It has been almost an eternity since we have heard any new music from Blind Guardian, as their last studio release was A Night At The Opera back in 2002. So in anticipation of a September 2006 release of A Twist In The Myth, Blind Guardian gives us a little snippet of things to come with the 3 song single Fly, which includes the title track, an acoustic version of "Skalds and Shadows", both of which will be on the forthcoming CD, plus a remake of Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda Da Vida". Since it is difficult to judge a release of 12 minutes of music, I will talk briefly about the songs in the single themselves.
Fly - "Fly" is definitely a good song to showcase before a CD release, as it shows off multiple elements of Blind Guardian's repertoire, their ability to barnburn with the best of them, their penchant for very melodic prog metal, and of course, the vast musical talent that each member of the band possesses, which helped push them to the forefront of European Metal. All those elements can be found in "Fly".
Skalds and Shadows - The acoustic version of this song appears on Fly. For those who like Blind Guardian's more medieval folk faire, this song is sure to impress, as it is a throwback to the more folk oriented Nightfall In Middle Earth.
In A Gadda Da Vida - A nice little 3 1/2 minute bonus track, especially the 3 1/2 minute part. I never did quite get why Iron Butterfly needed to stretch the original version to 19 minutes. Blind Guardian does a nice, albeit heavy, version of this cover.
Alas, hearing only 12 minutes worth of Blind Guardian leaves me wanting to hear more. For that I give this single 3 1/2 stars, although a full release would have warranted a higher score. The good news, though, is that I am now really looking forward to their September release.
Track Listing
1) Fly
2) Skalds and Shadows
3) In a Gadda Da Vida
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