Il disco della svolta, della maturità artistica, l'inizio di quell'evoluzione che culminerà nel 1995 con "Immaginations From The Other Side".
Dopo i primi due dischi, ottimi esempi di speed/epic anni '80, dischi per altro molto legati al power metal di Rage o Helloween, i bardi guidati da Hansi Kursh compiono il salto di qualità, migliorando produzione, songwriting, arrangiamenti e raffinatezza. Il disco fu il primo ad avere un grande successo in diverse parti del mondo, consegnando la band definitivamente nell'olimpo del Power Metal.
L'apertura delle danze è affidata a "Traveler In Time", tiratissimo brano epico, dove possiamo cogliere tutti gli elementi caratterizzanti del disco e le differenze tra i precedenti lavori. Epicità, velocità, melodia (bell'uso di intermezzi acustici e sintetizzatori), fuse nel testo ispirato al ciclo di "Dune". "Welcome To Dying" è uno dei pezzi migliori dell'intero lavoro, nonchè uno dei migliori dell'intera discografia, ottimo per l'apertura dei concerti, riproposta anche in tempi più moderni (verrà usata anche per l'apertura del live "Immaginations Through The Looking Glass"). Le prime due tracce mostrano al 100% i miglioramenti del gruppo, a cominciare dalla voce di Hansi e dall'abilità delle chitarre (maestoso l'assolo finale di "Welcome To Dying"). La strumentale "Weird Dreams" rafforza quest'ultimo fattore, ottimo il lavoro di Stauch nel supportare le chitarre con una batteria sempre granitica e incisiva. La struggente "Lord Of The Rings" è un altro brano storico, forse la migliore ballad dell'intera discografia, onnipresente nei concerti, dall'atmosfera magica che ci catapulta immediatamente nella terra di mezzo, grazie ad un semplice quanto efficace arpeggio e delicate linee di synth. Ritorna lo speed in "Goodbye My Friend", brano molto heavy, forse un pelo più debole dei precedenti, caratterizzato da un bellissimo chorus in coda al ritornello. Anche qui troviamo un bell'assolo di Olbrich, sia nel mezzo che nel finale.
Il capolavoro indiscusso dell'album è rappresentato dalla monolitica "Lost In The Twilight Hall", dal sapore leggermente progressivo. Come fu per "Valhalla" nel disco precedente, anche qui troviamo la voce inconfondibile di Kai Hansen che duetta con Hansi. Il brano è una sintesi di tutti gli elementi del disco: cori maestosi, arpeggi acustici, riff granitici e delicatissime linee di sintetizzatore, che rafforzano la componente epica. Probabilmente il brano vale da solo il 50% dell'intero lavoro. Tributo a Stephen King, "Tommyknockers" è un pò un ritorno alle sonorità di "Battalions Of Fear" e "Follow The Blind", con chitarre che prevalgono su tutto il resto. Niente di nuovo insomma, brano godibile. "Altair 4" è ispirata ad una serie tv anni '50. Brano lento e forse poco rappresentativo, dove spicca l'ottimo lavoro alle tastiere. "The Last Candle" si apre con il coro di "Guardian Of The Blind", contenuta nel primo disco. Un ritorno a tematiche fantasy/medievali, che non presenta elementi aggiuntivi a quelli sopracitati. Chiude il disco una versione live di "Run For The Night", perla del primo disco della band, che sottolinea la bravura al di fuori degli studi di Hansi e soci. Peccato per il sonoro non proprio pulito, che penalizza molto il pezzo.
Forse il miglior disco dei primi Blind Guardian, che presenta moltissime novità rispetto al passato, discostandoli dal power prima maniera e indirizzandoli verso un genere ben più complesso. I successivi lavori "Somewhere Far Beyond" e il capolavoro "Immaginations From The Other Side" bisseranno e di molto il successo di questo disco, la cui bellezza tenderà forse a scemare col passare degli anni. Benchè si tratti di un lavoro ancora un pò acerbo e legato al power tradizionale, non si può negare la sua grandezza. La sua epicità, appunto.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Traveler in Time (05:59)
The Morning Sun of Dune
The Morning Sun of Dune
The holy war's
waiting for
the morning sun
the morning sun
the morning sun
The morning sun of Dune
there's no tomorrow
the apparation of this land and it's dream
makes me feel I've seen it before
I can taste there's life
everywhere you can find
in the desert of my life
I see it again and again
And again, again, again, again
dark tales has brought the Dijahd
like whispering echos in the wind
and I'm a million miles from home
Traveler in Time
knowing that there's no rhyme
The morning sun is near
first light of dawn is here
the morning sun is near again
The Fremen sing that
their kingdom will come
and I'm the leading one
battlefields on our crusade
filled with Sardokaurs
killing machines crying
in raising fear they're hiding
Where do we go now?
