Blind Guardian – The God Machine

After the massive, conceptual Beyond the Red Mirror – along with the Olbrich/Kursch symphonic excursion Legacy of the Dark Lands – Blind Guardian has returned to a more song-oriented approach on The God Machine. Not only are most of the songs shorter in duration, but the huge choral elements and cinematic excursions are less prominent. But this band varies little in essence release to release so fans know what to expect and won’t be disappointed as age has taken nothing from the grandeur, speed and energy of their iconic brand of German power metal.

“Deliver Us From Evil” and “Damnation” are two monstrously aggressive songs, the guitars and vocals driven to top speed by Ehmke’s blisteringly fast bass drum. The most epic song here would be “Secrets of the American Gods” with some of those choral elements, the progressive song structure and Kursch’s prolific lyrical exegesis. These songs all have plenty of metal bite, but I love the more defined riffage in a song like “Violent Shadows” which totally shreds – the guitar tones, solos and riffs suring the lyrical genius.

“Life Beyond the Spheres” once again taps into the BG universe and has a very catchy melodic chorus, somewhat uncharacteristic, yet refreshing for these guys. Love the slower groove, the keyboards, the effects – it all works so well. “Architects of Doom” once again throws down the aggression and the speed with epic proportions. I haven’t heard this much angst in BG for quite some time – their emphasis over the past 20 years more symphonic, progressive and cinematic. Much of this material digs back to early years!

“Let It Be No More” slows things down for the first time – the only ballad-like song on the release and man, does Kursch nail this. There is tendency to underate a metal voice as a true singer, but Kursch one again proves (as he has on previous BG releases and his contributions over the years to Ayreon) that he can sing and soar with the best melodic vocalists. The band mostly stays away on this release from their more “fantasy-folk” based songs, but “Destiny” – a strong closer – comes closest to that mark.

Once again produced by their long-time friend now Charlie Bauerfeind, the sound quality and EQ is wonderfully balanced and as equally as expansive as the music and lyrics themselves. Replete with 24-page booklet full of wonderful art and the ever-expansive/immersive lyrics of Hansi Kursch, the physical CD version doesn’t disappoint. I can’t really imagine any fans of Blind Guardian progressive power metal not loving this one, and certainly The God Machine will go down in the books as one of their heaviest.