Returning with their epic new album “At The Edge Of Time”, Blind Guardian once again stamp themselves as one of the leading metal bands in the world.  Since 1988, the band have released album after album of innovative metal transcending the lines of speed metal, progressive metal, power metal, symphonic orchestral arrangements and celtic influences, combined with epic fantasy like lyrical themes.  “At The Edge Of Time” is no exception and having released a cover of the Australian rock classic “You’re The Voice” originally performed by John Farnham which has already gained radio airplay in Australia, the reputation of Blind Guardian is set to extend even beyond the metal community.

Still recovering from the World Cup exit of Germany just hours earlier, the bands lead singer Hansi Kursch revealed some fascinating insights into the writing and recording process for “At The Edge Of Time” as well as explaining just how the band came to cover John Farnham.

“At The Edge Of Time” is due for release via Nuclear Blast in Europe on July 30 and America on August 24 and in Australia will be distributed by Riot Entertainment!

Hansi, thanks for taking the time to chat with May The Rock Be With You ”At The Edge Of Time” is a few weeks away from being released now in Europe, you must be looking forward to finally letting the fans hear your latest “epic”….

Definitely, it's always the biggest challenge you know.  The first step is to accomplish the album, the second is reveal it to the journalists, but the biggest obstacle and the biggest question mark is always the fans and how they will relate to the album because that is who you are doing the album for!  So far I am very confident, I must say because even during the songwriting we felt like this must be the kind of album that will attract the fans who are already into Blind Guardian and maybe even people who are not familiar with the band.  It is a very metal sounding album that defines the band in a very accurate way I think.

Musically, you have a crossover appeal into various genres of Metal and I am sure this is represented by the fans of Blind Guardian worldwide.  Do you see “At The Edge Of Time” satisfying all categories of Blind Guardian fans?

Yes I think so, this album really stands out because of it's quality and diversity.  As you mentioned we do have different genres we have covered over the years.  There are fans that support the thrash metal Blind Guardian, some follow the Celtic way and others the progressive way and then there is also the orchestral bombastic direction.  In a very positive way this album is a stong compromise between all of these elements.  I'm pretty sure even the very old school sceptic Blind Guardian fans will find some very nice spots on the album.

It’s been about four years since your last album “A Twist In The Myth” was released, how long did it take you to write and record this album?

Well if you took everything together you would end up with something like two and a half years.  We had one and a half years of touring but there was no songwriting in between that.  After finishing the touring for “A Twist In The Myth” in November 2007, we immediately started working on a song called "Sacred" for the computer game so from that point on we really kept a focus on the songwriting.  We did take some vacation in between, but given we are four people and we each have a word in the songwriting arrangements, there was always someone working on the songs.

With the "epic" like and fantasy based nature of your songs, how do you tackle the songwriting, does the music come first or lyrics/storyline and then music?

In 95% of cases it's the music that comes first because I feel you need a certain approach in the music to come up with the right lyrical element.  It probably would work the other way around you know and we have done that in some places where I have come up with a lyrical concept first.  But for me it's easier to follow the musical road first and then come up with the lyrical issues.  Once the music has reached a certain level and resembles an accomplished sound arrangement then I start digging for the right lyrical issues.  In normal cases the music speaks such clear language that you don't have any doubts about the topic.  

In the case from the very beginning when we did the song “Majesty” for example on “Batallions Of Fear” it was very natural from the very beginning that this song would be about Lord Of The Rings, there wasn't even a discussion.  This rarely happens nowadays as there is always discussion about which direction the lyrics could go.  I do a lot of research when it comes to the lyrics. Not just the stories themselves but also about the author and the environment the story was written and that inspires me to come up with a different perspective either on the story or some thoughts the story has inspired.

Lyrically are there any key lyrical themes on the album?

Not necessarily, “At The Edge Of Time” the title itself speaks as a clear language, as most of our material is generally connected to time.  Time is a very essential issue for Blind Guardian in general and on this album lyrically I have some very strong links to time.

What are some of your favourite or most proudest songs on the new album?