So where is the way?
When I'm a million miles from home
Traveler in Time
knowing that there's no rhyme
The morning sun I feel
all pain and sorrow
the apparation of my words in these days
makes me feel I've told them before
all my plans will come true
I'll controll destiny
in the desert of my life
I've seen it again and again
By my dreams I must find a way
to stop the raging war
I've to choose now
I will leave
my body and seek
and time will stand still
when I've to leave
my body and find
a way back to the world I love
when I'm a million miles from home
Traveler in Time
knowing that there's no rhyme
02 Welcome to Dying (04:47)
Close to insanity
beyond the realms I've been
at darkest places
I'm crying
"The dragon flies"
Something savage
is yearning for me
I'm waiting afraid for the night
what will be
I've lost myself
a few days ago
it's touching my soul
and a vision of past dreams comes true
Welcome to dying
I don't let it out
Welcome to dying
Look to the mirror it shows what I am
Welcome to dying
This town must burn now
Welcome to dying
Can't You see the dragon's seed bears in me
the one who's been before
many times I terrorized this town
many times and here I start again
now I'm stronger and so cold
cold as ice
returning is my destiny
now I feel it's growing up in me
now I feel it's burning deep in me
I'm not what I was before
could I stop this dream
I'm a stranger to myself
and I cannot control
Welcome to dying
I don't let it out
Welcome to dying
Look to the mirror it shows what I am
Welcome to dying
Can't you see the dragon's seed bears in me
Welcome to dying
The dragon's breath I don't let it out
I'm a savage
it's too late for me
the other side's taking controll and I know
there's one way I can walk alone
or the dragon will fly
and a growing fear's all that I feel
Welcome to dying
I don't let it out
Welcome to dying
Look to the mirror it shows what I am
Welcome to dying
This town must burn now
Welcome to dying
Can't You see the dragon's seed bears in me
Welcome to dying
Welcome to dying
Welcome to dying
Welcome to dying
Welcome to dying
Welcome to dying
Can't you see the dragon's seed bears in me
Spread my wings and fly away
I spread my wings and fly away
I spread my wings and fly away
05 Goodbye My Friend (05:33)
Who can tell me who I am
who I am my friend
I'm an Alien so they say
a risk to everyone
NO - Tell me what do they see
NO - Tell me what do they feel
NO - Tell me what do they fear
NO - Tell me what do they see
I'm a dwarf but I know more than You
and I'm the key to a better life
from terror I could escape
but I need your helping hand
so far from home where I'm left alone
Did you hear my crying?
Did you hear my crying?
Goodbye my friend
I found you at the end
I say Goodbye to all
Goodbye my friend
thanks for your helping hand
I say Goodbye to all my cries
just say Goodbye
No returning nevermore
No returning nevermore
And I'll remember
Communication to you is so strange
you I trust to noone no warmths reach your heart
to you I'm the stranger but you're strange to me
You destruct all what is unknown to you
We are together now
and don't you know I'll come back again
I must go now
Goodbye my friend
I found you at the end
I say Goodbye to all
Goodbye my friend
thanks for your helping hand
I say Goodbye to all my cries
just say Goodbye
I will go home now
I will go home now
much too long I'm forced to stay
in visions I see
so dark and so deep
mankind will destruct all life
See you again I hope I will
see you again at the end?
My tortured soul cannot forget the pain
now I find my way back
I WILL GO HOME NOW
I WILL GO HOME NOW
Goodbye my friend
I found you at the end
I say Goodbye to all
Goodbye my friend
thanks for your helping hand
I say Goodbye to all my cries
just say Goodbye
07 Tommyknockers (05:09)
She's opening her eyes
to find the thing
by a touch she's lost
it's waiting for her a long time
the kingdom's lost
cause there's one nail missing
playing with fire
turn of the light
and she will fall down
playing with her life
but she can't leave it
there's one rhyme in her brain
Oh, last night and the night before
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers
knocked at your back door
Tommyknockers
The pain in my head
the cycle awakes
I'm on my way to Oz
I want to drink and she wants to dig
she's in trouble oh I know
there's something going wrong
Tommyknockers on their way
What's up in "Leighton Street"?
