Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Blind Guardian
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 1988
Runtime: 39:20
Rating: 3.5/5
Around the time Helloween went from speed metal curiosity to power metal pioneers after singer Michael Kiske joined, a handful of kindred bands popped up in mid-eighties Germany, all swearing by a mix of speed, melody and, eventually, increasingly epic arrangements. So Helloween weren’t alone in what they were doing for long, even though it took a few more years before another band polished the power metal formula to such perfection. Among the most successful and original of these bands were their slightly younger German countrymen Blind Guardian, who started out as a speed metal outfit with something to prove, heavily influenced by bands like Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Metallica and of course Helloween, who were just as obsessed with speed metal in their early years.
Blind Guardian were originally called Lucifer’s Heritage, but around the time they recorded their studio debut »Battalions of Fear« they wisely changed their name, so the occult symbolism of the old one wouldn’t land them in the kind of trouble Running Wild had at the start of their career, when some people mistakenly lumped them in with black metal. Singer/bassist Hansi Kürsch, lead guitarist André Olbrich, rhythm guitarist Marcus ‘Magnus’ Siepen and drummer Thomas ‘Thomen’ Stauch, who stuck together for a full 18 years, loved the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock and Frank Herbert almost as much as they loved heavy metal, and they were also obsessed with the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ games, which shaped their lyrics and imagery in particular, something they kept building on over the years. Their reverence for Tolkien also played a big part in raising their profile among the metal crowd. Musically, Blind Guardian started out sounding more like some American speed metal band than a typical representative of the Teutonic heavy metal school, but already on »Battalions Of Fear«, which was mostly a transitional record, they were slowly shaping the recognizable epic style that would later bring them worldwide fame.
Among the best things on the album is the opener »Majesty«, which has aged well over the years, so it’s no surprise Blind Guardian still play it at almost every show. After a short intro on a hurdy-gurdy that sounds like a slightly goofy parody of Strauss’s ‘The Blue Danube’, it kicks into fiery, white-hot speed metal, while the lyrics tell of the adventures of the Fellowship from Tolkien’s cult masterpiece ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Intense double bass drum work and razor-sharp guitar passages are matched by Hansi’s energetic vocal performance. His voice was still a lot more ‘raspy’ and less ‘elastic’ at this stage of his career, but he quickly progressed and matured to enviable heights. The chorus of »Majesty« already features the layered vocal harmonies that later became one of their trademarks, once Blind Guardian started counting Queen among their key influences. »Majesty« is also one of four songs on the album that touch on events from ‘The Lord of the Rings’, specifically the first book, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’.
»Guardian of the Blind«, inspired by Stephen King’s novel ‘It’, despite its title never became a representative song for the band. Maybe that’s because this speed metal merry-go-round with its possessed vocal approach doesn’t have a particularly spectacular chorus or any especially interesting arrangement. »Trial by the Archon« is a short instrumental with combative drum fills and mighty guitar passages, inspired by the Archon race from the popular ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ games, which the band members absolutely adored. It leads straight into »Wizard’s Crown«, which was originally called »Halloween«, but they had to rename it because Helloween already had a song with the same title by then. A sinister atmosphere is paired with a fighting chorus, driven by pounding double bass drums and biting guitar phrases. The lyrics are about the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, who had been stirring the imagination of countless metal bands ever since Black Sabbath.
»Run For the Night«, another all-out wound-up speed metal bulldozer about the ordeal of the Fellowship, is without a doubt one of the album’s highlights. Hansi tries his hand at a few high notes here, while Olbrich serves up an epic guitar solo. The peak of the song is a great chorus with those trademark epic harmonies. The somewhat more progressive »The Martyr«, a ‘story’ about the Passion of Jesus, is a kind of hybrid between the early speed metal and the later epic power metal Blind Guardian style. The drumming and the pulse of the bass lines are still distinctly speed metal through plenty of interesting transitions, while the lead guitar already radiates much more variety.
The title track, one of the album’s rawest moments, is a scathing critique of then-US president Ronald Reagan’s politics, delivered with a vocal performance full of rage. You could say it’s a rather atypical, rebellious number, with plenty of Iron Maiden influence audible in the guitar harmonies. The album closes with two instrumentals: »By the Gates of Moira«, which contains elements of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony ‘From the New World’ along with some epic guitar harmonies, and the bonus track »Gandalf’s Rebirth«, a nice ambient tribute to the miraculous rebirth of the good wizard Gandalf from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. »Gandalf’s Rebirth« was recorded back when the band was still Lucifer’s Heritage. It features their earlier drummer Hans-Peter Frey and earlier guitarist Christof Thiesen, who were in the band for only a very short time.
The ambitious debut from one of the finest bands on the German metal scene, »Battalions of Fear«, was still very much a speed metal record that wore the influence of some more established metal acts on its sleeve, but on a few tracks you could already hear Blind Guardian slowly but surely building a completely distinctive and thoroughly ambitious approach to epic power metal. Next to the Helloween debut, it’s without a doubt one of the better starts to a studio career from any act on the German power metal scene, even though the band has changed a lot stylistically since then, matured and progressed massively. On the very next album, »Follow the Blind« (1989), which was slightly darker, rawer and even a bit more thrash-tinged, you could already notice a slight step forward, as they used keyboards for the first time and slowly began to discover symphonic arrangements, which would take on an increasingly important place in their music.
Blind Guardian – Battalions Of Fear (full album):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LALDRn4j1XI
Lineup
1. Majesty (7:28)
2. Guardian of the Blind (5:09)
3. Trial by the Archon (1:41)
4. Wizard’s Crown (3:48)
5. Run for the Night (3:33)
6. The Martyr (6:14)
7. Battalions of Fear (6:06)
8. By the Gates of Moria (2:52)
Bonus track:
9.) Gandalf’s Rebirth (2:10)
Production
Kalle Trapp
Track list
Hansi Kürsch – vocals, bass guitar
André Olbrich – lead guitar, backing vocals
Marcus Siepen – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Thomas Stauch – drums
