''Somewhere Far Beyond'' is the fourth studio album by German

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band

Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.Kalle Trapp. The cover artwork was created by Andreas Marschall, who also drew the artwork for other Blind Guardian's releases ('' Tales from the Twilight World'', ''

Nightfall in Middle-Earth ''Nightfall in Middle-Earth'' is the sixth studio album by German power metal band Blind Guardian. It was released on 28 April 1998 through Virgin Records. It is a concept album based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Silmarillion'', a book of tales ...

'', etc.). The album saw the band creating its own original sound, while still employing most of their

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantity ...

/power metal techniques. The cover art and the two "Bard's Songs" gave the band its nickname "The Bards". The use of the nickname has been also extended to the fans of the group, Circle of the Bards being the now defunct fan club, and Hansi Kürsch frequently calling the fans "Bards". "The Piper's Calling" contains the first three parts of the

Great Highland Bagpipe The Great Highland bagpipe ( gd, a' phìob mhòr "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British mil ...

2/4 March, "The 79th's Farewell to Gibraltar", written by Pipe Major John MacDonald of the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameronian Volunteers). Part of this composition also appears as a section of the title track, this time played on a different type of bagpipe. The album was acclaimed by power metal fans all across Europe and especially Japan, allowing them to tour for the first time outside Germany. The tour in the Far East led to the band's first live album, '' Tokyo Tales''. ''Somewhere Far Beyond'' was remastered and re-released, with bonus tracks, on 15 June 2007. The album was again re-released and also remixed and remastered as part of ''

A Traveler's Guide to Space and Time ''A Traveler's Guide to Space and Time'' is the first box set by German power metal band Blind Guardian. It contains 15 CDs and covers the bands discography during the so-called Virgin years, between 1988 and 2004. Along with seven studio album ...

'' boxset.

Track listing

Lyrical references

* "Time What Is Time" is about the film ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick ...

'' from the perspective of a Replicant. * "Journey Through the Dark" is about Jhary a-Conel, a bard and a companion of the Eternal Champion, from the books by

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English people, English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic nov ...

. * "Black Chamber" deals with someone finding himself in the Black Lodge from

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 fo ...

and facing a dark fate. * "Theatre of Pain" is based on the fantasy novel '' The Merman's Children'' by

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

. * "The Quest for Tanelorn" is about the Eternal Champion's search for a city called Tanelorn, a fictional city in The Multiverse of

's stories. * "Ashes to Ashes" is based on reality; it has to do with the death of Hansi's father. * "The Bard's Song – In the Forest" is inspired by the computer game

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was ''T ...

. * "The Bard's Song – The Hobbit" is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

''. * "Somewhere Far Beyond" is a retelling of

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high ...

's '' The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger'' and '' The Drawing of the Three''. * "Trial by Fire" is about the

atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...

. It's a cover of the heavy metal band

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

Personnel

Blind Guardian * Hansi Kürsch – lead vocals, bass * André Olbrich – lead, rhythm and acoustic guitar, backing vocals * Marcus Siepen – rhythm and acoustic guitars, backing vocals * Thomas "Thomen" Stauch – drums Guest musicians * Piet Sielck –effects, guitars * Mathias Wiesner – effects, keyboards and bass on "Spread Your Wings" * Rolf Köhler, Billy King and Kalle Trapp – backing vocals * Stefan Will – piano * Peter Rübsam – Scottish and Irish bagpipes *

Kai Hansen Kai Michael Hansen (born 17 January 1963) is a German musician who is the founder, lead guitarist and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray. He is also one of the co-founders of metal band Helloween, which he rejoined in 2016. He is a prominent ...

– lead guitar on "The Quest for Tanelorn" Production and design * Kalle Trapp – producing, mixing, recording * Piet Sielck – second engineer * Andreas Marschall/Becker — Derouet Hamburg – cover art * Tom Nagy – photo * a•r•t•p•o•o•l – graphics

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 albums Blind Guardian albums