BLIND GUARDIAN: IMAGINATIONS THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

2 dvd live show. A review: For those of you out there whom love the Speed/Power/Progressive Metal outift of Blind Guardian and have not had the opportunity to see them live, this is a fine alternative to actually catching them on tour (though I recommend the latter highly). This is one of the greatest live concerts I've seen on DVD, and by virtue of my less than active social life, I've seen many. The setlist is a good representation of the entire scope of Blind Guardian's extensive career, drawing such classic speed metal tracks as "Valhalla" and "Banished from Sanctuary". The Speed/Power Metal music of the middle era is also well represented with the likes of "The Last Candle", "Somewhere Far Beyond" and the memorable ballad "Lord of the Rings". In addition, we have some rather important progressive tracks from the later years, such as the war hymn "Time Stands Still", the triumphant "Mirror Mirror" and the self contained opera "And then there was Silence". The only album that isn't represented is "Battalions of Fear", although Majesty is on the bonus DVD. The performance of these songs are excellent, particularly the ballads. Hansi Kursch gets the job done live with the best of them, although Blind Guardian's recent love affair with multiple vocal overdubs make the live renditions sound a bit empty at times. Indeed, the only real flaw in the performance is that the "Nightfall on Middle Earth" songs are missing some essential orchestration parts, and for those of you whom like that album the most and have not heard these songs live, they are done as well as they can with 6 people on stage, but it's obviously not as powerful as what came out of the studio. The guitar work here is flawless, both Andre and Marcus really deliver the goods here. Andre's hyper melodic leads phase in and out of every song with perfect clarity, while Marcus' supporting riffs never waiver. It seems that Marcus usually does lead duty on the ballads, and although this seems a rather uneven sharing of the solos, it is a bit interesting. Thomen's drum performance is also exceptional, especially during the newer material, which is ironic when you consider that those songs were the ones that caused him to quit the band. The visuals of the performance are spellbinding, especially the burning torches during "A past and future secret". Hansi does an excellent job of keeping the audience jazzed up, and the stage is large enough to accomadate all of the various movements of the musicians and still contain an extravaganza of pyrotechnics. The bonus DVD contains 4 extra live performances of various songs from the 3 eras of Blind Guardian, in addition to some interesting behind the scenes footage and an interview with the band. All merely icing on the cake, as the true treats are found on the first DVD. In conclusion, this is an excellent live concert, and I regret only that I didn't catch this tour when it came through the east coast of the United States. A must have for the power metal fan, and a good varied collection of songs for the Blind Guardian faithful.