Blind Guardian - The Soulforged

[epithumia]

German power metal is like a guilty pleasure to me; I know it's incredibly cheesy but still I listen to it. Blind Guardian's recent album A Night at the Opera has a rather interestingly titled song on it, The Soulforged. And the lyrics are interesting as well. (Emphasis is mine). Coincidence? Almost certainly, but fun nontheless.

The Soulforged
Blind Guardian
A Night At The Opera

I'm not insane
That's how it seems though
Spiteful cruel but wise
Beyond his age
My body fails
My soul will rise

The end of life's immortalized disease and agony
And I see death through golden eyes
Beyond the door
There's something more
It seems there's just one way

On through the heat
I've felt the touch of evil
I still feel the icy claw in me

For a decent price
I've banned kindness from my heart
The spirit of all truth and beauty
Pawned for my desire

And from the flames
As chance would have it
the soulforged will come into light
And from the flames as chance would have it
The soulforged,
The stainless will rise

I will never change my mind
I will leave it all behind

And through the hour glass
Everything's grey
Everyone's pale
No colour nor beauty will enlighten my heart
The seat of life's empty and cold
Cadaverous you all seem to me
Stillborn but you're still alive
You're still alive

Truth lies in loneliness
When hope is long gone by
I'll wipe out the bliss of the new age
And welcome you precious night

[chorus]

From a distant time
Voices echo in the hall
"Come and join us
Enter life and everything is gone now"

And through the looking glass
I still fear mortality and its loss in the end
Unlimited power in my hands
The claw of the dragon ascends
"Mourn for his lost soul
He's cursed and condemned"

Each step I take
May it hurt may it ache
Leads me further
Away from the past
But as long as I breathe
Each smile in my bleak face
I'm on my way to find
Back to the peace of mind

[Marecki]

Blind Guardian having played Thief, now that's an interesting notion... After all, why not? We've already heard about Terry Pratchett playing FMs, furthermore Digi mentioned something about Sarah Michelle Gellar one day

On the other hand, all this might be a pure coincidence based on similar thinking of the musicians and the Thief dev team, with technophilia as the key theme. I wonder if it were possible to ask...

Oh, and for the unenlightened: Blind Guardian kicks serious butt. I just love listening to their music and their interpretations of "To France" and "Surfin' USA" are pure bliss for my ears.

[Naartjie]

Are they cheesy in a Rammstein/Megaherz kind of way? w00t

[MrMunkeepants]

hoo, I gotta check this out... but wait, Rammstein isnt cheesy

[Tumbleweed]

Originally posted by Naartjie
Are they cheesy in a Rammstein/Megaherz kind of way? w00t

They've written songs about Dragonlance.

[epithumia]

They're less cheesy than, say, Dragonforce or any band that wears chainmail on stage or does sapply love balads that sound like Europe (final countdown, waaah). But their albums do include such things ad deep-voiced narrators and battle sounds, so the cheese meter may not peg but it sure gets into the red zone. Anyway, a whole album covering just a few chapters of the Silmarillion? Lots of Tolkien references everywhere? Rousing Teutonic choruses? Who could resist?

[driver]

Originally posted by Marecki
We've already heard about Terry Pratchett playing FMs

This isn't surprising. Rhianna (Terry's daughter) who wrote for PCZ untill recently, is an avid Thief player. I daresay she dragged her father into it...

[deadman]

Blind Guardian: Nightfall in Middle-Earth! Imaginings From The Other Side. Rock on, Tolkien (and Thief) Rockers! ^_^

You call it coincidence, I call it prophecy!

deadman.

[MadBull#34]

Well, I'm a big fan of Blind Guardian, but I hadn't noticed, that this lyrics might have something to with T2-TMA. Thanks Epithumia for opening my eyes!

BTW: Blind Guardian are big fans of Tolkien. Here in Germany rumors tell, that they even played the ringwraiths in Peter Jackson's LOTR as guests.

BTW#2: because I read something about wearing chainmail: What do you all think of In Extremo? I'm interested in your opinions.

[epithumia]

In Extremo's Weckt Die Totten and Verehrt Und Angespien are quite fun albums, in my opinion. Lots of interesting stuff on there, although you'll probably find some songs you don't like as well. That's to be expected for a band that plays music as varied as they do. There are songs in something like six different languages, with as many as three bagpipe players. The guitars electric are pretty much straight out of Rammstein.

