Blind gaurdian live album
Tue Dec 4, 2007 7:46:43 PMQouted from metal-archives basically exactly how i feel.
"Metal live albums are, by and large, pointless. Most are poorly produced, feature mediocre performances and are released by bands that tour enough that just about anyone who may otherwise be interested in buying the live recordings has already seen them in person enough times to kill any interest. Blind Guardian’s new live double-disc, simply titled, Live, their second official live record overall, and their first since 1993’s Tokyo Tales is one of the few exceptions to this rule. Blind Guardian is a band that many people, especially in the U.S., where they’ve only toured once, have yet to see in person, making this 21-song compilation of the best performances from their world tour in support of last year’s A Night At The Opera album, an object of great interest to many fans by default. But what really makes this a special live record is that all, yes, ALL of the performances featured on it outshine the songs’ studio versions.
As much as Blind Guardian’s songwriting prowess and blending of traditional metal and over-the-top symphonic rock [a-la Queen] has made them one of the few metal bands to consistently stay on the cutting edge over the past decade, their last few studio albums have all been lacking in the production department. 1995’s Imaginations From the Other Side [produced by Flemming Rasmussen, of Metallica fame, incidentally] had a clear and crisp sound, but was lacking in the low-end, thus taking a lot of punch out of the band’s rapid rhythm guitars; 1998’s Nightfall In Middle-Earth had the band employing a lot of layered synths and choral vocals that often overpowered the guitars [which were far too polished sounding for many people’s tastes]; A Night At the Opera had the same problems as its predecessor, but magnified ten-fold – the whole album was so overproduced and pompous sounding that the band managed to lose a lot of the same people who managed to stick with them even through Nightfall. The guitars on Opera sounded very synthetic, and many of the best riffs on the album were drowned out almost entirely by 128 tracks of Hansi Kürsch’s operatic vocals.
In recording and mixing Live, the band apparently sought to work its way back into the hearts of the fans it lost in the mix of the last few studio albums by capturing the much rawer, more kinetic and guitar-driven feel of their live sets. The twin guitar attack of André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen is once again made the centerpiece of the band’s sound, and is finally allowed breathing room on the newer material [of the 21 songs, 6 come from Imaginations, and 4 each from Nightfall and Opera], and is allowed the chance to shine in a live setting, after being glossed over so much in the studio. Hearing to this record with a good set of headphones is an absolute must, because it gives the listener privy to all the nuances of the absolutely flawless performances – not only Siepen and Olbrich’s virtuoso riffing [check out, for example, the leads under the first two verses of 'Punishment Divine'... those were practically inaudible on the studio version], but also Kürsch’s amazing singing [if there was ever any doubt that he is one of, if not the best all around vocalist in all of metal, it should be gone with hearing how he sounds here] and Thomas Stauch’s frantic drumming. Hell, even the bass is audible here! It is unknown how much of the recording is overdubbed, but it really doesn’t matter. The point of this 2-disc set was clearly to give fans a different perspective of the band’s recent catalog, as well as presenting them with the best ever recordings of classic older songs such as 'Lost In The Twilight Hall', 'Valhalla', 'Majesty', and 'Journey Through The Dark' and it is more than successful in those respects. "
"Metal live albums are, by and large, pointless. Most are poorly produced, feature mediocre performances and are released by bands that tour enough that just about anyone who may otherwise be interested in buying the live recordings has already seen them in person enough times to kill any interest. Blind Guardian’s new live double-disc, simply titled, Live, their second official live record overall, and their first since 1993’s Tokyo Tales is one of the few exceptions to this rule. Blind Guardian is a band that many people, especially in the U.S., where they’ve only toured once, have yet to see in person, making this 21-song compilation of the best performances from their world tour in support of last year’s A Night At The Opera album, an object of great interest to many fans by default. But what really makes this a special live record is that all, yes, ALL of the performances featured on it outshine the songs’ studio versions.
As much as Blind Guardian’s songwriting prowess and blending of traditional metal and over-the-top symphonic rock [a-la Queen] has made them one of the few metal bands to consistently stay on the cutting edge over the past decade, their last few studio albums have all been lacking in the production department. 1995’s Imaginations From the Other Side [produced by Flemming Rasmussen, of Metallica fame, incidentally] had a clear and crisp sound, but was lacking in the low-end, thus taking a lot of punch out of the band’s rapid rhythm guitars; 1998’s Nightfall In Middle-Earth had the band employing a lot of layered synths and choral vocals that often overpowered the guitars [which were far too polished sounding for many people’s tastes]; A Night At the Opera had the same problems as its predecessor, but magnified ten-fold – the whole album was so overproduced and pompous sounding that the band managed to lose a lot of the same people who managed to stick with them even through Nightfall. The guitars on Opera sounded very synthetic, and many of the best riffs on the album were drowned out almost entirely by 128 tracks of Hansi Kürsch’s operatic vocals.
In recording and mixing Live, the band apparently sought to work its way back into the hearts of the fans it lost in the mix of the last few studio albums by capturing the much rawer, more kinetic and guitar-driven feel of their live sets. The twin guitar attack of André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen is once again made the centerpiece of the band’s sound, and is finally allowed breathing room on the newer material [of the 21 songs, 6 come from Imaginations, and 4 each from Nightfall and Opera], and is allowed the chance to shine in a live setting, after being glossed over so much in the studio. Hearing to this record with a good set of headphones is an absolute must, because it gives the listener privy to all the nuances of the absolutely flawless performances – not only Siepen and Olbrich’s virtuoso riffing [check out, for example, the leads under the first two verses of 'Punishment Divine'... those were practically inaudible on the studio version], but also Kürsch’s amazing singing [if there was ever any doubt that he is one of, if not the best all around vocalist in all of metal, it should be gone with hearing how he sounds here] and Thomas Stauch’s frantic drumming. Hell, even the bass is audible here! It is unknown how much of the recording is overdubbed, but it really doesn’t matter. The point of this 2-disc set was clearly to give fans a different perspective of the band’s recent catalog, as well as presenting them with the best ever recordings of classic older songs such as 'Lost In The Twilight Hall', 'Valhalla', 'Majesty', and 'Journey Through The Dark' and it is more than successful in those respects. "
Blind Guardian is amazing. Their live shit is good, their studio shit is good, I have yet to actually try their shit though.
Dude Lightning
I went 47 and 0 on that map. COUGH BUT SOME ASSHOLE HAD TO BETRAY ME HALFWAY THROUGH THE MATCH WITH THE BANSHEE COUGH
Dude Lightning
Blind Guardian is ok. But I agree. Most metal stuff, especially in the Power Metal genre is typically sounds like crap because of poor production. Sometimes I really wonder if anyone listened to it before it was released. It's beyond my comprehension that some record companies would release some albums that sound that bad. Usually the band isn't the problem, it's the production.
"I knew it. I'm surrounded by a$$holes!"
aye but honestly as a metal band, your band should sound exactly the same live as they do on album (excluding industrial like metal) or its just dumb in my opinion. and blind guardian is by far probably the best power metal live performance, if not the best live out of any genre of metal.
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