Blind Guardian's 10th Album, "Beyond the Red Mirror"

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Ryu · #1 Post by **Ryu** » 23 Oct 2013 02:53

Blind Guardian's tenth studio album is entitled Beyond the Red Mirror and will be released January 30th, 2015. The official tracklist is as follows:

The Ninth Wave
Twilight of the Gods (Samples can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Fv0NDghgI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBfejencN7U)
Prophecies
At the Edge of Time
Ashes of Eternity
Distant Memories
The Holy Grail
The Throne
Sacred Mind
Miracle Machine
Grand Parade
Doom

Below are older tidbits of information on the tracks. As you can see, we don't yet know which songs became which songs, but for now I'll leave this rough gathering of information below for speculation.

Encrypted Time Renamed "Ashes of Eternity"

One of the first announced tracks. Hansi believes it has something to do with Andre's World of Warcraft obsession.

"..is a modern speed metal song with some tribal aspects and some 70′s inspirations.."

The Holy Grail

Pure speed metal with fast-shouting vocals and a bombastic chorus.

Winter’s Coming Not featured on Beyond the Red Mirror

"[this] one is based on Marcus’ idea of a 90′s orientated speed/thrash song. We have finished a good two thirds of this one. It’s fast and heavy, or was it heavy and fast? I have no idea how he came up with the title “Winter’s Coming”… "

Outcast Renamed "Sacred Mind"

"My favorite among the fast ones certainly would be “Outcast”. A song full of surprises. The old school die hard fan will probably complain later that this one has a soft intro (epic and sad), but even this person would have to agree that afterwards we keep up the speed on this one to the very end. The song is a roller coaster ride through the last three decades of metal. I love it!"

The Throne

" “The Throne” is another epic piece we are working on. I have just started working on vocals for this one last Friday. It is too early for me to describe this one more precisely. What I can say is that this one is the perfect link between “Grand Parade” and “The Ocean”."

Grand Parade

" “Irish Hills” might be a surprise with some Irish melodies, which none would expect in a song with such a name…

"As for the epic tracks I love “Irish Hill” the most. I have decided to entitle this “Grand Parade” as “Irish Hill” never really fit the song. Imagine a mixture of “Wheel of Time” and “Nightfall” and you might be there. We have a beautiful orchestration for this. This one certainly demands a lot of time during production simply because there really is a massive amount of elements in it. Not as much as in “And Then There Was Silence”, but a lot…"

Prophecies

“Prophecies” is the one which is developed the most. It is almost straight forward, has a very strong pre and main chorus and offers some “Queensrÿchish” prog (this time I do mean Queensrÿche when I say prog) elements in combination with some Blind Guardian fantasy metal. A nice one."

Midtempo Song Potentially titled "Distant Memories"

" “Midtempo Song” is a great song of misunderstandings and technical failures, the result so far is a little surprising to everyone involved and has nothing to do at all with a song entitled “Midtempo Song”. I enjoy this one a lot, because I cannot remember us doing something like this. The song is still in a very early phase and André has kept it hidden from me for a while now."

" “Midtempo Song” is the most “commercial” song on the album so far. “Commercial” in a positive way, of course. It would deserve a title like “Irish Hills” more than “Grand Parade” did when it was called “Irish Hills”, but who said that life is always fair… To give justice to the song I also have to say that it is very progressive but also very catchy."

Song 9 Renamed "Twilight of the Gods"

“Song 9″ is a fresh one which used to be a collection of parts at first, but then developed into something very special. I would describe it as a refreshing combat between “Guardian of the Blind”, “The Script for My Requiem” and “Ride into Obsession” only disturbed by a fairly straightforward chorus. If you ask me this one is born to become a “classic, but first underrated by the band” song."

The Ocean Renamed "At the Edge of Time"

“The Ocean” is a very progressive (this time I talk about ELP meets Savatage art rock when I say progressive) orchestra dominated song.."

Miracle Machine

A ballad with strings and piano, Hansi at his best.

~

I really wish we had spoiler tags. This post is kind of unruly now.

bestpike · #2 Post by **bestpike** » 23 Oct 2013 18:57

That's a nice post, thanks man!

thrashinbatman · #3 Post by **thrashinbatman** » 24 Oct 2013 14:27

This sounds like it will be a killer album.

Twister · #4 Post by **Twister** » 20 Nov 2013 18:08

Thanks for the effort!

Anyway, the other thread about ATITM made me remember that back then we had many more interviews with the bards containing more informations about the songs of the upcoming album…

Rokubota · #5 Post by **Rokubota** » 07 Jan 2014 18:02

"This time there seems to be a collective urge (without even having talked about it) among all members to feature the more aggressive side of Blind Guardian this time."

