Best of 2022, Part 1: Blind Guardian, Megadeth, Soilwork, Ward Davis, Disturbed

If there was one good thing that came out of the misery of 2020, it seems that a lot of artists used their lockdown time to create fantastic albums that trickled out through the year. For me, 2022 was an embarrassment of musical riches that featured some rock steady releases, some fantastic returns to form and even a couple of new discoveries.

The year wasn’t without its disappointments, and some of them were tough ones. The much-anticipated return of King’s X after a 14-year absence, for example, just didn’t connect with me the way that I’d hoped. But those were anomalies this year and certainly not the norm. I can’t remember the last time that I had 20 albums that I wanted to talk about at the end of the year, but here we are:

No. 20. HORIZON IGNITED – TOWARDS THE DYING LANDS: The second album for Finland’s Horizon Ignited was my introduction to the band. What they deliver on this first Best of 2022 honoree is not ground-breaking, but it’s very well-done melodic death metal in the vein of Soilwork and In Flames. Unfortunately for them, they were competing this year with a new record from Soilwork and four incredible songs from In Flames’ upcoming record, due in early 2023. That said, Towards the Dying Land is still a very enjoyable 40-ish minutes, and “Reveries” remains one of my favorite songs of the year.

Standout songs: “Reveries,” “Beyond Your Reach,” “Towards the Dying Lands,” “Servant,” “Eventide of Abysmal Grief”

Review: Demons & Wizards, "III"

Overview

Fans have waited 15 years for the third album from Demons & Wizards, the side project of Blind Guardian vocalist Hansi Kursch and Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer. Was it worth the wait? That probably depends on how much you like the music their respective bands have pumped out in recent years.

What's hot?

Album opener "Diabolic" sets a high bar for the rest of the record. It's a dark, classic D&W-sounding piece, with a chorus lyric and melody designed to bring to mind their 2000 self-titled debut, in particular the song "Heaven Denies." Kursch's voice retains its power, though the melodies he's singing sometimes leave much to be desired. There's an interesting hard rock influence that comes in, particularly on "Invincible" and the AC/DC- and WASP-inspired "Midas Disease." I think they should have explored that sound just a little more.

Saturday Shuffle: Blind Guardian, Ratt, Hendrix, Iced Earth, White Zombie

This week we travel from one of the earliest tunes of hard rock to one of the most recent ...

"Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)," Blind Guardian. From the album Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998). Just one of many majestic tracks from Blind Guardian's masterwork based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Silmarillion." The song, which tells the story of the Noldor elves, has some nice changes of pace with huge, soaring chorus harmonies, blazing metal moments and some nice symphonic touches.

Review: Iced Earth, "Plagues of Babylon"

These days, I approach a new Iced Earth record with both high hopes and a little trepidation.

Once upon a time, Iced Earth was pretty close to what I’d consider the perfect band. They struck that sweet spot for me in their blend of heaviness, speed and melody. Guitarist and founder Jon Schaffer could play with blazing speed and crunch, but vocalist Matt Barlow — and later, Tim Owens — were actually great singers that balanced that out and gave things a bit of a darker vibe.

Then something happened. After two albums with Owens, who many fans for some reason never embraced, he left the band in 2007 in favor of Barlow, who had come back to music after a stint in law enforcement inspired by Sept. 11.

Saturday Shuffle: Motorhead, Nirvana, Blind Guardian, Primus, Thorogood

It's kind of all over the rock world this week ...

Motorhead, “Ace of Spades.” From the album Ace of Spades (1980). How easy does it get? I really don’t think I need to say anything about this tune. Just push play and let Lemmy and Co. rip your face off.

15 Years, 15 Records: 2002, Members of Pantera, COC get Down again

There was some serious competition in 2002, but it’s an easy choice for me. The Southern sludge of Down’s second release remains an all-time favorite record of mine. After beginning as a side project between Pantera’s Phil Anselmo, Corrosion of Conformity’s Pepper Keenan, Crowbar’s Kirk Windstein and Eyehategod’s Jimmy Bower – all from New Orleans – the band released its first record, NOLA, in 1995 and disappeared for seven years as the members returned to their respective bands.

In 2002, as Pantera was falling apart, the band unleashed Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, now also featuring Pantera’s Rex Brown on bass. The album was a little groovier and a little more Southern than the band’s first outing.

15 Years, 15 Records: 1998, Iced Earth burns it up

In the second year of the series, I have another three-way dilemma. Iced Earth’s iconic Something Wicked This Way Comes, my favorite Blind Guardian record, Nightfall in Middle-Earth, and the very solid Wake of Magellan by one of my favorite bands, Savatage, were all released in 1998. Because it’s their strongest work, I chose Something Wicked.

Though he was the third singer in Iced Earth, Matt Barlow had already made his mark with two new studio records – Burnt Offerings and the Dark Saga – and a collection of re-recorded songs from the band’s earlier records – Days of Purgatory. But it was on Something Wicked that it appeared the ever-revolving lineup of Iced Earth might be close to becoming a unified band. That’s not to say the earlier albums were sloppy, but this seemed to be a tighter, more well-rounded record.

