Blind Guardian

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Anyone a fan of these guys?

Currently one of my favorite bands.

Favorite album is 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' (based on J.R.R Tolkien's book 'The Silmarillion', which documents the First age of Middle Earth), but my favorite song is 'The Lord of the Rings'

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[Candy Kappa]

I love Blind Guardian. Their songs are great, especially the Tolkien based ones. One of my faves is The Bard's Song

[Voltron]

Never heard of them before. But LOTR is enough to get me interested! Thanks for the suggestion.

[Prowler]

Power metal is a VERY hit and miss genre for me. Rarely can I listen to it for long periods, but Bling Guardian are an exception.

Nightfalls on Middle Earth and Follow the Blind are two pretty good albums, indeed.

[Voltron]

Not bad! Not what I was expecting, either. \m/

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

So for anyone wanting to get into them, they have multiple eras

First up, is 'Early Blind Guardian'. They were more of a Speed Metal/Thrash Metal band, built mostly on crushing riffs played fast and less about Melody. This was found on their first 2 albums:
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Then we have 'Classic Era Blind Guardian'. This when they found their own unique blend of Speed Metal and European style Power Metal. This went from 1990's 'Tales from the Twilight World' to 1995's 'Imaginations from the other Side':

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Next is their 'Orchestral Era'. This saw them go less for riffs and speed, and instead going for complex arrangements and Orchestral elements. this was on their next two albums, the masterpiece 'Nightfall in Middle Earth' from 1998, and the underappreciated classic 'A Night at the Opera' from 2002:

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In recent years, Blind Guardian have kind of mixed all their eras together:

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