BLIND GUARDIAN was one of my favorite bands. And I say "was" because in their two last albums, and especially in "A Night At The Opera", I was a bit disappointed. So, I was waiting for "At The Edge Of Time" with anticipation and with a little bit of fear. I didn't like to be disappointed again.

The opening track "Sacred Worlds" (featured also in the video game "Sacred 2 with minor changes) starts with an orchestral part, followed by a 'strong' riff. Memories filled my mind from the bombastic "Imaginations From The Other Side" or from "Nightfall In Middle Earth". And "Tanelorn (Into The Void)" is a song that could have been in one of those two albums. It kicks in with a typical yet always welcome BLIND GUARDIAN riff and a-sing-along chorus, perfect for the upcoming live dates. The rest of the songs follow the same pattern and everything we love with this band is here: mid tempo parts with great riffs, fast ones with nice solos and the orchestral ones. They also added some new things too, like the dancing part in the middle of "Curse My Name" with an Irish atmosphere. This song is the, may I say, "Bard Song (In The Forest)" of this millennium. You will listen some oriental melodies and some Bregović like parts in "Wheel Of Time" too.

In my opinion "At The Edge Of Time" is far better than the previous two, for sure! Nice melodies that have already stuck in my mind and sing-along choruses that fans love. But there is also something that I didn't like. Sometimes it feels like the tracks are overproduced and that some of them should have been simpler (and yet they would have many layers as far as the music organs concerns). Another thing is that songs like "Sacred Worlds" and "Wheel Of Time" are like a test for their forthcoming orchestral album. But those things don't make this album a bad one. In fact I enjoyed it much more than their previous two. But I think that if they had given more attention to their compositions and had not overloaded them, things would have been even better!

Ps. The limited edition has a second CD with the extended "Sacred" version of "Sacred Worlds", an orchestral version of "Wheel Of Time" and a demo version of three other songs, alongside a code to download a studio documentary video and an animation video of "Sacred Worlds" (a live show in front of the monsters from the video game) and the demo version of "Valkyries"

I just finished listening to the new BLIND GUARDIAN album and. I must say it's pretty good. I wish it would have been a bit heavier. There are too many slow parts on the album for my taste. It has great production values and they did a good job of masking the weakest link in their line-up, Hansi's voice. I have never been a fan of his vocals and have always found them to be the weakest link on everything they have ever done. That said, it has never stopped me from loving the band. A band doesn't have to perfect for me to be a huge fan.

The production is great and all the playing is flawless. There is some truly thunderous drumming going on here! I have been a big fan of the band for 20 years now. I am a fan mainly because of the themes in their lyrics. I love fantasy metal and have always enjoyed their Tolkien inspired songs. On this album they cover another fantasy legend, Robert Jordan, on, "The Wheel Of Time", named after series of the same name. The two eight minute plus epics are done very well. I don't think any true fan of the band will be disappointed with this effort. "Tanelorn" is a great song. It is a topic they have covered before, but I like this song better than the previous one about the same topic. If you are a fan of the band, you should pick it up and give it few spins. They have definitely returned to their fantasy roots on this album and I for one am very glad to hear it. There aren't many bands out there that do fantasy as well as they do.

BLIND GUARDIAN uses established fantasy in which to base their songs on rather than creating their own fictional worlds and stories. This is brilliant because that way they don't have to do concept albums time after time. They have the freedom to cover whatever subject they want to and are not tied on having to stick to the singular world they have created. Pure fantasy Metal is back!