I'm quite optimist about the new album

. Hoping for the best guys, good luck.

brazilian_bard · #6 Post by **brazilian_bard** » 07 Jan 2014 21:09

Ryu wrote:
Encrypted Time

One of the first announced tracks. Hansi believes it has something to do with Andre's World of Warcraft obsession.

"..is a modern speed metal song with some tribal aspects and some 70′s inspirations.."

I need more time to read and get into the rest. For now, what I can say is:

O-h-m-y-G-o-d.

Thank you very much.

Ryu · #7 Post by **Ryu** » 08 Jan 2014 08:30

I'm particularly interested in whether or not we'll get much more information before release, or GuardianTV. Information remains sparse.

brazilian_bard · #8 Post by **brazilian_bard** » 09 Jan 2014 14:08

Guardian TV would be awesome!!!!

Ryu · #9 Post by **Ryu** » 02 Feb 2014 03:34

The digital world has spoiled me. There's an over-saturation of information about plenty of bands not worth caring about.. but Blind Guardian? It's like waiting for a video game in the nineties.

Gandalf de Grijze · #10 Post by **Gandalf de Grijze** » 03 Feb 2014 21:46

I actually think it is a really good thing we only get bits and pieces spread around... Makes the actual product more of an achievement in a certain sense... Or at least more of a surprise, and I like that.

Ryu · #11 Post by **Ryu** » 04 Feb 2014 09:26

Yeah, I agree, when I fully consider it. Total, full disclosure of an upcoming work's production can sort of spoil it. I avoided listening to any samples of ATEOT beyond the Guardian TV snippets.

Wouldn't mind a Guardian TV. They didn't spoil all that much. They piqued my curiosity, if anything.

Angus · #12 Post by **Angus** » 07 Feb 2014 06:56

If you ask me an album isn't spoiled as long as I haven't listened to the whole thing. I'll take any teaser I can get. I'm not that patient to be quite honest. I can't stand waiting for anything.

#13 Post by **Orodaran** » 09 Feb 2014 12:53

Nice post! I didn't really realize that all in all we already have an almost complete "tracklist" for the album, even if some song titles are not definite... it will be fun and exciting to hear what they've come up with this time!

Gandalf de Grijze · #14 Post by **Gandalf de Grijze** » 09 Feb 2014 17:55

I'm also curious as to how much things Hansi will leave behind this time...

last.fm · #15 Post by **Joost** » 11 Feb 2014 16:50

Ryu wrote:
The Ocean

“The Ocean” is a very progressive (this time I talk about ELP meets Savatage art rock when I say progressive) orchestra dominated song.."

ELP meets Savatage? Sounds very interesting indeed...

Wizard's Crown · #16 Post by **Wizard's Crown** » 20 Feb 2014 16:29

Looking forward to listen to the new album...4 years have passed since their last moment and I can't wait any more.Hansi said that it will contain the more aggresive elements of BG which I think it will be brilliant since ATEOT was a mid-tempo album and at the middle of it (at the Control The Divine part) I got a little tired..I want to see if the bards still have the power as they had back in Imaginations' time...does anyone know if there are news from the development of the new album or if it will be out in 2014?

Ryu · #17 Post by **Ryu** » 20 Feb 2014 23:06

Odd.. most signs have pointed to the album being out this year, but I just checked the Blind Guardian twitter. The band responded to a fan who was excited to see the album would be done by May, to which BG retorted 'Not May of this year. check our official website, not wikipedia.' which is confusing, considering the most recent update on their progress indeed says the album should be completed before they perform in May of this year. Either the album has been delayed by a year without announcement, or Hansi/Marcus are having a laugh.

Traveller in Time · #18 Post by **Traveller in Time** » 21 Feb 2014 21:24

Wasn't it Hansi himself, saying that it should be done until their gig on Out&Loud Festival?

Ok the final realease with all the promotion and so on, i guess it will be then late summer. August or September that's what i think...but well they've never disappointed us with postponing a release

By announcing this live appearance we also secretly announced the intended termination of our album production for the end of May. We obviously have progressed quickly, in Blind Guardian terms that is. Indeed, everything looks very promising with regards to our songwriting and our production. We have good reasons to believe that the album is going to be completely finished at that point. Let’s hope I will not be proven to be the reincarnation of good old Münchhausen again. Anyway, even the worst case scenario would have us not being too far away from completion at that point.

