BLIND GUARDIAN — Nightfall in Middle-Earth (review)

BLIND GUARDIAN — Nightfall in Middle-Earth album cover

Album · 1998 · Power Metal

2.5/5 · 2012-01-24
Wilytank

Since there are people going around claiming that Blind Guardian is the only power metal band that you can wear a shirt bearing their logo and still get laid, I had to go ahead and buy this album (for around 5 or 6 dollars) at a used CD store. What I can tell you now is that I ended up being less than impressed. 'Nightfall in Middle-Earth' promises a whole, literal fantasy landscape and ends up throwing the listener a book (almost literally with the ridiculous liner notes) and telling them to work off that.

I'll start off with what irks me the most about this album: interludes! Too many fucking interludes! They take up around seven minutes of this album and occur right after almost all the real songs on here. They are totally unnecessary and totally unwanted. I thought this was supposed to be power metal, not German time waste! Hansi Kürsch, if you wanted to bow to Tolkien so badly and convince others to do the same, you shouldn't have put such useless filler in. In fact, stupid shit like "The Minstrel" makes me want to do the exact opposite. "What will be next? I still don't have a clue." Go to hell.

However, there are some really good tunes to be heard among the actual songs. There's excellent songs here with catchy hooks and well crafted variations. When Blind Guardian get it right, they really produce some valuable pieces of gold. "The Curse of Feanor" and "Mirror Mirror" are some awesome fast-paced licks, and "Nightfall" is a pretty epic if you're looking for a slower piece. There is one song here though that really annoys me: "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)". You know those slow power metal ballads that nobody really likes? This is by-far one of the worst ones I've listened to. I know these types of songs are supposed to be emotional and whatnot, but this is just unnecessary overkill.

And there are also songs like "Blood Tears" and "Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)" that are just okay. It's in songs like these that Hansi's voice gets grating, wearing out my enthusiasm. With the interludes added alongside, the album seems to get old faster than it really should. The Middle Earth vibe that seemed intriguing at first ultimately became too much for me and had me looking for something decidedly less nerdy by the end of the album.

There are single songs or parts of songs that were really good in this album, but ultimately this isn't worth getting if you're just a casual power metal fan. There's plenty of power metal material out there (including other albums by Blind Guardian) that isn't as tiring as 'Nightfall in Middle Earth'. Go find them instead.

more than 2 years ago
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adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Same. For me the BIG 3 for Blind Guardian is Tales From the Twilight World, Somewhere Far Beyond and most especially Imaginations From the Other Side.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I'm much more into "Somewhere Far Beyond" and their old speed metal stuff. Of course, if you get laid, then it's all worth it.

Doomster wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Real songs take up 56:18 of this album. So that means 9 minutes are interludes :/

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

As a rule I don't like interludes and this album overdoes them. Somehow though they bother me less on this album than a single interlude (or intro track) on other albums. May be something to do with the fact that Blind Guardian is my favourite band though. This is still easily the weakest Blind Guardian album though IMO.

Doomster wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I like the part with the interludes.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

With all those interludes, one might as well do something between the songs proper...

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

God damn it Kim! How many times are you going to get laid while listening to this album LOL :-)

Wilytank wrote:

more than 2 years ago

There's probably other band shirts I can wear instead. You know, non power metal ones.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

... but I agree with you that there are probably too many interludes on this album. Still, if you get laid, then it's all worth it.

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

If you get laid, then it's all worth it.

Wilytank wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You could take all the interludes away and still have an album longer than 50 minutes. Then this album would probably get 3 stars.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

LOL (Hell yeaaahhh...)

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

If you get laid, then it's all worth it.

Diogenes wrote:

more than 2 years ago

There aren't many things that are scarier to me than an album full of tracks that are 20 seconds. I mean, this one has an interlude AFTER an interlude. Egad!