Beyond the Red Mirror

This is the tenth album by the band from Krefeld, released by Nuclear Blast on 30 January 2015. It is a concept record and a sequel to two songs from Imaginations from the Other Side in 1995, "Bright Eyes" and "And the Story Ends". Hansi Kürsch has described the story as sitting between science fiction and fantasy. The two worlds drawn back then have grown far worse since; where there used to be several passages between them, one gate is left, the Red Mirror, and it has to be found at any cost. The scale is larger than anything they had done. Three choirs, from Budapest, Prague and Boston, and two orchestras of ninety players each took part. Ray Van Horn Jr of Blabbermouth.net gave it nine and a half out of ten and called it an encompassing record that makes up for the long wait. Barend Courbois plays bass in place of Oliver Holzwarth; this is the first Blind Guardian album without Holzwarth since Imaginations from the Other Side in 1995. "Twilight of the Gods" was the single. The order here is the standard European pressing's ten tracks; the limited and other editions add "Distant Memories" for eleven.