What a concept: 10 metal tales worth exploring

The concept album, over the years, has become a staple of the metal genre. Though there are claims to the origin of the concept album stretching back to the 1930s (or I suppose you could argue that operas were the first concept albums), the form probably reached the public consciousness in the 1960s with bands like The Beatles and The Who. In the 1970s, the concept album became the provenance of prog rock. The hard rock and metal bands of the late 1970s and the 1980s soon jumped on board, and since then, just about every metal band that wanted to seem “epic” has given it a shot, and many of them have been dreadful. It’s a tricky proposition, the balance between story and music, the thin line between the almost necessary bombast of a concept album and pretentious self-indulgement. Proven, and even legendary bands (*cough,cough*Judas Priest*coughcough*), have failed in the attempt.

Review: Blind Guardian, "At the Edge of Time"

I remember when I used to get excited about a new Blind Guardian release, but since their 1998 masterpiece Nightfall in Middle Earth, everything they’ve released has been somewhat disappointing. That, unfortunately, doesn’t change much with their latest, At the Edge of Time.

For me, this record is often maddeningly frustrating as it offers short blasts of the Blind Guardian I love only to settle back into the boring, middle of the road stuff found on 2006’s A Twist in the Myth. The opening track “Sacred Worlds,” which clocks in at 9:20, pretty much encapsulates the whole record.

Review: Witches Mark, "A Grim Apparition"

In all honesty, when I think of Austin, Texas, power metal isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Witches Mark, apparently, is making a valiant attempt to change that.

This four-song EP doesn’t convince me that can happen, but it’s also not a bad set of songs either. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d guess that this was a European band. Even vocalist Michael Lance has a few inflections that suggest the European movement.

Review: Demons and Wizards, "Touched by the Crimson King"

Imagine it's the mid-1980s and a new album has just hit the shelves featuring Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing on guitar and Bruce Dickinson on vocals. So, neither Iced Earth nor Blind Guardian have had the incredible success or influence of Judas Priest or Iron Maiden, but for modern power metal fans the teaming of guitarist Jon Schaffer and vocalist Hansi Kursch is akin to that mythical pairing. It’s the best guitar riffs in the genre meeting the best vocals in the genre.

The two became friends as road dogs. Throughout the 1990s, the two bands toured Europe relentlessly, often together. Finally in the late 1990s, when Schaffer visited Kursch in Germany, the two sat down and jammed together. The result of that jam session was their first song, "My Last Sunrise," and eventually the 1999 self-titled debut from Demons and Wizards. It was a blazing album that rivaled the best work of their regular bands, but because of the schedules of Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, Demons and Wizards didn’t get to tour much beyond some European festivals. That’s also the reason it took six years for the two to get together and record another album – and again it doesn’t appear they’ll get to do more than a few shows in support of it.

"Touched by the Crimson King" opens with a nice operatic approach on the title track, which reminds me a bit of Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana" or Jerry Goldsmith’s "Ave Satani." The rest of the song isn’t very different from what listeners heard on the band’s first album. It ranges from supercharged power metal runs to chugging traditional metal bits to haunting interludes to the operatic choruses. There are plenty of big, dramatic flourishes throughout the album, but they never cross over into the melodramatic as a lot of power metal bands do.

Schaffer and Kursch break from other power metal bands in other ways, as well. For one thing, there’s a great deal of variety on this album. "Terror Train" is a full-on power metal burner, with impossibly fast riffs from Schaffer, while "Beneath These Waves" is a mid-tempo tune that relies on some infectious melodic bits. The downside of that strategy comes on the melancholy "Down Where I Am." Lyrically, it’s a very dark song that requires a great deal of emotion, and I just never seem to get the full sadness from the vocals that should be there. It’s the only real misstep on the album, though. The other slow songs, "Seize the Day" and "Wicked Witch" both work incredibly well.

No Kursch album would be complete without literary references, and "Touched by the Crimson King" is peppered with them, beginning with the William Blake reference in the title. There’s also a nod to Stephen King’s Dark Tower series ("The Gunslinger"), "The Wizard of Oz" ("Wicked Witch") and Oscar Wilde’s "The Picture of Dorian Gray" ("Dorian"). Of the literary songs, the best is "Dorian," which has an irresistible traditional riff and an epic feel. The most interesting, on the other hand, is probably "Wicked Witch," which offers a sympathetic take on the character that’s one of the ultimate big bads in both literature and film.

If the album has one problem, it’s an issue shared by most power metal albums – the production is a bit thin. It’s not surprising in a genre that’s so focused on vocals and guitar. I can’t help but think how incredibly powerful this album would be if some of those super-fast double-bass lines were actually thumping you in the chest or if the punctuating drums on the title track or "Dorian" really thundered like they should. It’s not that the production is bad, just that it could have been more.

If you’re familiar with Blind Guardian and Iced Earth, the talent level on the album is exactly what you’d expect. Schaffer’s riffs are as fast, tight and precise as they come. I’ll admit that Kursch’s voice will probably be an acquired taste for some due to his thick German accent, but in terms of range and versatility, you won’t find a much better singer in the power metal genre. Both are in fine form here.

