Hansi a posté le message suivant sur le site officiel..

"A sign of life message just to let you know that Christmas is getting closer and we are still not done with recordings, yet. But that is the good news for the album: we are still on schedule. The description "on schedule" can be stretched (manipulated?) a little, while talking about a Blind Guardian album production, anyway. We haven΄t - so far, but we could. There is only a small amount of guitars, which needs to be completed, some bass, a lot of vocals and even more mixing. We are targeting an early February deadline.

I am very sorry we have not been able to involve you more so far, but we are so focused on the album, that we hardly find the time to eat. I turned a skinny beauty during these days. I promise to provide you with some studio shots as soon as the new year has started...

Oh, about the single mentioned a few months earlier: We have accomplished it and I would like to provide you with some information about it, only the important ones and of course only true ones:

There will be three songs on the single: 1. Fly, 2. Skalds and Shadows(Accoustic version), 3. In A Gadda Da Vida

"Fly" is a quite surprising title for a Blind Guardian song, one could think. But it lyrically fits very, very well. This song is about inspirations and how they can influence your art, your life and other people li(v)(?)es(?). I, myself, was inspired by the movie "Finding Neverland" when doing the lyrics. The music is mindblowing. It certainly describes how we look at music and how we see ourselves as musicians. We love to explore and assimilate. Though the song is different, it is pure Blind Guardian. I, personally, consider it to be amongst the best songs we have ever written. It is new!!! It is fresh!!! Wether you will like it or not, you will have to admit that you have never heard anything like that before. Not from Blind Guardian and neither from any other band on this planet.

The accoustic version of "Skalds and Shadows" completely stands in the tradition of songs like "The Bard ΄s Song" and "A Past and Future Secret". Charlie and Frederik came up with a very cool percussion arrangement and on top of it Frederik played some mindblowing flute melodies to it. We are very happy with the result and we work on a more orchestral version at the moment, which is supposed to become part of the album. This purer single version will only appear on the single. The word "skald" is probably not very common, but is nothing else than the ancient nordic description for their bards. The nordic Edda poems have mostly been invented by Skalds and they also have kept these stories alive by traveling around and telling the stories to other people. I, as a fan of "Die Nibelungen" and of Tolkien΄s work, was mostly thrilled by the Saga of Volsung, which the song lyrically partly scratches - as well as the mission of the storyteller.

As probably most of you have figured "In A Gadda Da Vida" is a cover version of "Iron Butterfly"΄s smash hit. Although we like Stoner music - we dared to turn it into a modern Speed Metal tune. This song of course will only appear on the single.

To complete the single subject: The cover artwork has been done by Anthony Clarkson. He did a great job. The motive is pretty much Blind Guardian. I am sure you will love it.

What else can I tell you? We have not decided how the album will be entitled. Due to lyrical issues I am brainstorming with the word "myth", but that does not necessarily mean it finally will be used for the title. The two strongest titles from my point of view so far are: "A Twist in the Myth", or "Borderline Myth". None of them can be seen as confirmed. Sometimes you wake up and you just know: that΄s the title to go for. Mostly it is just a question of the right inspiration...

We recognized your discussion about the possible style we may have chosen for the new album and I just would like to point out the following one more time: We will not deny our roots, but we at the same time will not make a step back and we have no intention to stand right where we have been with the last studio album. The album will contain 11 very strong songs, which all differ strongly from each other. There΄s Heavy Metal, there΄s more rockish Metal, there΄s more progressive Metal, there΄s more intense Metal, but there is no rip off! We do not sell out. "Selling out" could be a cool title, too, by the way. Ah, damned someone has used it before, I think.

The single will give you an idea of how much the songs on the album will be different from each other. To explore and invent something new - that΄s the thrill!!!

Have one on me (and don΄t believe a word I΄ve said)

Hansi

ps we're all hopefully waiting for the new Being!.. "

Yeah, enfin des news concrètes, ça fait plaisir !

Le nom du single ("Fly") me laissait sceptique mais ce qu'en dit Hansi me plait: Wether you will like it or not, you will have to admit that you have never heard anything like that before. Not from Blind Guardian and neither from any other band on this planet.

Well, j'en crois pas un mot mais j'espere qu'il le pense vraiment au moins.
Avec un peu de chance ils ont fait leur Pet Sounds metal !

And Then There Was Silence était assez unique, non ? (cf TAOM, le Barbarous Metal )

Parce que tout le monde se branlait dessus ? Sinon qu'est ce qu'elle avait de spéciale ? Musique ? Paroles ? Structure ? Durée ? Mouais...