Greektrooper · #19 Post by **Greektrooper** » 21 Feb 2014 23:00

By releasing the album after summer,somewhat justifies their decision to play only one show on Out & Loud fest. I can't imagine how it could be possible to release the album on May and play just a best of show in a fest.When you have a new album in your baggages you go around to promote it.So it possibly could be:LP out on Sep-Oct and promo tour starts immediately.

Traveller in Time · #20 Post by **Traveller in Time** » 23 Feb 2014 02:25

On Eventim a blind gaurdian gig is listed fpr 30th of May in Saarbrücken, so just one day before their show at Out&Loud
Seems to be their "practice gig"

Found on ticketservice site "Eventim" which is most of times reliable

Ryu · #21 Post by **Ryu** » 30 Mar 2014 04:54

The information drought has me wondering whether or not they're aiming to have the orchestral project and the album finished at the same time. By this point in 2010 we had two or three videos from the studio of their progress on ATEOT, and I'm fairly sure a 30 second clip of A Voice in the Dark. Who knows.

finrod · #22 Post by **finrod** » 08 Apr 2014 18:55

According to this article, "the long awaited new studio album will be released in the beginning of 2015."

It's too far away

I was comfortable until now thinking it was coming this summer!

El_Martillo · #23 Post by **El_Martillo** » 09 Apr 2014 13:12

... just got an Eventim-Newsletter, announcing also German tourdates for April/May 2015.

Ryu · #24 Post by **Ryu** » 10 Apr 2014 00:46

Man. Are there other metal acts that take five years to put out a record?

It's a little confusing considering they had two songs fully recorded last October and Hansi predicted they'd be done entirely by May. This may enforce that they're trying to release the orchestral project simultaneously.

Sarah · #25 Post by **Sarah** » 10 Apr 2014 01:17

Gandalf de Grijze wrote:I'm also curious as to how much things Hansi will leave behind this time...

Dheheheheheheheh

He will leave it ALL behind, obviously

Feanor l'invincible · #26 Post by **Feanor l'invincible** » 10 Apr 2014 06:11

El_Martillo wrote:... just got an Eventim-Newsletter, announcing also German tourdates for April/May 2015.

Just announced those on twitter. Not only German tour dates, it is now obvious the album will be out in 2015.. hopefully we'll get a single by the end of 2014...

Ryu · #27 Post by **Ryu** » 10 Apr 2014 09:30

I often wonder what contributes to the very unique, BG-process of delays.

Marcus and Frederik are sure up to a bunch of other things, including being in another band full-time, promoting it as much as Hansi might with BG, and Fred's offering online drum lessons. It's as if one half of the band is long-finished with their portion of work and the other is shut away in a bunker? Not a word of new BG material on their twitter/facebook since last year, either.

Hansi and Andre basically are the oil to the machine that is BG, I suppose. I wonder what the holdup could be.

bestpike · #28 Post by **bestpike** » 10 Apr 2014 15:43

Hmmm, so 2015 is it now? Well, as far as the albums are good. So far it seems the long-year intervals were worth it (even Atitm).

Traveller in Time · #29 Post by **Traveller in Time** » 10 Apr 2014 22:15

Yeah many sources are now naming January 2015

Let's hope for some single at christmas....

I have found following 2015 gigs, so far.

22.01-26.01 70000Tons of metal

12.04 London, The Forum
15.04 Strasbourg, La Laiterie
21.04. Prateln Z4 (Schweiz)
23.04. Trier, Europahalle
24.04. Frankfurt, Batschkapp
25.04. Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle
26.04. Bamberg, Brose Arena
28.04 München, Zenith
30.04. Leipzig, Haus Auensee
01.05. Stuttgart, Liederhalle Beethovensaal
02.05. Hamburg O2 World
05.05 Milan, Alcatraz

Edit: ok i should have checked the other threads FIRST

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44309

Rokubota · #30 Post by **Rokubota** » 12 Apr 2014 00:44

2015?WTF?

It seems like they have problems making good music or something, hoping for the best but when this band spends too much time in the studio to record an album the end results are boring songs with horrible production. Those iconic songs don't come as easy as they used to.

Many bands face the same problem sooner or later in their careers. I suspect the Orchestra Project is a little bit responsable for this, they start to loose their mojo in the same period of time this thing has been around. Some people could say that they don't have the motivation or the hunger to make the best metal album ever anymore but IMO is because of that pet project.

