The legendary Keep It True Festival, that had to be postponed two times due to pandemic, announced an exclusive “Rising” edition, that will take place next month, on November 19 & 20, in Wuerzburg, Germany.
The event will be organized under the “3G Plus” regulation that is in force in Bavaria – to enter the festival, fans will need to show the certificate of being vaccinated against Covid, certificate of being healed from it, or show the negative result of a PCR test (no social distancing and no masks).
The festival will be headlined by BLIND GUARDIAN, who will present special old school set, that will focus on their early material. Except that fans will see performances of the legendary NWOBHM acts DEMON and PRAYING MANTIS, Belgian ‘80s cult acts OSTROGOTH and Kate’s ACID, and the German Speed Metal veterans IRON ANGEL. Festival line up will be completed by younger bands: ATLANTEAN KODEX, NESTOR, TENTATION, WHEEL, SEVEN SISTERS, MEGATON SWORD, CENTURY and THE NIGHT ETERNAL. More bands will be announced.
Keep It True Rising is a standalone event, not connected with the main edition of the Keep It True Festival, that has been moved to April 2022.
After celebrating the anniversary of the 1995 classic “Imaginations From The Other Side”, on December 18th, 2021 German metal stars BLIND GUARDIAN present you a special treat for Xmas as vocalist Hansi Kuersch explains: “In my opinion, Slade created the ultimate Christmas song with ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, a timeless, jolly tune with the perfect dose of cheesiness and almost untouchable in its greatness. Usually, it is prohibited in the Kuersch household to play Christmas songs prior to the Advent season, but as it’s mid-November now, and I am just out of the studio doing this cover, I guess I’m breaking a tradition. What you are about to hear now, is our attempt at paying tribute to the glam rock Santa Clauses Slade and while the original version is just perfect, its chorus was tailor-made for Blind Guardian as we do understand quite well how to go big. So, why have sausages with potato salad when you can have the Xmas goose? Well, check it out yourselves and Merry Xmas Everybody!“
Today, BLIND GUARDIAN release the special 25th anniversary edition of their “Imaginations From The Other Side” album. This edition contains live recordings and other special versions of the BLIND GUARDIAN classics featured on the album. “A brilliant album celebrates its 25th anniversary and it is great to celebrate this in such a bombastic manner. Luckily we filmed our 2016 show in Oberhausen when we performed the entire album live. This is the perfect moment for us to present this masterpiece in so many different ways. An ideal resurrection of precious memories long gone, but not forgotten. This album is made for eternity… I hope. Enjoy“, says vocalist Hansi Kürsch.
The band also reveal a new live clip for their song ‘Another Holy War’, that you can watch here:
Hansi Kürsch comments: “There are songs that carry albums and others that are seen more as a filler. At least that’s the case for most bands, so they say. But there are always exceptions to the rule; one of which is BLIND GUARDIAN and „Imaginations From The Other Side“ is the ultimate exception. It is all killer, no filler. The thing I can say about ‚Another Holy War‘ can be said for all of the songs on the album, which is that the song is awesome. Period. It’s funny how during the recording of „Imaginations …“, every band member underestimated the song in terms of its complexity – severely underestimated! We thought of ‚Another Holy War‘ as a rather simple song, which was a typical error of judgement. At the same time, we thought of ourselves as flawless. That too was an error of judgement, at least in some parts. The price we had to pay for our juvenile arrogance was blisters on our hands, strained fingers and worn-out vocal cords. Still, we pulled it together in the end, and its thanks to Flemming Rasmussen you can’t hear our issues in the final result. I’m repeating myself here, but ‘Another Holy War’ is awesome. Seriously. The song isn’t only challenging because of its speed, and 25 years later not much has changed about that. But you grow with your challenges. Give us another 25 years and we’ll master it just perfectly. I promise.”
BLIND GUARDIAN will release the special 25th anniversary edition of their “Imaginations From The Other Side” album on December 11th. This edition will contain live recordings and other special versions of the BLIND GUARDIAN classics featured on the album.
“A brilliant album celebrates its 25th anniversary and it is great to celebrate this in such a bombastic manner. Luckily we filmed our 2016 show in Oberhausen when we performed the entire album live. This is the perfect moment for us to present this masterpiece in so many different ways. An ideal resurrection of precious memories long gone, but not forgotten. This album is made for eternity… I hope. Enjoy”, says vocalist Hansi Kürsch.
Today, BLIND GUARDIAN reveal a live clip for their classic “Bright Eyes”.
Hansi Kürsch comments: “Bright Eyes” is a godsend. The piece was composed during an unexpected forced break in production. When we were able to continue recording the album, André and I were not entirely happy with the composition, but luckily Marcus and Thomen had recognised the song’s potential straight away, so it landed in its raw form on the album without any further intervention on our part. We put it on the album and then it surprisingly turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the record, or perhaps even our entire career. I have no idea, nowadays, what we did not like back then. The songwriting for „Imaginations…“ was long finished and we were already recording the album, when André got severe problems with his fingers and had to undertake a critical surgery, which as we know now, was fortunately successful. “Bright Eyes” is without any doubt one of the band’s and the audience’s favourite songs, especially when it comes to live shows. One of the ultimate singalongs and therefore one of the absolute highlights in a Blind Guardian concert. Check it out.”