Spéciale oui. Car la plus complexe, la plus longue, la plus chargée, et pourtant la plus facile à écouter de tout l'abum.

Je ne parle meme pas de ses qualités. Je n'aime pas mais c'est un morceau interessant et imposant, je lui concederait même une certaine originalité au sein du travail de Blind Guardian... mais on a pas besoin de dire que quelque chose est unique et novateur pour l'aimer. La premiere fois que je l'ai écoutée je ne me suis pas dit "tiens c'est un truc nouveau", et pas plus la seconde, ou la vingtieme. Elle n'a pas changé quoi que ce soit à l'histoire ou à la définition d'un genre, bref, c'est une chanson comme une autre, juste trés apréciée... Tout est relatif quoi. J'avais eu ce sentiment avec Stargazer en 1994 la premiere fois que je l'ai écouté, et pourtant elle n'est pas plus unique que And There... d'ailleurs c'est sa grand-mere !

Moi j'ai eu l'impression que c'était assez nouveau justement (d'ou mon Barbarian Metal matgip, 'fectivement !), sans rien révolutionner certes, mais comme une évolution possible du groupe. Malheureusement, le reste de l'album n'est franchement pas à la hauteur. On verra bien pour le prochain, déjà In A Gadda Da Vida sur le single, je demande à voir !

La pochette du single "fly" :




C'est joli mais ils se sont vraiment pas foulés..

Oui,pour le thème peut-être ils se sont pas foulés (l'illustrateur a du bien s'amuser quand même) mais au moins c'est joli, genre pas comme la pochette d' ANATO.

note : ah, tiens mais c'est vrai qu'il y'a une grosse symétrie bien bourrinne sur le dessin !

Tiens j'avais pas remarqué, c'est un peu nase quand même mais en même temps ce n'est qu'un single.

Huhu :

After describing all the progress we have been making I must inform you about a setback for us. Almost immediately after I have posted my report about the progression of the new album to Jason and Pedro, I have caught a cold. My appointment with the doctor delivered bad news: it is the regular seasonal virus including a terrible middle ear infection. On top of it I am struggling with severe sinusitis. It obviously is impossible for me to keep on working on album stuff in such a condition. It would be a waste to perform these great songs with a sneezy nose. Therefore I am facing an interruption of approxamtely four weeks before I can continue my recording session. Since most of the other recordings are completed this means we are going to lose the next month.

After a long discussion with Nuclear Blast we all have agreed on the unfortunate fact that a delay of the album release would be the best thing to do at the moment. Due to the importance of the album for Nuclear Blast and Blind Guardian we do not want to risk anything by pushing things. To avoid any further complications we have decided to go for a late August, or early fall album release. Since the single is completed and there is no need for a delay in that matter, we will keep the date for the single release.

As soon as I am ready to continue the recordings I will let you know. I know that this is terrible timing and we are aware that you are desperately waiting for the new album, but apart from the promise you will get high quality music in the end, there is hardly anything we can do right now. As for the announced shows in May we will do everything possible to play them. We will keep you informed.

Finally, and on a more positive note, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a successul year 2006.

Hansi

En gros, Hansi a chopé un putain de gros rhume et donc ils vont perdre un bon mois. Au passage ils se donnent un peu plus de marge puisque l'album est désormais prévu pour fin Août, début Septembre.
Ils auront battu leur record d'attente entre deux albums.

La non productivité de ce groupe est vraiment agaçante.

Il ferait mieux de se concentrer sur BG au lieu de perdre son temps avec Schaffer.

ça fait quand même excuse de merde, il finira par sortir en 2007 ce disque, ça pose aussi la question des concerts en septembre octobre, c'est quand même dommage d'annoncer un calendrier si precis pour ne pas le respecter aussi vite!

Ouais c'est joli... mais la pochette d'ANATO était moins "bateau"...

t'as raison!
de toute façon, jsavais kyallait avoir un truc kyallait clocher!

Sinon , la pochette est pas mal du tout . J imagine deja ce single range apres Anato.....

Oui mais elle était moche. Pour un "présentoir", ça le fait pas un truc moche, quelle que soit l'idée (intéréssante certes)

Et ils devaient pas sortir aussi un projet symphonique "déja fait mais qui va pas sortir avant 2520" ?

Ben si mais il sort en 2520.

Des extraits des 3 titres du single sont dispo ici.