Oh, last night and the night before
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers
knocked at your back door
I'm the hero, I'm back
with weapons and with magic spells
I'll seddle every task
an old, ill and drunken guy
The moon is full of blood
I've found her not, not far from home
I should better get away from here
she's on her way to be another one
playing with fire
she can read my thoughts
it's too late
playing with her life
Tommyknockers brought her trouble now
The ship in the earth I touch
a vibration is filling me
and music in my head
nose is bleeding
and my fall down
filled me up with pain
What's that cry?
you'll be like a Tommyknocker
I will be like you
but there's something going wrong
I read it in your face
Oh, last night and the night before
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers
knocked at your back door
Tommyknockers knocked at your back door
Tommyknockers knocked at your back door
08 Altair 4 (02:26)
At Hilly's show
they didn't know
that the Ending of "Being" is near
I can feel their voices
the old man cries
"Please save the boy
he's caught in a world far behind
from home"
Monster Anne is crying out
"Feel my pain I can't escape"
Bad chances for me
Ref.: Altair 4 (3x)
chosen by their whispering words
What is left behind?
When purple colours turn to black
Can you feel it?
Is there time?
Can you see it?
Is there life?
"Fly away and dream"
09 The Last Candle (05:59)
Guardian, Guardian, Guardian of the Blind
Guardian, Guardian, Guardian of the Blind
Guardian, Guardian, Guardian of the Blind
Guardian, Guardian, Guardian of the Blind
Have you forgotten him
Far from the land
Where the sun is born
down in the wood "Caladon"
Do you know the place
where the light is never seen
and all the hopes are turned
by the final cry
Turned to Stone
Turned to Stone
Turned to Stone
Turned to Stone
Whispering tunes in the wind
all hopes are gone with the night
when the old man will never come back
remember his words and his songs
And we see the raven's flying in the distance
but no wizard's singing his song
Somebodies out in the night
I fly in time
The last candle will burn
there's hope for everyone
when the last candle burns high
oh it's time for life
The elves and gnoms have to hide
when the moon is showing it's face
and raging orcs will set their traps
and the forest will burn
they hate green trees
and love the dark
they don't understand
that they're caught and left alone
they feel the magic in the wind
they're just fear the old man's song
(solo: Kai)
Somebodies out in the night
I fly in time
The last candle will burn
there's hope for everyone
when the last candle burns high
oh it's time for life
Corrupted old gnom
betrayer of all
you know so much about all
what is your price?
GNOM:
"Too much, too much
you cannot pay with your silver and your gold
there's just a little chance to save the wizard's life
there's just a little chance for all you fools
now pay"
And so I walk across the land
and hope to hear the wizard's song
Somebodies out in the night
I fly in time
The last candle will burn
there's hope for everyone
when the last candle burns high
oh it's time for life
Somebodies out in the night
I fly in time
The last candle will burn
there's hope for everyone
when the last candle burns high
oh it's time for life
Somebodies out there
I feel there's somebody
Somebodies out there
I feel there's somebody
12 To France (04:40)
Taking on water,
Sailing a restless sea
From a memory,
A fantasy.
The wind carries
Into white water,
Far from the islands.
Don't you know you're
Never going to get to France
Mary, Queen of Chance, will they find you?
Never going to get to France
Could a new romance ever bind you?
Walking on foreign ground,
Like a shadow,
Roaming in far off
Territory.
Over your shoulder,
Stories unfold, you're
Searching for sanctuary.
You know you're
Never going to get to France
Mary, Queen of Chance, will they find you?
Never going to get to France
Could a new romance ever bind you?
I see your picture
By the lamp's flicker.
Isn't it strange how
Dreams fade and shimmer?
Never going to get to France
Mary, Queen of Chance, will they find you?
Never going to get to France
Could a new romance ever bind you?
I see your picture
By the lamp's flicker.
Isn't it strange how
Dreams fade and shimmer?
Never going to get to France
Mary, Queen of Chance, will they find you?
Never going to get to France
Could a new romance ever bind you?
Never going to get to France.
Never going to...
Never going to get to France.
Never going to...
Never going to get to France.
Never going to...
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