At the Edge of Time

At the Edge of Time, the ninth album, came out on Nuclear Blast on 30 July 2010 as NB 2287-2; Victor Entertainment issued the Japanese edition (VICP-64875) on 18 August and the North American release followed on the 24th. It was recorded at the band's own Twilight Hall Studios between November 2007 and April 2010 and produced by the band with Charlie Bauerfeind, with Oliver Holzwarth playing bass as a guest. The album is dedicated to Rolf Köhler, whose voice had been part of the choirs on the early records. The orchestra is the FILMharmonic Orchestra from Prague, recorded in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum between August 2009 and January 2010. Before release Hansi Kürsch said it would be the band's most bombastic and epic album so far. The closing "Wheel of Time" is about Robert Jordan's fantasy series of that name. The video for the opening "Sacred Worlds" shows the band performing inside the game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, to which they had contributed the theme song "Sacred" in 2008. It entered the German Media Control chart at number two, the band's best placing at home to that date. In the United States it sold about 4,400 copies in its first week, entering the Billboard 200 at number 108 and topping the Heatseekers chart; in Japan it reached number 29 on Oricon. The single "A Voice in the Dark" came out ahead of it on 25 June. The running order here follows the European CD as printed; the player on this page titles track two "Tanelorn" and track eight "War of the Thrones - Piano Version".