Well firstly I have to mention ‘Wheel Of Time’ because that was the toughest one to complete.  The song went in so many different directions, it was first meant to be a song composed for the orchestral album but it had such an individual character that it was impossible to keep it in there.  Then we really had to fight to turn it into something that would fit onto a metal album.  Musically I like the interaction on this song between heavy band orchestration and real orchestration.  Lyrically and musically I also have to name a “Voice In The Dark” which is a very intense song and reminds me very much of our very early material which many people had thought we would never do again, as well as including some strong elements connected to “Night At The Opera” and “A Twist In The Myth”.  That shows how good the combination of different styles can work and gives justice to everything we have done in the past.  Lyrically I think I did justice to George Martin’s story of ice and fire where I relate to a very short description in the book where I am relating to one of the main protagonists and I think my descriptions of visions and of consequences worked out very nicely.

So is it fair to say that based on what you have just said, “Voice In The Dark” was an obvious choice for the first single?

Yes it was an obvious choice in the end due to it's intensity that would make an impact with the core die hard Blind Guarduan fans from the 80's and 90's who see the song as a strong thrash or power metal kind of song.

And you have just recorded a video for the song too, what can you reveal about that?

Yes we have recorded it and I have just seen the first sections of it.  It's an animation video with some performance to be mixed in.  It deals with the lyrical topic and that's what I like so much, the lyrical issue of ice and fire.  I tried to get as far away from the story as possible but still capturing the major elements of the story.  The same thing happened with the producer of the video who took my lyrics and used then to shape the direction of what he understood to be the lyrical intentions. He delivered it into a story about a shaman who is going to sacrifice a boy.  If you really check out these three elements - the story of ice and fire, the song “Voice In The Dark” and then the video...it all combined greatly but they do speak different languages about the same thing.  The video should hopefully be finished in the next 10 days.

You have released a cover of “You're The Voice”, an Australian classic song performed by John Farnham.  How did you even know this song and what was the compelling reason to do a cover of this song?

You would be surprised how successful that song is here in Germany.  For me this song is a 23 year long story.  If you turn on the commercial radio you will still be able to hear that song played twice, maybe three times a day.  It is one of the most successful radio songs here in Germany and was a number 1 hit back in the 80's.  That was around the time we were recording "Batallions Of Fear" and I did nothing else but listen to metal music back then.  I literally hated all other music because I was so dedicated to heavy metal back then as most kids were at that time.  Then suddenly “You're The Voice” came out and it was played everywhere.  Then one of the producers who were working with us at the time and was one of the best vocalists I have ever met and who sung on every Blind Guardian album since "Batallions Of Fear" as a backing vocalist, well he said if you want to listen to a vocalist who is better than any other vocalist going around, then check out John Farnham. So I carefully started listen to John Farnham and that song.  It is a song with a very strong attitude attracting me as a very pure metal head!  Ever since then I had a passion for that song, as did Andre.  When we were taking about recording a cover version for this album, this was the first song that came to mind.  Literally, I think that the songs chorus has had an effect on Blind Guardian over the years.  It has similar elements with a catchy melody and a strong hook line that everyone can sing along with, but has a high amount of quality in there and they were the key factors in knowing it would be suited to us recording it and I hope we did justice to the song!

Blind Guardian has existed for over 20 years, what are your thoughts on where metal is at in 2010? 

I think it's progressing in the right way, even though I can't begin to count all the different genres of metal around these days, but I think all in all it's metal music.  I think in the last 10 years there has been a significant progression in many areas and I am really happy to see there are people picking up metal music and driving into into sometimes suprisung new directions.  Whether it's a band like Tool. System Of A Down or Disturbed or even Meshuggah, these bands really come out with new ideas even though more traditional bands like Nevermore they deliver high class modern style of music and I am really happy with that as I would be disappointed if everything today sounded like it did in the 80's!  

What is the likelihood for an Australian tour at some stage on the horizon?

Well there is certainly high interest and we are still in regular contact with our Australian promoter who wanted us to come over many many times already since the last tour, however we do not tour when we don't have a new album out. The likelihood is that we will come to Australia as part of a tour that also includes Japan and parts of Asia which may happen in early 2011I cannot wait to come back.  

Hansi, thanks for your time, good luck with the new album and hope to see you out here soon....

Thankyou Scott, I hope so too, it was nice talking to you!