Follow The Blind - Blind Guardian CD Review

Blind Guardian CD Review  – Follow The Blind

Follow the Blind

Year of release: 1989
Number of songs: 10
Total running time: 43 minutes 2 seconds

This second album from the German power metal act Blind Guardian is a great follow up to the first record and filled with the power of that record.

Blind Guardian - Follow The Blind

"Inquisition" an instrumental intro to this great album. "Banish From Sanctuary" fast and furious from the start and filled with the guitar breaks that later became a trademark of Blind Guardian. Oh a great powerful song with power metal elements flying left and right. Great chorus on this track, easy to sing along to. This is one of those songs I have to find my air guitar and play my ass off. "Damned For All Time" continues the vein from the previous track and maybe even faster. The vocals by Hansi kicks ass; he has a real mean voice on this track. The drums sound like rolling thunder and they are not slowing down. Great power metal track, to headbang along to. "Follow The Blind" the title track of this record is also the longest track on the album. It has some great drum work that reminds me of some of the drum work by Iron Maiden. This song has a great structure. It is not just power all the way, but also some soft places, not really soft, but not as hard as the previous track. A great metal song, which this band can be very proud of indeed. Also a very powerful track in another way than the previous tracks have been. "Hall Of The King" back to the power metal again, wow that is fast metal. I like the intensity of this track. It has something great about it, I just can´t put my finger on what it is. The anger of the power is great and the vocals are even greater. I like the voice of Hansi. "Fast To Madness" has a great start with some great musically experiments and a choir singing in the background. Then back to the vein of all the previous tracks, great. At times this song has an early Iron Maiden feel to it. This track has great power in, and a better production then the previous record. "Beyond The Ice" very powerful instrumental intro to the next song. "Valhalla" a great track indeed. One of my favorites on this album and in the star of Blind Guardian. With Kai Hansen (ex-Helloween/Gamma ray/ex-Iron Savior) on guest vocals and that kicks ass. He has such a great voice for this track. The chorus is great to and it kicks ass, and when they played this one live in Wacken 2002 I went crazy on my air guitar. "Don´t Break The Circle" bonus track on the cd edition of this album. Very powerful track. I don´t know why it was left of the vinyl edition, perhaps lack of space. It has a very fast guitar part and the drums are fast as well. Real power metal. "Barbara Ann" a cool cover song, transformed into a powerful metal version. This album kicks ass as did the first Blind Guardian album. It is just as fast, but on this one they seem to experiment more with the musical side of the album. And this is what will become the things I love most about this classic metal band.

Editor: Peter Jerman