BLIND GUARDIAN - The God Machine (2022) (2024)

Celebrating almost four decades as a band, BLIND GUARDIAN has been one of the metal universe's most celebrated progressively tinged power metal bands with an amazing consistency of top notch innovation. The band has been quiet for quite a few years however with 2015's "Beyond The Red Mirror" serving as the last metal based album. The band surprised its fanbase in 2019 with the non-metal cinematic orchestral classical release "Legacy of the Dark Lands" leaving fans to ponder the next step in the band's ever-increasing move into the world of classical music.

Well fears of Hansi Kürsch steering the band into the world of musical soundtracks have been put to rest with the band's 13th album THE GOD MACHINE which finds the band once again releasing its inner beast and cranking out the symphonic power metal that made the band famous in the 1990s. This fine return to form also finds newbie bassist Johan van Stratum joining the team for a satisfying assault of the senses in pure adrenaline fueled top of the line power metal. Comparisons to the band's 90s albums ranging from "Tales From The Twilight World" to "Imaginations From The Other Side" are fairly accurate as the band has jettisoned the overly progressive complexities for a more straight forward head banging approach.

In other words it's back to the basics for BLIND GUARDIAN but with top notch songwriting and stellar vocal and musical performances, it has been easy to forget what amazing power metal powerhouses the guys in this band have been and with all excesses trimmed down to more hard-hitting directness, BLIND GUARDIAN has delivered an excellent set of nine tracks reminiscent of the 90s run only improved upon in many ways including a stellar modern production job and a reminder that these guys haven't lost all that music magic that made them the superstars they are.

THE GOD MACHINE basically delivers two styles. First there are the thrash fueled power metal tracks that blow the roof off the house including the opening "Deliver Us From Evil," "Violent Shadows" and the soul-crushing "Blood Of The Elves." Of course BLIND GUARDIAN has also been adept at crafting slower harmony led track and in this case excels with the mid-tempo rocker "Life Beyond The Spheres" and "Let It Be No More." The pacing of the album is well balanced and the dramatic intros that lead up to the power metal fury is all crafted into a perfect blend of modern vs old school power metal splendor.

Like many such retreats into past glories, THE GOD MACHINE certainly garners the criticism that the band is simply retreading that which it has done before and in that regard all is certainly true but when a band is fueling all its fiery passion and delivers the goods so compellingly well then it is indeed a welcome return to the no frills approach that has been adapted to the modern world. While not the pinnacle of BLIND GUARDIAN's discography in terms of originality, the quality of this album is absolutely astounding and for that reason i'm finding this to be quite a welcome return to form indeed although i must say that i have also been a fan of the band's more experimental moments of the last decade.

All in all these metal veterans play with the zeal of their youth of several decades ago and do so without missing a beat. True that this style of power metal is predictable and by the books in pretty much every way but when performed so well by seasoned veterans sometimes it's much preferable to eschew the progressive orchestral excesses for the sake of just rocking out. The band spent many years crafting the intricate melodies and the time spent paying attention to the details has more than paid off.