Follow the blind
| Follow the blind | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blind Guardian studio album | ||||
|
Publication |
||||
| Label (s) |
Virgin / EMI (worldwide) Century Media (USA) |
|||
|
Title (number) |
9/10 (CD edition) |
|||
|
running time |
38:43 / 43:03 |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
||||
|
Studio (s) |
|
|||
|
||||
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||
| Albums | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Follow the Blind is the second studio album by the Krefeld metal band Blind Guardian . It was recorded in 1989 and released on October 25 of the same year.
Emergence
After the release of the debut album Battalions of Fear in early 1988, the band immediately began working on new material. As early as January and February 1989, the band recorded the new album under the direction of Kalle Trapp in the Karo studios in Hamburg, just like on their debut . The album cover was - as before - drawn by Van Waay Design.
The intro "Inquisition" is taken from the Monty Python film The Knights of the Coconut (1975). Kai Hansen from the band Gamma Ray can be heard as a guest singer on the song "Valhalla" . The 1991 CD edition of the album was expanded to include the bonus track “Don't Break the Circle”, a cover version of Demon . The song " Barbara Ann " already included on the LP is also a cover version; The original interpreter was the Doo Wop group The Regents .
Music genre
In principle, Follow the Blind resembles the previous album with its long and consistently fast songs with only a few changes in tempo , which are mainly carried by riffs and melodic breaks . However, the album is even more focused on rhythm and riffing; for example there are only very short solo passages and not very varied song structures. Formative are also partly in chorus recited refrains ; however, these are not as sophisticated as on later albums. The voice of the singer Hansi Kürsch also sounds much rougher than at later times.
The lyrics of the album are essentially based on fantasy literature . "Damned For All Time" and "Fast to Madness" are by Michael Moorcock's novels The Eternal Hero (Engl .: The Eternal Champion ) and Elric of Melniboné inspired the title song is based on the novel The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. In addition to these references, mythological and religious topics are also addressed: “Banish from Sanctuary” tells the biblical story of John the Baptist and “Valhalla” tells of Valhalla from Nordic mythology .
Developments pointing to later works can only be seen in isolated cases; for example in the title track, whose intro and outro are provided with a keyboard and acoustic guitar and which also has a varied structure. Nevertheless, the rather rough timbre of the entire album dominates here as well.
Kürsch himself later said in an interview with Rock Hard magazine (issue 177) that the band had been heavily influenced by Thrash bands such as Forbidden or Violence when the album was created and therefore tried to do something similar compositionally. With their rather limited technical skills at the time, the band fell behind with the consistently fast songs.
Effect and reception
Follow the Blind received consistently good ratings in the trade press . Only the inconsistent level of the compositions was criticized.
As an import, the album was a great success in Japan, which culminated in a contract to distribute the Blind Guardian albums in that country and has since given the band enormous success there, including the recording of the live album Tokyo Tales .
In the band's live program, the songs on the album did not last too long, as the material of the subsequent works was much more sophisticated. Only “Valhalla” is still part of the program today, the combination “Inquisition” / “Banish from Sanctuary” was used for a while as an introduction to the band's concerts.
Track list
- Inquisition (0:41)
- Banish from Sanctuary (5:28)
- Damned for all Time (4:58)
- Follow the Blind (7:12)
- Hall of the King (4:17)
- Fast to Madness (5:58)
- Beyond the Ice (3:30)
- Valhalla (4:57)
- Don't Break the Circle (4:20; CD bonus track)
- Barbara Ann (1:42)
Total playing time: 38:43 or 43:03 including bonus track