With today’s single release, German metal giants BLIND GUARDIAN throw ‘Violent Shadows’ on these hot summer days. In this pulsing track, the band delivers another epic track foreshadowing the release of their new album “The God Machine” – out on September 2ndvia Nuclear Blast Records. ‘Violent Shadows’ is an onslaught of thrashy riffs and relentless drumming, presenting itself as one of the most straightforward bangers of the album.
The song is supported by a performance video impressively capturing the band’s live charisma. Serving as a perfect appetizer for BLIND GUARDIAN‘s live shows this summer and autumn, check out the video below.
Singer Hansi Kürsch states: “Since our WWW Virtual Wacken Performance, ‘Violent Shadows’ threw a massive, already overpowering shade on the expectations of The God Machine. We were pretty aware of the effects that the number would develop. The message is quite clear in my opinion: We’re able to go straightforward! With the single release, you get a very concise impression of the album’s precision and intensity. Just one more thing: Everybody who thinks that the wait for the remaining five songs isn’t worth it, is completely wrong! Every single song is a firework and shines even brighter in context. Remember my words, enjoy ‘Violent Shadows’, and pre-order “The God Machine”. Today, September 2nd’s already yesterday.”
Hansi Kürsch comments, “We didn’t want to rehash our qualities from 1995, but didn’t want to continue down this complex path forever either. “The God Machine” is a new beginning for us. We’ve set a new course and gone back to certain things that we’ve neglected a bit on the last few albums.”
“The God Machine” marks another pinnacle in BLIND GUARDIAN’s impressive discography by not attempting to pretend it is still the nineties yet instead successfully relying on the muscle memory of this period. It is a gripping, addictive, and brilliantly arranged album in the tradition of records with which BLIND GUARDIAN reached for the stars in the 90s; yet, by no means, is it a throwback. “The God Machine” represents the heart and soul of BLIND GUARDIAN’s timeless metal in the here and now, unifying the bards’ past, present, and future secrets in one consistent, well-thought-out masterpiece.
Pre-order the album HERE.“The God Machine” track listing:
1. Deliver Us From Evil (5:22)
2. Damnation (5:21)
3. Secrets Of The American Gods (7:29)
4. Violent Shadows (4:18)
5. Life Beyond The Spheres (6:03)
6. Architects Of Doom (6:21)
7. Let It Be No More (4:49)
8. Blood Of The Elves (4:38)
9. Destiny (6:47)
“The God Machine” Album Artwork
This past March, BLIND GUARDIAN released a performance video for “Secrets Of The American Gods”. The clip was filmed during the recording sessions for the band’s new album at the Twilight Hall Studios between March 2020 and 2021. At the time, BLIND GUARDIAN singer Hansi Kürsch commented: “With ‘Secrets Of The American Gods’, we proudly present you the epic side of our new album that’s going to be released in September. This single edit focuses on the essence of this magnificent composition and gives you an insight into our creative work in these eventful times. The vivid construction of this song circles around its core, the monumental chorus — hopefully the ‘American Gods’ worthy. A thoroughly felicitious ear candy, in my opinion. I promise you, it’s not easy to get rid of the refrain. The tracks gets completed with the fantastic making-of-clip that Dirk Behlau created. Enjoy the moment and keep the secret: Be assured that we still haven’t played all our cards and still have some aces up our sleeves.”
Three months earlier, BLIND GUARDIAN released the official music video for another new single, “Deliver Us From Evil”. Filmed by Dirk Behlau, the clip was said to be a taste of the band’s new LP. “Deliver Us From Evil” was made available digitally as well as on a seven-inch single (along with the previously released “Merry Xmas Everybody” as the B-side) and digipak CD (with the previously released “Violent Shadows” Wacken World Wide 2020 live performance as extra track).
At the time, Kürsch stated: “We know that the gap between now and the album release in late 2022 is painfully long. Neither we nor our label could defy the current worldwide economic crisis. A long story short: There is no one to blame for this situation. With ‘Deliver Us From Evil’, you will get another sweet appetizer of a very intense and vivid album that will hopefully raise your joyful anticipation until our next strike. At least, it would do it for me, but luckily I already know the whole album. Talking about anticipation, even though ‘Violent Shadows’ and ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ are indisputably fantastic tracks, rest assured: We won’t let you wait another ten months with only two songs. I promise you that you will always be blown away. Cheers to the digital era and its endless possibilities. Oh, and the album title. There is one but I won’t tell you yet. This would be giving away far too much right now.”
BLIND GUARDIAN‘s latest release was the all-orchestral album “Twilight Orchestra: Legacy Of The Dark Lands”, which came out in November 2019 via Nuclear Blast. To create the concept, lead guitarist André Olbrich and Kürsch worked alongside German bestselling author Markus Heitz, whose latest novel, “Die Dunklen Lande”, was released in March 2019. The book is set in 1629 and contains the prequel to “Legacy Of The Dark Lands”.
BLIND GUARDIAN‘s last “regular” studio album, “Beyond The Red Mirror”, was issued in 2015. It was the band’s first LP since 2010’s “At The Edge Of Time”, marking the longest gap between two studio albums in BLIND GUARDIAN‘s career. It was also the group’s first album without bassist Oliver Holzwarth since 1995’s “Imaginations From The Other Side”.
