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Limited to 1000 lush 5LP box sets incl. album double LP, instrumental double LP and audiobook in stone effect vinyl.

Even before the dawn of our space age, humanity had the audacity to conceive of ourselves as a life form not bound to the planet that birthed us. More than anything, leaving terra firma required all of our amassed knowledge, talent, and imagination. Such is the case with BLIND GUARDIAN, a band from Krefeld, Germany that refuses to be bound to the genre of music that spawned them and whose accumulated knowledge, talent, and imagination have created portals into senses beyond the five we experience in common, ordinary life. Greatly inspired by world myths, legends, and their own fervent creativity, Metal’s most epic storytellers BLIND GUARDIAN continually aspire to define themselves on a whole new level. With their highly-anticipated, orchestral tenth studio album ‘Beyond The Red Mirror’ (2015), they successfully captured the scope of their essence with unprecedented accuracy. As guitarist André Olbrich explains: “We want to surprise and impress with our music. Nowadays, music tends to be arbitrary and predictable. But we want to keep developing our music.”  
 “Seeing how orchestra songs come alive is a very special and intense moment for us,” confesses BLIND GUARDIAN vocalist & lyricist Hansi Kürsch.  “Thanks to ‘Sacred Worlds” and ‘Wheel Of Time’ [from 2010’s ‘At The Edge Of Time’ album], I can say that we have learned a lot about scoring, recording, and mixing when it comes to such music.” Working with three different classical choirs – one from Prague (the Czech Republic), one from Budapest (Hungary), and one from Boston (United States) – plus two grand orchestras featuring 90 musicians each, the brilliant, cumulative talents captured on ‘Beyond The Red Mirror’ generated absolutely spellbinding results and inspired  the formation of Blind Guardian’s Twilight Orchestra. Promising to be one of the most ambitious projects in metal history, BLIND GUARDIAN’s upcoming release will be well worth the wait. The idea of recording an orchestral album originally formed in the minds of the two leading lights of the BLIND GUARDIAN universe - guitarist André Olbrich and singer Hansi Kürsch - during the 1990s when BLIND GUARDIAN started to use orchestral elements to enhance their opulent sound. In recent years the giant project started to take shape, and the lyrical concept developed. For this, BLIND GUARDIAN was able to find support in German best-selling author Markus Heitz, whose latest novel “Die Dunklen Lande” was released on March 1st 2019. The book is set in 1629 and contains the prequel to BLIND GUARDIAN’s opus “Legacy Of The Dark Lands”.“Every single track unveils spectacular worlds and tells its very own story. With this album our biggest creative dream finally becomes reality. ” says frontman/singer Hansi Kürsch whose favourite author was equally excited about the collaboration: „It's really crazy: As Pen&Paper role players we used to listen to BLIND GUARDIAN whilst playing. And years later I get to work together with the band, which was incredible.“  Markus remembers. The two protagonists have actively cultivated their creative exchange over the last five years. “Markus is a great story teller; with "Die Dunklen Lande" he created the perfect setting and with the mysterious Nicolas, the perfect character for our complex works. His inventiveness seems to be almost infinite ” says Hansi Kürsch regarding the fruitful cooperation with the highly renowned fantasy author. Both sides tell in their own way the story of the mercenary Nicolas and his involvement in the Thirty Years’ War. Author Markus Heitz starts the story off in his book and BLIND GUARDIAN follow suit with “Legacy Of The Dark Lands”. What is the secret surrounding Nicolas? Will he be able to cast off the chains of war and how will his loved ones fare? On “Legacy Of The Dark Lands” via BLIND GUARDIAN's Twilight Orchestra, André Olbrich and Hansi Kürsch fulfill their long-time wish of emphasizing imposing choral singing and classical orchestral arrangements. It promises to be an opus unlike any other that the German quartet has ever released, or rather: an opus, as has never been heard ever before. 


Tracklist

Side A: 1.1618 Ouverture/ 2.The Gathering/ 3.War Feeds War/ 4.Comets And Prophecies/ 5.Dark Clouds Rising/ 6.The Ritual/ 7.In The Underworld
Side B: 1.A Secret Society/ 2.The Great Ordeal/ 3.Bez/ 4.In The Red Dwarf’s Tower/ 5.Into The Battle/6.Treason
Side C: 1.Between The Realms/ 2.Point Of No Return/ 3.The White Horseman/ 4.Nephilim/ 5.Trial And Coronation/ 6.Harvester Of Souls
Side D : 1.Conquest Is Over/ 2.This Storm/ 3.The Great Assault/ 4.Beyond The Wall/ 5.A New Beginning