, that's how diverse they are while keeping the essence they have since the beginning but that's my opinion.
I think this is the first time I've agreed with Sarah on anything... ballads are terrible, but every now and then, one gets through.... Nice pick with scanner, I personally think they're an underrated band. 🤘
girl ,you are like you jumped straight from the mid 90's....i had a metalhead female friend exactly like you back then,she was very nice and funny,i copied many cassetes from her collection,i knew she had a secret crush with me,but we stayed friends,i had a very good babe at that time.good metal times,the goddam youth
Nice review, but I wouldn't define this album as speed metal. Speed (as the name implies) is more of a constant upbeat tempo (and by those terms you could even consider many of Iron Maiden's classics as speed). Blind Guardian in the early years leaned more towards (yes, fast paced) Heavy metal and somewhat even thrash metal, with an influence of classic 80's rock. But their tempo has always been peculiar, and even heavy and slow paced many times. I wouldn't define themas as Speed. The latter albums are a different story. To me they topped with Imaginations from the Other side and Nightfall in Middle-Earth. These are the albums that I personally consider most representative of their works. And I do not consider them Speed Metal.
Fantastic review! Absolutely my favorite Blind Guardian album. That thrasy, speedy influence immediately hooked me back in the day when I first heard this. It also absolutely cemented for me Hansi's status as an absolute vocal god.
My favourite album by the band 👌 the song the quest for tanelorn was the inspiration for my channel name as well
I knew it!
That Scanner album absolutely rips. The chorus to Terrion gets stuck in my head all the time. Love that song.
I read the comment and immediately had the song in my head. Lol.
Blind Guardian was probably my first metal love, and this one as well as Tales from the Twilight World are still in regular rotation for me.
The Bard's Song is a love letter to Tolkien's work. As a huge Tolkien and Blind Guardian fan, this song is an anthem.
"In my thoughts and in my dreams
They're always in my mind
These songs of hobbits, dwarfs and men
And elves, come close your eyes.
You can see them too"
It speaks to my heart about a story that I love and that is important to me. And that's why Hansi only needs to sing half of it live.
If you pass the Wacken grounds, you can still hear them sing...
Blind Guardian is my favorite band and "Imaginations From the Other Side" is my favorite album. That said, I think "Somewhere Far Beyond" is incredibly underrated. It's not the first or second album you think of when you think of them, but every song is awesome.
Imaginations blows this album out of the water imho, but still a great effort by the GREATEST band to ever do epic power metal. This band simply cannot be ignored. 10/10.
Yeah, this album is a stone cold classic. "Somewhere Far Beyond," "Imaginations from the Other Side," and "Nightfall in Middle Earth" are all top tier power metal bangers. And I don't think Blind Guardian ever really put out any stinkers.
Hard agree. Even their worst songs are still good.
@@TheComicBookJoker Oh, they did, in the latter years. On one side, Hansi is over 50 and cannot sing anymore like he used to. On the other side, their latest albums are pretty straightforward and commercial, as of lately. Sad, I miss the old days.
@@fabianstalder5008 Are you eating crow about now? He sounds amazing on the new album.
What a gem! Great review for this classic album. Their Live in Japan (Tokyo Tales) is my favorite when the hunger for speed is calling.
It's great but Imaginations remains the GOAT Power Metal album. With that said, it makes sense you chose this one. When Blind Guardian really became Blind Guardian.
Nice little review! I like it. Love the album and have great memories from hearing it when I discovered Blind Guardian. Could be my favorite album by that band. Hard to pick a favorite between this one and Imaginations From The Other Side.
Thank you for this video, it makes me so happy to see so many fans of BG in these comments! Also, Scanners first two albums never leave my rotation :D
If I was going to make semi-obscure recommendations it would be Angel Dust - Into the Dark Past and To Dust You Will Decay. I saw Demons and Wizards before the first lockdowns and the crowd lost it when they covered Welcome to Dying and Valhalla.
My personal BG favorite is by far Nightfall in Middle Earth. Their most adventurous, heartfelt, varied and catchy album to date. Really love the concept too with spoken words punctuating the songs and narrate the story in a different way. Also they enlarged their palette with surprisingly great taste, I hear some Queen influence on The Eldar for exemple (may it be concious or not doesn't really matter) and I've never been touched so deeply by any of their album, previous or after this one. BUT Somewhere Far Beyond is my second favorite! It's a gem too.
For the very few times actually someone's doing it properly, from the backstory that you nailed it up to the Scanner suggestion or even the 1st press European copy you are holding for the presentation! Bravo 👏
When it comes to my "favorite" Blind Guardian album, I go back and forth between Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations from the Other Side. I also really love Tales and Nightfall, but there's just something about Somewhere and Imaginations.
And yeah, I laughed out loud when you said "Gamma Ray was not yet good". Too true.
