Nearly twenty years have passed since that I discovered by chance Imaginations From the Other Side in the store and Blind Guardian thereby for a very long time became my favorite band. Since my music taste has developed to rock in the last decade from metal, Blind Guardian are shamefully gone quite a while from my radar, so I new album rose me spontaneous and rather nostalgic reasons ... and was blown away, what also brings me here to write my first review ever. Production was here already widely criticized, and the criticisms are also to some extent understandable, but the production in my opinion is definitely good enough that they do not significantly affect the listening experience. The style has been here already extensively described: very progressive, epic bombast metal, much orchestra and choir, the songs usually have excess length, are very complex and do not follow a familiar pattern ... and they are just awesome and beyond reproach. Somehow Blind Guardian despite all the bombast and the fantasy theme never drifting into cheerful Tralala kitsch as one can observe in so many colleagues ... Rather, the album is a pleasant dark atmosphere based. For this purpose, in my opinion, even the sound of the record described as 'a little cold' not half as bad fits. Although Imaginations will probably always be my favorite album of the band, because I associate a lot with this, I'm glad that BTRM just does not sound the same. And also not like any other album, even if it still still sounds typical for BG. By his own account BG want to surprise listeners repeatedly; that's what they do, and that is also the beauty of it: none of the songs, as well as no vocal melody etc evolves as you would expect because conventional, radio-contaminated listening habits. This one needs certainly some runs, until the songs actually "sees". This, however, has no means to do so, that they are only "nice to hear" itself must, as I have read here in a review. Rather, the album is extremely exciting because of this 'disappointment' of expectations after the first run, so that one feels the urge to hear it once again. And I'm sure that BTRM will also still be exciting after months of intensive listening. Keyword 'intensive listening': In BTRM I experience a phenomenon that I have for a long time not seen: I look forward to it regularly, to make myself comfortable and nothing else to do, as this album to listen and immerse in it.
