Tales from the Twilight World

This is the third album, and the one on which four musicians from Krefeld stopped relying on speed alone. Hansi Kürsch sings and plays bass, André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen play guitar and Thomen Stauch the drums. Kalle Trapp produced, mixed and recorded it single-handed, with Piet Sielck as second engineer. What marks the record is the choral singing stacked layer on layer. Kürsch is joined by Rolf Köhler, "Hacky" Hackmann and Trapp himself, and the way this band builds a chorus — the thing it has been known for ever since — is settled here. Kai Hansen of Helloween guests, taking the lead vocal on "Lost in the Twilight Hall" and the guitar solo on "The Last Candle". The choice of subject matter also sets the course. "Lord of the Rings" comes from Tolkien, "Tommyknockers" from Stephen King, and "Altair 4" from the film Forbidden Planet. The sleeve painting is by Andreas Marschall, who would go on illustrating the band's records for years. The running order here is the original CD's as printed; the live recording of "Run for the Night" at track ten is on the CD only.