Early this August just gone, BLIND GUARDIAN performed live for the Wacken World Wide digital festival, and surprised everybody by playing a brand-new track called “Violent Shadows”. The song is a very first taster of their upcoming studio album, to be released in autumn 2021. “Violent Shadows” (live) is available digitally as of today.
“Your wish is our command! So we have heeded the call, or in other words we observed your many requests and wanted to oblige. Here it comes, today we proudly present you with our glorious, virtual Wacken live version of „Violent Shadows“ as a digital single. Enjoy this vicious ride and scream along with us. Stay tuned for more,and come to meet your violent shadows”, comments lead singer Hansi Kürsch.
Join BLIND GUARDIAN in 2021 on their “30 Years SOMEWHERE FAR BEYOND Anniversary Tour”:
16.09. D Saarbrücken Garage 17.09. D München Backstage 18.09. D Memmingen Kaminwerk 20.09. CH Pratteln Z7 22.09. D Frankfurt Batschkapp 23.09. D Hamburg Markthalle 24.09. D Stuttgart LKA 25.09. D Dresden Alter Schlachthof 28.09. D Köln E-Werk 29.09. D Oberhausen Turbinenhalle 30.09. D Berlin Columbia Theater 01.10. D Neuruppin Kulturhaus 02.10. D Osnabrück Hyde Park
Today, metal masters BLIND GUARDIAN kick off the pre-order for the special 25th anniversary edition of their “Imaginations From The Other Side” album, that will be released on December 11th. This edition will contain live recordings and other special versions of the BLIND GUARDIAN classics featured on the album.
Hansi Kürsch comments: “What can I say? A brilliant album celebrates its 25th anniversary. It is great to celebrate this in such a bombastic manner. Luckily we filmed our 2016 show in Oberhausen when we performed the entire album live. This is the perfect moment for us to present this master piece in so many different facets. An ideal resurrection of precious memories long gone, but not forgotten. This album is made for eternity… I hope. Enjoy.”
Watch the live clip from 2016 in Oberhausen to get an impression of the album, here:
“Imaginations From The Other Side” 25th anniversary edition will be available in the following formats:
– CD – Earbook (40p Earbook Live CD, Remixed CD, original instrumental/demos CD, Blu-ray – limited to 2000) – CD-Boxset (Dioarma – Box incl. 40p Earbook (LiveCD, RemixedCD, original instrumental/demos CD, Live Blu-ray) + puzzle + Certificate, signed by the band – limited to 1000) – 2LP BLACK VINYL – 2PIC-LP PICTURE VINYL (limited to 1000) – 2LP BURGUNDY VINYL (limited to 500) – 2LP PEARL WHITE VINYL (limited to 500) – 2LP BRONZE VINYL BAND EXCL. (limited to 300)
1. Imaginations from the Other Side 8:26 2. I’m Alive 5:40 3. A Past and Future Secret 4:13 4. The Script for My Requiem 6:32 5. Mordred’s Song 5:20 6. Born in a Mourning Hall 5:37 7. Bright Eyes 5:41 8. Another Holy War 5:02 9. And The Story Ends 7:18
2LP tracklist:
1 Imaginations from the Other Side 8:26 2 I’m Alive 5:40 3 A Past and Future Secret 4:13
1 The Script for My Requiem 6:32 2 Mordred’s Song 5:20 3 Born in a Mourning Hall 5:37
1 Bright Eyes 5:41 2 Another Holy War 5:02 3 And the Story Ends 7:18
1 Imaginations from the Other Side (Demo) 2 I’m Alive (Demo) 3 A Past and Future Secret (Demo) 4 The Script for My Requiem (Demo)
Earbook tracklist:
Disc1 / CD: Live in Oberhausen 1. Imaginations from the Other Side 8:26 2. I’m Alive 5:40 3. A Past and Future Secret 4:13 4. The Script for My Requiem 6:32 5. Mordred’s Song 5:20 6. Born in a Mourning Hall 5:37 7. Bright Eyes 5:41 8. Another Holy War 5:02 9. And The Story Ends 7:18
Disc2/ CD: Album 2012 Remix and Remaster 1. Imaginations from the Other Side 7:11 2. I’m Alive 5:32 3. A Past and Future Secret 3:44 4. The Script for My Requiem 6:55 5. Mordred’s Song 5:28 6. Born in a Mourning Hall 5:15 7. Bright Eyes 5:15 8. Another Holy War 4:36 9. And the Story Ends 5:58 10. The Wizard 3:20 11. System’s Failing 4:25
Disc3/ CD: Album Instrumental & Bonus 1. Imaginations from the Other Side 7:20 2. I’m Alive 5:33 3. A Past and Future Secret 3:49 4. The Script for My Requiem 6:10 5. Mordred’s Song 5:30 6. Born in a Mourning Hall 5:16 7. Bright Eyes 5:18 8. Another Holy War 4:34 9. And the Story Ends 6:01 10. Imaginations from the Other Side (Demo) 11. I’m Alive (Demo) 12. A Past and Future Secret (Demo) 13. The Script for My Requiem (Demo) 14. A Past and Future Secret (Orchestral Version) – Single version
Disc4/ Bluray: Live in Oberhausen 1. Imaginations from the Other Side 8:26 2. I’m Alive 5:40 3. A Past and Future Secret 4:13 4. The Script for My Requiem 6:32 5. Mordred’s Song 5:20 6. Born in a Mourning Hall 5:37 7. Bright Eyes 5:41 8. Another Holy War 5:02 9. And the Story Ends 7:18
