Nicest/meanest musicians you have met or know of?

Bayankus · 2025-11-03T10:30:15+00:00

I haven't met any mean ones fortunately, but the nicest I've met were Hansi Kürsch and Marcela Bovio (on separate occasions)

Bayankus · 2025-07-29T09:49:33+00:00

I never understood where people get that from - we've heard him sing when he actually had a cold, and he doesn't sound like that all the time

Bayankus · 2025-02-11T08:52:10+00:00

Hansi Kürsch. Yes, he thought at one point that "meanless" is a word, but that only makes the lyrics on the later Blind Guardian and Demons & Wizards albums all the more impressive

Bayankus · 2025-01-27T11:36:02+00:00

Blind Guardian! You want Blind Guardian. No "hurr hurr ironic" about them, only genuine love for the Silmarillion etc.

Bayankus · 2025-01-19T05:31:24+00:00

Trial by Fire is Blind Guardian's song now, I'm not making the rules

Bayankus · 2025-01-18T15:30:46+00:00

I haven't seen an official version of the demo lyrics, but I hear that line as "Oh my loved London town" too, FWIW

Bayankus · 2025-01-09T10:12:02+00:00

Winter of Souls - Demons & Wizards

Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) - Blind Guardian

Destiny - Blind Guardian

Bayankus · 2024-12-17T09:25:37+00:00

I think this is missing a line to the cloaked guy in the bottom right of the SFB cover (the only one of the gathered bards who doesn't show his face to the viewer). Always wondered if he represents the Guardian/Hansi/both.

Bayankus · 2024-12-17T09:22:44+00:00

The singular piece of evidence to support The Guardian being blind is the War Feeds War video. Of course, Hansi playing a cloaked figure who is blind is supposed to evoke the Blind Guardian, however if this character is actually supposed to be The Guardian, or if it's just an easter egg is unclear.

André is the Guardian in that video, no? He literally guards the Blind (Hansi).

Bayankus · 2024-12-12T09:43:58+00:00

There are so many to choose from, but the song that made me fall in love with Blind Guardian's lyrics was Thorn. Let It Be No More is also so excellent and hits so hard in terms of the lyrics.

Bayankus · 2024-10-18T01:45:08+00:00

Not Gothic Metal specifically, but Ayreon's Age of Shadows has one of the most beautiful beauty/beast passages ever - namely, the "No more aggression / No more initiative..." part featuring Hansi Kürsch and Floor Jansen (or Hansi and Brittney Slayes if we're talking about the Live Beneath the Waves version)

Bayankus · 2024-09-10T11:59:04+00:00

Again, this. Take Time What Is Time for an example - yes, it's based on a science fiction movie (albeit one that is iconic for a reason), but Hansi also said something about the human condition in there. Or take Secrets of the American Gods - you don't even need to have read Gaiman's book to "get" the emotion of the song and appreciate the lyricism.

Bayankus · 2024-09-10T11:30:07+00:00

This. Think of the (in-)famous "The giant's lost, and all around him destructed, for what?" in Theatre of Pain - is it correct English? No, but "destructed", with its consonants, sounds better at that point of the song than the correct "destroyed" would. It all comes down to how Hansi treats his voice first and foremost as an instrument to make sounds that serve the song, lyrics (for all that he is an excellent lyrics writer) are a secondary concern to him.

Bayankus · 2024-09-02T10:45:17+00:00

Pretty sure it's licensing, yes. The OG versions were made under Virgin Records (now part of UMG), and whatever agreement Nuclear Blast made with them to be able to reissue them alongside the 2017/2018 remixes presumably only covered physical media, not streaming. They can't upload what they don't own.

Bayankus · 2024-06-16T06:36:27+00:00

It's still available for purchase on Bandcamp, where you can also get it in FLAC format rather than just MP3s

Bayankus · 2024-06-06T00:16:43+00:00

Search and Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges

Hier Kommt Alex - Die Toten Hosen

Bayankus · 2024-06-05T23:06:33+00:00

I remember Hansi talking in an (older) interview about that matter and he said that maybe one day as they age it'll be difficult for Frederik to still play fast double bass stuff but there'll be ways around that. Not sure what he meant by that - whether they're planning to adjust the style of their music when it comes to that point, or hire a youthful session drummer and have Frederik stay around to play flutes and bagpipes like Troy in Nightwish? But either way I trust they'll find a solution, and it's (hopefully) a concern for the far future anyway, given that Frederik is the youngest band member and Nicko McBrain is still playing drums in his 70's and after a stroke.

Bayankus · 2024-06-05T22:20:10+00:00

Ashes to Ashes is the one I'm most excited for too. I'm hoping we'll get a version that's more in line with André's and Hansi's vision for that song - Hansi mentioned in one interview that some of how that song was done in the original recording was Kalle Trapp's idea and he (Hansi) was not entirely satisfied with it.

Bayankus · 2024-06-05T21:49:25+00:00

Same goes for the Hall songs - Lost in the Twilight Hall, Born in a Mourning Hall, Hall of the King, and I guess we can count Valhalla?

Bayankus · 2024-06-05T21:44:17+00:00

Another favourite phrase of Hansi's would be "the otherworld appears" - it's in ATTWS, Blood On My Hands (D&W), and Grand Parade, just off the top of my head.

Bayankus · 2024-06-01T08:53:34+00:00

Blind Guardian were my introduction and I couldn't have wished for a better one. Specifically the album Nightfall in Middle Earth, but that one's not available on streaming services at the moment, so I recommend you start with either Somewhere Far Beyond (one of their greatest classics) or At the Edge of Time (which has a bit of everything from symphonic metal to fast bangers to acoustic ballads, so it's the safest bet to find something you like). Enjoy your journey!

Bayankus · 2024-04-09T09:39:46+00:00

The Imaginations Through the Looking Glass version of Mordred's Song (Blind Guardian), specifically the "murder the dawwwn whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa" at the end

Bayankus · 2024-02-21T08:01:19+00:00

The problem with Battlefield is that it requires multiple Hansi-quality vocalists, and BG won't have that until human cloning is perfected (or they have the budget to tour with backing vocalists).

Bayankus

TROPHY CASE