Great review! One of the best albums by one of my all time favorite bands!
So great to see you in a video about BG, Sarah. You turned me on to them a few years back so I always pay attention to when you release a video on here.
The number of great recommends I've gotten from Sarah is too damn high!
Damn, seeing that Scanner album up front and center is awesome! Still among my most listened to albums in my collection, 3 decades later.
love this album. BG are doing the Somewhere far beyond tour that of course has been postponed over and over again, hope this year it's going to happen for real!
Thank you for the reminder about Scanner! I'd forgotten all about them, but I owned Hypertrace on cassette back in the day. Ahhh...I can smell it now. 11yo me was obsessed with that album art. 🤓🤘
Somewhere Far Beyond was a) my FIRST BG album and b) my absolute fucking favorite, if for no other reason than the title track is a Dark Tower song and the Queen cover kicks ass. I definitely prefer the early stuff though.
The Pipers Calling is actually "Farewell To Gibraltar", a traditional bagpipe military marching tune from Scotland
I have tickets for the 25th anniversary tour of this album 😀 Initially the concert was sometimes in 2020 and has been constantly resceduled, now to fall 2022.
I absolutely love this album. I think that I can call myself lucky to live quite close to Krefeld so it is fairly easy for me to see Blind Guardian play. I've been to two of their shows last year and both times it was a really spontaneous decision to buy a ticket. I'm also really looking forward to seeing their Somewhere Far Beyond Tour this September, when they will play the album in its entirity. The show was supported to happen two days ago but thanks to Covid the whole tour got resceduled again. I'm just hoping that they don't need to rescedule again.
fav power metal albums:
Morifade - Possession of Power
Vision divine - vision divine
Stratovarius - Destiny
Hammerfall - Glory to the brave
Helloween - Time of the oath
My favorite power metal albums would be Helloween's "Better Than Raw" and Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth"
Better than raw by far their best record love it 🤘🤘
Imaginations From the Other Side was a watershed moment for me when I was first getting into power metal. Don't know how I've never gotten around to listening to Somewhere Far Beyond, but I think that needs to change asap!
This is their best album IMO and I WISH they were coming to Canada for the tour where they are playing the whole thing front to back. What an experience that would be.
I'm somewhat more partial to Follow the Blind, despite its more dodgy production, but damn you can't go wrong with the first 6 BG albums. Also, this album is amazing in it's own right, but can we also talk about that incredible cover of Satan's Trial By Fire on the special edition? They absolutely nailed it!
Holy shit, I never thought I'd see any kind of reference to Scanner in one of these videos
"Somewhere far Beyond" and "Imaginations" are tied for my favorite B.G albums.
Yes! an absolute classic; and thanks, fairly rare for BangerTV to dwelve in melodic metal 🍺🤘
If i had to choose one album to listen to for eternity it would be this one
Yessssss my favourite band and one of their best albums. 🤘🏾
Battalions of fear is good. Their first two albums are classic.
The best review of one of my favorite albums of all time from someone that knows what they're talking about, thanks for this!
When I was younger all people played,,. Dsa,,, in the virtuell world,, drakensan,,.. And listened to guardian.. Great times
Wow, thank you so much for those suggestions. I never heard of Scanner, but I enjoy it. Sounds like a bonus Helloween track...
Heaven's Gate ''Livin' in Hysteria'' does also deserve a mention when it comes to proto-Euro-power releases.
A fucking masterpiece, but wait, it's not yet in hipster underground youtube train to get mentioned as Scanner does
For me Blind Guardian and EU-Power Metal in general reached its ultimate pinnacle with Nightfall, one of if not the greatest album ever. I‘d say it‘s the overarching epic atmosphere, the captivating setting and the story telling tone besides the amazing music itself that give it the little extra in contrast to the band‘s previous records.
I can only recommend to every BG fan to check out the German band Don’t Drop the Sword, who play Epic Speed/Power Metal which feel like BG never changed their style after Nightfall plus creative extra elements, additionally the singer of the band sounds very similar to Hansi!
Hearing them progress from Tales of the Twilight World to Somewhere Far Beyond to Imaginations is amazing
Nightfall in Middle Earth is a goddamn masterpiece, it dwarfs all of their other work, past or future.
Yeah that and Imaginations are the bomb. Nightfall is better especially if you're a Tolkien fan
No
It dwarfs all the others? I see what you did there.
SFB is reaaaally good though and I think it would be easier to hear for the first time before NiME than after.
Gamma Ray might not have been "good" yet, but I have a huge soft spot for Heading For Tomorrow.
Loved listening to it when I was 6, and still love it today.
Battalions through Nightfall is an absolutely amazing decade of releases from start to finish
This album is classic and so amazing. It actually was one of the first metal albums that I listened to all the way through.
The pinnacle of D&D battle background music.
