Somewhere Far Beyond (Revisited)

Right on time with their show at 2024's edition of Wacken Open Air, Blind Guardian proudly present 'Somewhere Far Beyond (Revisited)' on August 2nd which includes a complete re-recording of this classic as well as a live celebration of 1992's 'Somewhere Far Beyond', a landmark record for Germany's heavy metal titans. After three albums on No Remorse Records, it was the band's major label debut coming out via Virgin Records and opened doors to the Japanese market resulting in a wider availability and presence on the global metal scene. After finding the right balance of speed, heaviness, melodies, drama and irresistible choruses on 1990's 'Tales from the Twilight World', 'Somewhere Far Beyond' honed this approach to perfection, evolving further on a conceptual level and increasingly daring take on Blind Guardian's sonic range. 'Somewhere Far Beyond' experimented with keyboards, orchestrations, and folk elements, the latter manifesting in the group's best-known song and live staple, 'The Bard Song (In the Forest)', whereas other tracks like 'Ashes to Ashes', the rapid 'Journey Through the Dark' or 'The Quest for Tanelorn' connected well with previous mostly fast-paced albums yet offered an additional push in dynamics. Fast forward, 30 years! Prior to releasing the much lauded 'The God Machine' opus in September 2022, Blind Guardian had been performing 'Somewhere Far Beyond' in its entirety at Rock Hard Festival and Hellfest in Summer 2022 in front of ten thousands of fans singing along each track word by word, both shows were filmed and recorded professionally and aired via WDR and ARTE. For the limited triple-disc-edition of 'Somewhere Far Beyond Revisited' the Hellfest material was newly edited by the band's long-time videographer Dirk Behlau using additional multi-cam footage.