Blind Guardian - Tales From the Twilight World (1990)^{Release ID: 733}

Most of our regulars will likely be aware that German legends Blind Guardian are one of the rare European power metal exponents that I can generally tolerate. In fact, I can confidently say that I've enjoyed everything I've heard from them to date which includes 1992's "Somewhere Far Beyond", 1994's "Imaginations From the Other Side", 1998's "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" & 2003's "Live". It only makes sense that I complete the full set of their essential releases though so I recently decided to add their 1990 "Tales From The Twilight World" third album to the list in the hope of similarly positive experiences. Unfortunately, that hasn't really eventuated though.

"Tales From The Twilight World" is known as Blind Guardian's first true power metal record after their first two studio efforts were directed more towards speed metal. Don't kid yourself though, there's still plenty of speed metal on offer here as the European brand of power metal is pretty much built on the stuff but there's comfortably enough anthemic epicness to warrant the album's power metal claim. And that goes a long way to explaining my struggles with this record too to tell you the truth. Blind Guardian's later material offered significantly more maturity than this album can muster. Instead, their third full-length reminds me a lot of their less appealing German peers in that the performances & musicianship are high class but the hooks are often lacklustre & cheesy, particularly the backing vocals which regularly see me wincing. It's really only short instrumental "Weird Dreams" & album highlight "Goodbye My Friend" that offer me much in the way of enjoyment here which is disappointing after having experienced a record of the quality of "Imaginations From the Other Side".

"Tales From The Twilight World' is comfortably the weakest Blind Guardian record I've heard to date but I don't even try to deny that I'm not its target audience either. There's no doubt that it'll offer a lot more appeal to people that bow down & worship at the feet of Eurpean bands like Helloween & Gamma Ray but I'm not gonna kid anyone that that's me.

Three albums into their career and Blind Guardian have still yet to find that certain something that would make them unique amongst all the other power metal bands. Although there are certain hints of it creeping in, it isn't enough to make 'Tales from the Twilight World' truly stand out.

The use of acoustic guitars, more intricate vocal melodies and Tolkien-inspired lyrical themes are all signs of where the band are going musically, but sadly it fails to distinguish anything of this album from its predecessors. Songs such as 'Lord of the Rings', 'Welcome to Dying' and 'Tommyknockers' are some of the more memorable moments, but they're lost amidst an album of mediocre speed metal tracks ('Lord of the Rings' is damn catchy, though).

Much like their previous albums, 'Tales from the Twilight World' may be held in higher regard by enthusiasts of the genre, and whilst I absolutely love Blind Guardian's later material, to me, this is just another generic power metal affair.