TALES FROM THE TWILIGHT WORLD

"Tales From the Twilight World" is the third full-length studio album by German power metal act Blind Guardian. The album was released through No Remorse Records in October 1990. It´s the successor to "Follow the Blind" from April 1989. Just as the case was on the first two albums, "Tales From the Twilight World" was produced by Kalle Trapp.

Stylistically the material on "Tales From the Twilight World" is a developed and more power metal influenced version of the more raw speed/power metal sound of the first two albums. The vocal part of the music has changed quite a bit and now features a lot of harmony and choir parts, and lead vocalist/bassist Hansi Kürsch has now been given much more memorable and melodic vocal parts to sing. He varies the way he sings and he uses more techniques than before, which make that part of the music a lot more interesting than the case was on the first couple of albums. The lead guitar work has also changed and is now more memorable and also features a charming folk influence. The basis of the tracks is still quite powerful and energetic speed metal with sharp speed/thrash metal riffing and pounding fast-paced drumming. It´s the combination of the influences which makes "Tales From the Twilight World" the unique sounding and intriguing album release it is.

Blind Guardian understand how to create drama and epic moments with the use of dynamics, and the album features both hard edged choruses, epic choruses, and even the occasional acoustic folky part. Compared to the two preceding album releases, "Tales From the Twilight World" features better quality production values, and it´s overall a pretty well sounding release. Upon conclustion this is a transitional album for Blind Guardian which points to their epic power metal (near) future but still features a lot of the raw speed metal riffs and rhythms of the first two albums. It´s not a perfect release by any means and Blind Guardian still had a way to go before reaching power metal heaven, but they are definitely well on their way on this album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).