BLIND GUARDIAN

BLIND GUARDIAN's last album, "A Night At the Opera", was the sonic equivalent of a brownie sundae. One the size of a large mixing bowl. A couple bites were awesome, but the whole thing was just too rich, too huge, too filling… just too everything. Stomachaches and the need for a restorative nap often resulted.

Having painted themselves into a bit of a corner, it's not surprising that the bards would release this single, months before the expected due date of their new opus, to assure fans that all was right in the BLIND GUARDIAN camp. And is it ever — "Fly" is a classic song, hearkening back to older and simpler times in the band's history. It's catchy and it swings, it's got their patented bombast with the layers of studio glop sandblasted off, and it's possessed of an urgency that's refreshing. It needn't be said that Hansi Kürsch is in fine voice, the man ensconced firmly in the "can do no wrong" camp of metal singers. (For anyone wondering, new drummer Frederik Ehmke acquits himself quite nicely, too, and even contributes flute to the proceedings.)

"Fly" still retains an epic feel, because BLIND GUARDIAN wrote the song to be that way, without relying on dizzying piles of studio overdubs. The song ebbs and flows, with exotic keyboards accenting quiet parts full of hushed vocals and propulsive tom-tom drumming from Ehmke, while the rhythm guitars are wide open, simple and — dare I say it — focused more on rocking out than building walls of sound. This is music made to carry across open-air festival fields and reverberate off the back walls of concert halls — very stirring.

"Skalds and Shadows" is another in the line of "Bard's Song" exercises, evocative acoustic ballads dripping with medieval pathos and an orchestrated, Tolkien-ian vibe that sends shivers down the spine. BLIND GUARDIAN couldn't write a bad song in this style if they tried – while it may not be as memorable as "The Bard's Song", it's definitely a worthy addition to the canon.

And that brings us, of course, to "In A Gadda Da Vida". I suppose if nothing else it had to be a challenge for the band's Teutonic minds, to apply German engineering and precision one of the all-time sloppiest, drunkest, most drug-damaged trainwrecks of a studio jam to ever hit the charts (second only, perhaps, to the less ambitious "Wild Thing"). Hell, even when SLAYER tackled "In A Godda Da Vida", they did it in such a crocked, shambling manner as to suggest the song bested them, forcing them to down mass quantities of bad draft beer after losing a bet.

But for better and for worse, BLIND GUARDIAN tame this shaggy, ugly, unlovable sonofabitch of a song, making it their own, but managing to wring all the charm out of it while failing to rise it above novelty status. It's certainly not a bad cover, but given the choice, I doubt anyone would choose it over a third original song. Again, though, Kürsch could sing a pizza takeout menu and make your metal blood boil — when he hits that "pleeeeease take my HAAAAAAAAND" line in the chorus, all is forgiven.

With this EP as a teaser, doubts about BLIND GUARDIAN's future should be put to rest, so the metal world can get on with the feverish anticipation for their next full-length. Exhilarating.