Gandalf de Grijze · #31 Post by **Gandalf de Grijze** » 12 Apr 2014 09:54

I don't mind them taking 4 years between releases... (and from august 2010 to early (february/march) 2015 is only about half a year longer than "usual").
They've been consistantly producing great albums, with At The Edge Of Time they even delivered an epic masterpiece in my opinion, in part thanks to their work with the orchestra for their Orchestral project.
I expect this will be on the same level, maybe even higher.

I actually believe that taking less time would result them in re-creating/re-using their older material and thus becoming a bland and unoriginal band, of which there are so many already.

Traveller in Time · #32 Post by **Traveller in Time** » 13 Apr 2014 14:23

Gandalf de Grijze wrote:I don't mind them taking 4 years between releases... (and from august 2010 to early (february/march) 2015 is only about half a year longer than "usual").
They've been consistantly producing great albums, with At The Edge Of Time they even delivered an epic masterpiece in my opinion, in part thanks to their work with the orchestra for their Orchestral project.
I expect this will be on the same level, maybe even higher.

I actually believe that taking less time would result them in re-creating/re-using their older material and thus becoming a bland and unoriginal band, of which there are so many already.

+1

They re not slower than usual if you remember that they spent much time on the Best-Of and the Boxset and meanwhile working on the orchestra project.
Promotion takes time too and releasing an album in between years makes less sense if there isn't a tour following shortly after it.
Especially this year is quite stuffed with releases.

Well of course i have hoped for a autumn release, but it is like it is. And i am sure it will be awesome.

arenamaster · #33 Post by **arenamaster** » 16 Apr 2014 05:10

a bit disappointed at the no summer or fall release, but the bards have delivered some good stuff in between so its not bad at all

Traveller in Time · #34 Post by **Traveller in Time** » 16 Apr 2014 19:12

I still do hope for some appetizer (single, MCDetc. ), maybe of both albums

*daydreaming*

thrashinbatman · #35 Post by **thrashinbatman** » 17 Apr 2014 04:15

Traveller in Time wrote:
Gandalf de Grijze wrote:I don't mind them taking 4 years between releases... (and from august 2010 to early (february/march) 2015 is only about half a year longer than "usual").
They've been consistantly producing great albums, with At The Edge Of Time they even delivered an epic masterpiece in my opinion, in part thanks to their work with the orchestra for their Orchestral project.
I expect this will be on the same level, maybe even higher.

I actually believe that taking less time would result them in re-creating/re-using their older material and thus becoming a bland and unoriginal band, of which there are so many already.
+1

They re not slower than usual if you remember that they spent much time on the Best-Of and the Boxset and meanwhile working on the orchestra project.
Promotion takes time too and releasing an album in between years makes less sense if there isn't a tour following shortly after it.
Especially this year is quite stuffed with releases.

Well of course i have hoped for a autumn release, but it is like it is. And i am sure it will be awesome.

True. They've taken progressively longer after each release (NiME was 3 years after IFtOS, ANATO 4, etc. etc.) So slightly longer than 4 isn't exactly unreasonable, especially considering all the box-sets and stuff they were working on. This isn't really out of the ordinary guys.

bestpike · #36 Post by **bestpike** » 17 Apr 2014 10:03

What bothers me is that a couple years ago they mentioned that they won't do a single live before both the new regular and orchestral albums are out. I wonder what made them change their mind. It makes me think that they are not satisfied with what they have until now, which worries me a bit :/.

Gandalf de Grijze · #37 Post by **Gandalf de Grijze** » 17 Apr 2014 14:39

why is playing live before the new albums come out a sign of them not being happy with the results? Maybe they are very happy with the recordings and just decided to get on stage already just for the sake of it...

bestpike · #38 Post by **bestpike** » 18 Apr 2014 08:29

Gandalf de Grijze wrote:why is playing live before the new albums come out a sign of them not being happy with the results? Maybe they are very happy with the recordings and just decided to get on stage already just for the sake of it...

Ah sorry I meant that it might mean that, not that it definitely does. Maybe I used stronger language than needed. This worry also ties to the fact that the orchestral album has been pushed back at least a couple of times until now.

Ryu · #39 Post by **Ryu** » 21 Apr 2014 06:49

Information drouuught

Whenever we have samples and artwork of any kind I'll be putting them here, too. I won't put full songs, as that's dishonorable to the band.

But yeah. Just posting to post, I guess.

wade-newb · #40 Post by **wade-newb** » 21 Apr 2014 10:12

Samples or some actual sounds are desperately needed right now. You can almost feel the desperation of Blind Guardian fans.

