TOKYO TALES

Tokyo Tales is an excellent live recording, showing Blind Guardian at their peak. When this piece was recorded they had just released Somewhere Far Beyond and so the setlist is filled with lots of blazing speed metal tunes (if you're a fan of their latest albums, for example Nightfall, I'm afraid this album isn't for you, friend!). Every record they've released (circa 1993) is present and I'm more than glad that they decided to throw in some of their most obscure songs, like Time What is Time and Valhalla!

As for the performances of the musicians, the songs are all performed tightly and flawlessly and are generally even faster than the studio versions. Hansi Kurch delivers a marvellous vocal performance and the guitar work is also excellent, the solos are all played accurately and so are the riffs. “Banish from Sanctuary”, the opener of Follow the Blind starts things off, with its thrashy riffs and raw drumming. A clear highlight. “Traveler in Time” is also worth mentioning, benefiting from the crowd interaction (that intro sounds killer live, indeed) and so are “Valhalla” and “Majesty”, two of the best tracks out of their first two albums (thanks for advising me about the mistake, mjaeltbrand!). I miss Kai Hansen's screams on the former, but the song sounds great nevertheless. Finally, “Time What is Time” is the last highlight, I'd just love to hear this underrated gem live, really. The only real problem I have with the setlist is the absence of Bard's Song - in the Forest, but well, that's a minor issue, all in all.

Closing the concert is the Beach Boys cover, “Barbara Ann”, an excellent choice, in my opinion, it's just hilarious to hear those guys playing a song like that. Anyways, an excellent live album, highly recommended to every fan of the speed metal-era of this excellent german act.

Best Moments of the CD: -the intro of “Traveler in Time”.