The artist: Blind Guardian have a well established heavy metal band. They may not be as famous as Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath but their musical quality has certainly been on par with metal's biggest names. Blind Guardian are the most well known band in the power metal scene even going as far as appealing to those who don't really like power metal to begin with and that is a sign of a really good band! There is more to this band than the power metal classics such as Nightfall in Middle-Earth and Imaginations from the Other Side. In the earlier days of Blind Guardian, they were under the name Lucifer's Heritage and had a strong influence of NWOBHM. They later changed their name to Blind Guardian offering a speed metal onslaught with their first two albums.
The album: Follow the Blind continues the speed metal style heavily influenced by Helloween's Walls of Jericho from Battalions of Fear. These guys weren't power metal quite yet here. Infact, this album sounds more thrash than power. Markus Siepen even admitted to the thrashy feel of the album after listening to a lot of thrash metal bands at the time. Even so, there were still some hints of the Blind Guardian style the fans now know and love with Valhalla. It has become a popular song to play theirs shows as a result as well as the extremely catchy chorus that can go on for minutes after the song even ends. Follow the Blind is an excellent album and is highly recommended for all Blind Guardian fans and even thrash metal fanatics.
The song: Fast to Madness is one of many tracks in Follow the Blind that puts the pedal full speed ahead. With a song title like Fast to Madness, you better expect the album to be a speed metal attack but not before the band warms up in the intro. Fast to Madness is based on the Eternal Champion book series which is very unlikely to be familiar to non-readers such as myself. Still, the lyrics have a strong fantasy feel as well as feeling fast to madness. Infact, this should have been the title track and would easily describe the album in general. Overall, this song provides a structure to maintain the listener's attention with the slow intro turning fast to madness as well as a variety of fast riffs, simple yet effective and catchy chorus from Hansi Kursch and colourful solos provided by the Olbrich and Siepen duo.
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