Sarah + classic Blind Guardian...this is my favourite channel in RUclips.
LOW STANDARDS
What a great summary! This is their best release in my opinion - it's definitely at a crossroads for the band. 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
Sarah, Great Review...However,Walls of Jericho isn't a Power Metal lp... It puts the last remenants of Helloween's days as a speed metal band on display
It has Time What Is Time ,period.
Awesome review! 🤘🏼Lost Horizon will always be my favorite power metal band though
Incredible album by a fantastic band, they never disappointed to me even with the later more progressive stuff, it's a coherent evolution for open minded people. SFB is definitely one of the best album, varied and filled with memorable melodies. Can't get enough of them, there's a BG record for almost every mood, that's how diverse they are while keeping the essence they have since the beginning but that's my opinion.
"Blind Guardian gets nerdy" sounds like an amazing podcast series.
Liking even before watching this. Absolute masterpiece.
Ashes to Ashes is one of my favorite songs on that album.
Boi, I love nerding out on Blind Guardian. Instant like!
My favorite album is “ the cold white light “ by sentenced that is metal and everything with in flames love that band 😃
If I had to choose a favourite BG-album it would be either this one or Tales from the Twilight World.
Damn. I guess I picked a good one seeing as how this is the only Blind Guardian album I own.. got it strictly off the artwork..hails! 🤘🔥
Sarah what can we say about these albums you said? That we grew up with them and also that Gamma Ray were already great in '92.
Great to see scanner getting some attention!
my favorite BG record, great review!!
Light Bringer and Unlucky Morpheus from Japan. Do you have few minutes to talk about our queen and savior Fuki?
I think this is the first time I've agreed with Sarah on anything... ballads are terrible, but every now and then, one gets through.... Nice pick with scanner, I personally think they're an underrated band. 🤘
Blind Guardian - "Majesty"
That hammer fall album is amazing defenetly their best
Great review. Love Blind Guardian but I really dont like the mixing on their later albums.
One of the classics of the genre. Review spot on 🤘
girl ,you are like you jumped straight from the mid 90's....i had a metalhead female friend exactly like you back then,she was very nice and funny,i copied many cassetes from her collection,i knew she had a secret crush with me,but we stayed friends,i had a very good babe at that time.good metal times,the goddam youth
My favorite blind guardian song is the live version of 'And then there was silence' what about you guys
Nice review, but I wouldn't define this album as speed metal. Speed (as the name implies) is more of a constant upbeat tempo (and by those terms you could even consider many of Iron Maiden's classics as speed). Blind Guardian in the early years leaned more towards (yes, fast paced) Heavy metal and somewhat even thrash metal, with an influence of classic 80's rock. But their tempo has always been peculiar, and even heavy and slow paced many times. I wouldn't define themas as Speed. The latter albums are a different story. To me they topped with Imaginations from the Other side and Nightfall in Middle-Earth. These are the albums that I personally consider most representative of their works. And I do not consider them Speed Metal.
As always: Great review!
I like the emigrations from the other side.. But it is a great band... So enyoy all of them!
What is that Scanner album? Looks kinda cyberpunk.
Great German power metal. Check it out
Legendary album!
awesome album great band love blind guardian
Apex and Abyss by Unleash the Archers
Ballads are important!
Que bueno que hablen de bandas alemanas y del metal europeo grandes blind guardian 🤘🏻
Is Sarah back from Finland?
"Never trust a northern wind..."
Are all these records just Sarah's DM screen? She has notes behind it sooo...
so so so so SOOOOO fuckin good.
To me nightfall and imaginations are peak Blind Guardian
EPIC!
You know these guys played their share of Dungeons and Dragons.
No "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is their most iconic album and should be reviewed instead of "Somewhere Far Beyond".
Best album 92
*_Um...you left Finland?_*
This was recorded awhile ago
@@matthewatherton6537 *_Yeah...but Sarah left a long time a go. Maybe it's greenscreen, I didn't look for that._*
People hate ballads? What?
I generally hate ballads, but it's impossible not to love some of them (see: Blind Guardian).
Was this the last review Sarah filmed at the banger bar before moving to Finland?
Can she just review the entire catalog?
"Gamma Ray not yet good"???? Gamma Ray has ALWAYS been good and their first few records may be their best! Anyway great review other than that.
5:37 hahahahahaha!!!! Why do you hate ballads! As long as it isn't from a Hair Metal band, ballads are awesome!
I thought you moved to Europe or something?
Sarah you’re so wrong this album is a 6 out of 5
oh my god she mentioned iced earth
canceeeeeeeeeellllll
Gamma Ray was not yet good? Piss off, Heading For Tomorrow is a masterful power metal album. Wash your ears.
Dont hate me, but she sounds like a metal head Emma Stone.
Yeah, did something happen to her voice? Is she wearing braces? :D