Rokubota · #41 Post by **Rokubota** » 03 May 2014 10:47

I want this new record to be so Heavy/Aggressive and so good that even the haters faces will melt like the bad guys at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Make it happen guys.

wade-newb · #42 Post by **wade-newb** » 03 May 2014 16:28

Rokubota wrote:I want this new record to be so Heavy/Aggressive and so good that even the haters faces will melt like the bad guys at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Make it happen guys.

You are the most demanding and specific Blind Guardiam fan xD

Rokubota · #43 Post by **Rokubota** » 04 May 2014 00:28

wade-newb wrote:
Rokubota wrote:I want this new record to be so Heavy/Aggressive and so good that even the haters faces will melt like the bad guys at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Make it happen guys.
You are the most demanding and specific Blind Guardiam fan xD

Dragonfly · #44 Post by **Dragonfly** » 07 May 2014 14:09

Well, I don't think there's a real reason to panic yet:)) The speculation of a possible early 2015 release date is not confirmed anyhow by the band, and the latest official update says that "even the worst case scenario would have us not being too far away from completion at that point" (in May, that is). So I do hope that everything is under control and somewhere at the end of May we'll be given at least a new update on the forthcoming album, hopefully the title, tracklist and a more or less exact release date

New tour dates being so far in the future are not necessarily a problem and a delay for the new album. I mean, there's often a break of some months after the release before a band starts touring (take Edguy, for instance - their latest album came out in the middle of April and they won't start giving concerts until late August, I suppose). I even dare to think that they may want to release the orchestral project first (say, sometime in January - April 2015) and then go on tour

Would be nice!
And needless to say, I have really high hopes for this new album, Hansi's descriptions of the new songs sure excited me as hell! Let's hope for 2014 release

Dragonfly · #45 Post by **Dragonfly** » 18 May 2014 15:16

By the way, the webmaster on BG Facebook page has just posted that he'd been asking Hansi for a news update for 3-4 times, and he also said that despite being completely engrossed by the work on the album Hansi was also busy preparing the aforementioned update! Obviously, it should take some time but I think we're going to get something in the next few weeks or so

wade-newb · #46 Post by **wade-newb** » 18 May 2014 22:00

Thanks for the update! That sounds like we'll be getting some really good information (maybe... samples?!) if Hansi is preparing the update.

Dragonfly · #47 Post by **Dragonfly** » 19 May 2014 00:03

Well, I suppose it depends on how much work is left to do, and, consequently, album's release date.

If the band (and Nuclear Blast) manage to put it out in summer (which would be absolutely awesome) then samples can be presented pretty soon. But my guess is that it's still a bit too early for that, so I personally will be quite happy to receive another thorough album update from Hansi, with an exciting song-by-song rundown and trademark humour.

It's especially interesting for me which titles will the songs eventually get when the album is done, so the finalized tracklist would also be just priceless, though it rarely comes without the exact release date, so who knows...

By the way, from Hansi's previous news updates it follows that the guys already had about 10 new songs written about half a year ago (which Ryu kindly listed above), and also had finalized some old leftover songs (presumably from Nightfall In Middle-Earth era, and how many of them?), which adds up to about 12-15 songs. Even more so, Hansi still hasn't mentioned a single ballad among the already composed stuff, which is kinda weird considering that no BG album since Follow The Blind was devoid of slower, folkish songs. Did the guys in their decision to feature the more aggressive side of Blind Guardian go as far as not to put any ballads onto the album? I personally doubt that, and so we can expect one or two more songs (ballads, that is). And now, if we put together all the theoretically possible new (and not so new) songs, we may end up having approximately 13-17 songs in total, which is kinda too much for a BG album, it seems.

Therefore, we may expect a lot of different bonus tracks this time around, which will be a bit painful to get, but still great - the more new Blind Guardian songs, the better

Perse · #48 Post by **Perse** » 19 May 2014 00:23

I hope they don't start to make 5 versions of the same album with the only difference being a single bonus track. God, I hate it when this happens.
If they have so many songs, why not make a double album out of it (Ok, I'm starting to dream here

) But I guess they will narrow it down to the usual ~10 songs.

Dragonfly · #49 Post by **Dragonfly** » 19 May 2014 00:35

I agree

. And the finished older songs can be used on some two-disc deluxe edition which Nuclear Blast releases quite often.

wade-newb · #50 Post by **wade-newb** » 19 May 2014 08:44

A double album, or even a single with a new song and all the previously unreleased songs would be fantastic. I know it wouldn't be ideal for the band, but that single would sell tonnes and would be a nice hype builder for the album (also, making it easier to get a hold of all the extra songs

)
All in all, this album, whatever it's called, is becoming more of an exciting wait than At the Edge of Time!

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