Their most recent album, Sunder Ohne Zugel, was a disappointment for me. It just seemed samey and far too mainstream. Their older, rather hard to find releases are all acoustic. (I have Hameln and enjoy it, but it's not really the same kind of music as their most recent three full-lengths.)

BTW, the cover of Blind Guardian's new live album looks like you could drop it right into a Thief mission. Is that Garrett standing just down the street there?

[MadBull#34]

Seeing these facts make me having a strange feeling, that Blind Guardian might make the music for Thief 3. That would be cool, wouldn't it?

[S_Hole]

Originally posted by MadBull#34
That would be cool, wouldn't it?

no, actually it would suck donkey balls
this is the kind of music i delete after 10 seconds of playing
having absolutely nothing to do with the thief atmosphere

that cover pic is pretty nice though

[epithumia]

I think the "Thief atmosphere" precludes music. Sound is too important to the game to be obscured by music that's anything but incidental. The Thief 1 and 2 designers seem to have agreed.

Of course, the title music is another story. Given the Thief 1 intro music, a bit of metal wouldn't be at all out of character.

[S_Hole]

yes, but in a muffled industrial manner

[MrMunkeepants]

speaking of D&D, or other such games, I recommend Flashlight Brown's song "Ready to Roll." I had listened to it several times before I realized just what they were talking about!

[d'Spair]

Oh yeah guys, now I LOVE you. Metal and Tolkien forever!!!

Blind Guardian is a great band, though I think that there's nothing better than Gamma Ray if you're fond of German power metal. Iron Savior, Masterplan and Helloween are also beautiful.

But if you're looking for a true Thief-like song, than read this:

You're in for surprise
You're in for a shock
In London town streets
When there's darkness and fog
When you least expect me
And you turn your back
I'll attack

I smile when I'm sneaking
Through shadows by the wall
I laugh when I'm creeping
But you won't hear me at all

All hear my warning
Never turn your back
On the ripper

You'll soon shake with fear
Never knowing if I'm near
I'm sly and I'm shameless
Nocturnal and nameless
Except for "The Ripper"
Or if you like "Jack The Knife"

Any back alley street
Is where we'll probably meet
Underneath a gas lamp
Where the air's cold and damp
I'm a nasty surprise
I'm a devil in disguise
I'm a footstep at night
I'm a scream of the fright

All hear my warning
Never turn your back
On the ripper...the ripper....the ripper

- Judas Priest, The Ripper (Sad Wings of Destiny, 1976)

Eh? Eh?

[deadman]

Good concept by the lyricist Judas Priest, I suppose, but the rhyming method seems infantile and unamazing in the highest. Of course, maybe it's one of those songs you have to hear without thinking "this sucks" (as when reading the lyrics).

Now the perfect song for a Thief credits avi (especially if it's a 'bad'/tragic ending) would definitely have to be Can's Thief (found on their 1981 release, "Delay 1968"). I first heard this when a band called Radiohead covered it live, and the rendition is just gorgeous. It's better than the raspy-voiced original version I think, which I heard after downloading, and I really wish RH would do a studio recording of this so I (or someone else) could include this in a lengthy ending/credits avi. It's just so fitting, and the lyrics are perfection.

"'Why must I be the thief?',
he said the the hanging man,
'and how come you're the only one
Who gives with an open hand?'
'Why must I be the thief?',
he cursed and then he cried.
But the hanging man held out his hand
and looked beyond the sky."

Poorly formatted, but you get the idea . I think it would be great if Blind Guardian did a Thief III soundtrack. I wouldn't think it would be proper to appear in the game (other than a few clips appearing in those perfect bad-ass cutscene moments), but a soundtrack? Hell yeah!

Aaah, I feel so unwound after sharing all that music with fellow taffers .

deadman.

[KLeptomaN]

While we're on the topic of European Power Metal, does anyone remember "Let the Hammer Fall" and "The Metal Age" by HammerFall.

Those were pretty cool coincidences, as well.

[Marecki]

Does anyone? The former went on bugging me for days a couple of years ago because I couldn't decide whether it's a Hammerite ("let the hammer fall upon its enemies") or Mechanist ("let the hammer fall over") song

[epithumia]

Sorry, Hammerfall sprung the dial on my cheese-o-meter.

[PlaneShifter]

If Blind Guardian does for their next album like they did for A Night at the Opera, where the subject matter of one song is voted for by the fans, on their website, then we need to drown them with write-in votes for Thief ^_~