Kursch and Schaffer close the album solidly with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s "Immigrant Song." I’ve been waiting for a power metal band to take this song and really kick serious ass with it for a long time. It’s such a perfect song for the genre, from the riff to the lyrical content. Quite a few have tried, but Demons and Wizards are the first to finally nail it. Ultimately, I don’t think "Touched by the Crimson King" is quite as good as the 1999 album, which was a bit more fast-paced and had more of a medieval feel, but it’s still an outstanding offering. I only hope we don’t have to wait six more years for another one.

Get "Touched by the Crimson King."

Review: Blind Guardian, "Live"

If you're a fan of Blind Guardian, this two-CD collection of some of the best songs from the band's seven studio albums is a must-have. If you're not a fan, this collection of tunes fueled by fantasy and legend is a fantastic introduction.

The album, recorded at venues all over Europe and Asia, show that the rest of the world knows what the American metal community is just starting to pick up on - that Blind Guardian is one of the most original and distinctive bands out there.

"Live" provides a quick overview of the band's progression from a fairly straightforward power metal outfit on songs like "Majesty" and "Valhalla" to the symphonic powerhouse they've become on numbers like "Nightfall" and "The Soulforged."

The focus on the album, is on the later, more complex works. They play six of the nine songs on "Imaginations From the Other Side" and five tunes from "Nightfall in Middle-Earth."

The album provides more than two hours of Blind Guardian in fine form, making the smooth transition from blistering power metal to minstrel songs. It's the latter that often get the bigger reaction from the crowd.

Numbers like "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" get the crowd clapping along, and the audience is singing louder than vocalist Hansi Kursch on "Lord of the Rings." (I still think Peter Jackson missed a great opportunity by not getting this song somewhere in the film trilogy; it's a perfect fit.)

The performances are solid, the fan reaction is fantastic and it's two solid hours of Blind Guardian. What more could you ask for?

Get "Live."

Interview: Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian

In the 14 years since the release of their debut album, Germany's Blind Guardian has accomplished a lot. They've released six albums and risen to the top of the power metal crowd. They've conquered audiences all over the world, playing to sold out houses in Europe and Japan. But in all that time, they've never played a show in the United States.

That changed this month, when the band of J.R.R. Tolkien devotees launched a month-long assault on the States.

Singer and bassist Hansi Kursch says the band is glad to finally be able to play for its American fans.

"It's like a dream come true - a very fresh dream," he says in a phone interview from his native Germany. "About five years back, I did not even think about it, but ever since Century Media released our previous album, `Nightfall in Middle-Earth,' I'm really blown away. We've set up quite an impressive U.S. tour. It's a big deal for us."

Kursch says he realizes that the crowds here in the U.S. will be smaller than those they've played to in Europe, but the band is prepared for that.

"It's a challenge, but we are used to it," he says. "Some years back - let's say 10 or 12 years back - we had the same size crowds over here in Europe, so we are prepared. It's still something special."

The band is expecting good turnout for their first shows in the U.S., and Kursch says ticket presales are going well. He says Blind Guardian has a solid fan base in the States. Some are so devoted they'll even make the trip overseas to see the band.

"We've played several festivals over here in Europe, and you would be surprised at how many people from the States come over just to see us," he says.

For American fans who haven't seen the band live, Kursch says to expect some surprises. Many of Blind Guardian's songs are complex compositions that are difficult to perform live. For example, the 14-minute epic "And Then There Was Silence," from their latest album "A Night at the Opera," took four months and 128 tracks to record. But Kursch says fans will be surprised by what the band can do.

"Some of them are difficult, but we can minimize that in terms of focusing on the more important pieces in the song," he says. "On the album they appear impossible to play in a live situation, but skilled musicians can play them."

Blind Guardian may be best known for their connections with Tolkien. Their 1999 release "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" was a concept album based on Tolkien's tales, and they've written a number of individual songs based on his works. Kursch says it's something that evolved naturally.

"I got hooked on (Tolkien) as a kid and never really got it out of mind," he says. "When we started songwriting in Blind Guardian, we immediately figured out that we were all infected by that story, so parts of the music really went that direction in almost a natural way. When I started working on the lyrics, I had the impression that the music really demanded that type of lyric."

Kursch says a large number of people have discovered Blind Guardian through the Tolkien themes, but just as many metal fans have said they discovered Tolkien through Blind Guardian's music.

With the penchant for Tolkien-themed songs comes a segment of the band's fan base that wants them to write nothing but songs based on the "Lord of the Rings" writers' works. Kursch says that doesn't bother him, though.

"Not at all - I like to work on Tolkien topics, but I as well like to work on independent topics," he says. "I've been criticized for both, but I don't mind because I usually do what I think is best for the songs."

Before the U.S. leg of the tour began, Kursch also spent a few days with his friend Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth to work on a second album with their side project Demons & Wizards, which he hopes will be released some time next year.

But Kursch is really just ready to get out and play for the American crowds. He says after the long production schedule for their last album and extensive touring in Europe, the band is looking forward to the new experience and an injection of fresh enthusiasm.

"We're really longing to come to the U.S. and get some fresh energy - we're like vampires," he jokes. "It will be a blast."