March 18 2002

PD NIGE
i ODERA

Blind Guardian
A Night At the Opera
Century Media 2002

Blind Guardian released
their debut album Battalions of
Fear in 1988, which received
great respect among the
heavy metal underground due
to its heavy mix of speed,
power metal, and classical
elements. The group's contin-
ued evolution saw them use
more classical and orchestral
elements, which may have
given their music a broader
fan base. This evolution com-
bined with speed and power
created their distinctive trade-
mark sound. This German
band has met with great suc-
cess in Europe and Japan,
however, the American market
is normally unfriendly towards
melodic metal, and for this
reason the band was slow to
gain recognition in North
America.

Their new CD A Night at
the Opera is representative of
their heavy speed metal style
and any fan of that style
should find this album consis-
tent with their other albums in
this respect. Only two of the
songs on this album represent
their more acoustic and quiet
style (“The Maiden And The
Minstrel Knight” and “Mies Del
Dolor’). | feel that Blind
Guardian usually over-uses
the double-kick drum to the
point where it becomes
monotonous and the music
becomes to cluttered to hear
the melodic guitar in the back-
ground. However, their great
guitar riffs and powerful yet
melodic singing style puts
them in a class of their own.
They also have a very diverse

fundamental

Over The Edge Page 9

style that ranges from the
classic speed metal to some
very beautiful acoustic pieces.
It didn’t take long to find some
of the great rhythm sections
that | like Blind Guardian for.
Although | haven’t had time to
listen to this album over sever-
al times, | found there were a
few songs that | did like imme-
diately. These include “Sadly
Sings Destiny’, “The Maiden
And The Minstrel Knight’, and
“Age Of Innocence”.
—Bryan

Mercurial Rains
Warm/Cold
Nightsea 2001/2002

Warm/Cold is the second
solo release from local artist
Jeremy Stewart. In this effort
he breaks music down to its
ideas. Every
track is wide open in its explo-
ration of theme. As you listen
to these tracks you have the
feeling that there should be
more; there always lurks just
beyond the surface of the
music the potential for com-
plexity but he never takes to
that level. Instead, he explores
the simplicity of composition
and the complexity lays in the

.how structure hides from the

listener in the space created
by each piece. To some who
are not used to the spacious-
ness and simplicity of such
artists as Godspeed You Black
Emperor or David Sylvian you
will probably find this album
boring. However, for those
who enjoy the exploration of

minimalism you should defi-.

nitely check this release out. It
is available at Tuning Point.
—Destrudo

Metropolis 2002

KMFDM’s Attack is one
sweet ride. The album con-
tains the essential elements of
any KMFDM album while pok-
ing its proverbial nose in to
new realms of music. The tone
in this album is a little less
manic than in previous one,
but the quality of content
seems to have gone up. As
with most albums from them,
the title track Attack/Reload
will probably be the first one
turned into a favorite. Urban
Monkey Warfare is a wicked
sound coming from their more
electronic type of music where
the guitar riffs play basically
an equal part throughout the
song. Female vocals in the
album add a more rounded
effect; whereas many people
would stereotype KMFDM as
a Rammstein type of music
with a lot of really dark male
vocals with heavy guitar and a
little bit of synthesizer in the
background giving some
melody. Unfortunately, on the
down side of things, | found
the album to be rather short
with no added remixes that
tend to spray around in former
albums by the band. It’s really
great to see a band select all
the original songs for the
album, but add in some remix-
es that aren’t really part of the
album to show the fans what
else was going through the
minds and decision process in
the making of the album.
Either way you look at it,
Attack proves that KMFDM is
still the drug against war.

—Matthew

There are 5 lucky winners of the Over The)
Edge and BMG Music Strokes giveaway!
These lucky people have won a Strokes’
CD, a Strokes sticker and a Strokes poster!

1) Karl Sten (CNC)

2) Denis Lacrox

John Beacon (CNC)
Colin Phillips

3)
4)
5) Ryan Wugalter

UNBC students can pick up their prizes at the Over the Edge
loffice and CNC students can pick up their prizes at the
Student Association office.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY