Blind Guardian

And Then There Was Silence (Century Media)
by Scott Hefflon

OK, this is getting a little silly, isn’t it? (Getting?) This two-song, 18-minute EP took four months to record, and word has it that the 14-minute title track (lyrically based on the Trojan War) “required” over 128 tracks, including 50 for the vocals and 30 for the guitars.

Classic heavy metal is all about overkill, layered to the ceiling harmonies and spirally solos and fills and “oooh” synths and glockenspiels and every kind of bell’n’whistle the band could dig out of the closest. I once doubled a guitar melody on a kazoo, just to be a dick, but that was on an eight-track, so you can only imagine what kinda goofy/geeky details these dorks’ll talk about when interviewed in the rapidly-dwindling number of metal mags in North America.
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