Slight change of plans here. Blind Guardian is a band that I didn't really check out until this album came along, and now that I have, I wonder where I have been all these years. Blind Guardian is a staple in the power metal community being heavily influenced by Iron Maiden and have released their first studio album in 1988. Since then they became more progressive, more folky and more popular amongst the metal community. They are a German Progressive folk power metal band that is a force to be reckoned with. Before this album was released, their last album was in 2010, the same year of Iron Maiden's last album.

About the album its self, it is basicly focusing on one portal to the land of adventure and imagination which was aluded in an album much before this, about 20 years prior to be exact, which include the focus of many different portas to this place. Whether or not the Red Mirror was intended to be the last portal is yet to be seen considering the album was literally released four days prior to me writing this. It takes up a total of 71 minutes within just 11 tracks and it is a fun journey. The single of the album, Twilight of the Gods, is fast frantic and only takes about 5 minutes. The Ninth Wave is the epic opener to the album taking up about 9 and a half minutes so you can defidently see progression in the music. All of the tracks in general take from 3 minutes to 10 minutes which is a pretty big range for one album. Much like what Viridian and White Walls did for Colors, the tracks Miracle Machine and Grand Parade is this albums epic display of finishers.

Overall, while the album may seem a while, it really isn't because it will fly by and you will enjoy every second of it. I wouldn't say the album is perfect, but it is defidently a great release and I have good thoughts on this years metal music. I encourage you to get any version of it you can, Vinyls, cassettes, CD's and if you want, the electronic version like on your phone somewhere once you get your hands on it. This is a phenominal release and once you listen to it, it will show. 9.5/10