The God Machine is the twelfth studio album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released on 2 September 2022 through Nuclear Blast.[5][6][7] This is the band's first regular[8] studio album in seven years, following Beyond the Red Mirror (2015), marking the longest gap between two Blind Guardian studio albums (although a previous album was released three years earlier under the name "Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra").
| The God Machine | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2 September 2022 | |||
| Recorded | 2018–2021 | |||
| Studio | Twilight Hall Studio, Grefrath, Germany | |||
| Genre | Power metal | |||
| Length | 51:08 | |||
| Label | Nuclear Blast | |||
| Producer | Charlie Bauerfeind, Joost van den Broek | |||
| Blind Guardian chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The God Machine | ||||
The album's cover art was illustrated by American artist Peter Mohrbacher as part of the Angelarium project.
Background and recording
editProduction of The God Machine took place throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic; however some of the songs were written before 2020. Frontman Hansi Kürsch feared unforeseeable individual and social consequential damage from the pandemic. "For us, however, it was good from a creative point of view because we were able to take our time. We could think: What do we actually want? It has to represent us and it has to represent the time", Kürsch confirms the influence. "For me it could have been even a bit heavier. During the pre-production I was even involved in Death Metal at times. But the other band members vetoed that."[9]
"We didn't want to rehash our qualities from 1995, but didn't want to continue down this complex path forever either. The God Machine is a new beginning for us. We've set a new course and gone back to certain things that we've neglected a bit on the last few albums", Kürsch told music publications in May 2022.[10]
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| BraveWords | 8/10[11] |
| Classic Rock |   [12] |
| Metal Hammer |  [13] |
| Metal.de | 9/10[14] |
| Metal Injection | 8/10[15] |
| My Global Mind | 5/5[16] |
| Sonic Perspectives | 4.8/5[17] |
Marcel Rapp of powermetal.de praised the album, comparing it to 1990s Blind Guardian records: "Is The God Machine the best album after Nightfall in Middle-Earth? Possibly, because you haven't heard the Krefeld band so determined, heavy and direct since 1998."[18]
Travis Green of My Global Mind wrote: "Fans of any of the band's previous works should find a lot to love here, while any fan of the genre who somehow hasn't discovered the band yet would do no better than to start with this album, as it's one of the band's finest efforts to date!"[16]
Lyrical references
edit- "Deliver Us from Evil" is about Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.[19]
- "Damnation" is about The Kingkiller Chronicle, a fantasy series written by Patrick Rothfuss.[19]
- "Secrets of the American Gods" references Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel American Gods.[19]
- "Violent Shadows" is about Kaladin Stormblessed and his life as a bridgeman in Brandon Sanderson's fantasy novel series The Stormlight Archive.[19]
- "Life Beyond the Spheres" is about the creation of the universe, (The Big Bang specifically) the first moments after the beginning of everything, and the evolution of space and time.[19]
- "Architects of Doom" references the science fiction franchise Battlestar Galactica.[19]
- "Let It Be No More" deals with the death of frontman Hansi Kürsch's mother, as well as The Leftovers.[19]
- "Blood of the Elves" references the first novel in The Witcher series, Blood of Elves, written by Andrzej Sapkowski.[19]
- "Destiny" is inspired by the tale The Ice-Maiden written by Hans Christian Andersen.[19]
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by André Olbrich and Hansi Kürsch
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deliver Us from Evil" | 5:22 |
| 2. | "Damnation" | 5:21 |
| 3. | "Secrets of the American Gods" | 7:29 |
| 4. | "Violent Shadows" | 4:18 |
| 5. | "Life Beyond the Spheres" | 6:03 |
| 6. | "Architects of Doom" | 6:21 |
| 7. | "Let It Be No More" | 4:49 |
| 8. | "Blood of the Elves" | 4:38 |
| 9. | "Destiny" | 6:47 |
| Total length: | 51:08 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Life Beyond The Spheres (Cyber Mix)" | 6:06 |
| 11. | "Destiny (Lead Guitar Version)" | 6:42 |
| 12. | "Let It Be No More (Heavy Vocals)" | 4:51 |
| Total length: | 17:40 | |
Personnel
edit- Blind Guardian
- Hansi Kürsch – vocals
- André Olbrich – lead guitar
- Marcus Siepen – rhythm guitar
- Frederik Ehmke – drums
- Guest musicians
- Barend Courbois – bass
- Thomas Geiger – effects and keyboards
- Joost van den Broek – keyboards on "Life Beyond the Spheres"
Charts
edit| Chart (2022) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)[20] | 19 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] | 6 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] | 77 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] | 88 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[24] | 19 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] | 2 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[26] | 53 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[27] | 42 |
| Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[28] | 48 |
| Polish Albums (ZPAV)[29] | 7 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[30] | 21 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[31] | 13 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[32] | 57 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[33] | 5 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[34] | 6 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[35] | 4 |
References
edit- ^ Divita, Joe (3 December 2021). "Blind Guardian Unchain Epic New Song "Deliver Us From Evil", New Album Coming Next Year". Loudwire. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian Releases New Single "Secrets of the American Gods"". Sonic Perspectives. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian Reveals New Single "Blood of the Elves" From Upcoming Album The God Machine". Sonic Perspectives. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ Kennelty, Greg (29 July 2022). "Blind Guardian Drops New Single "Violent Shadows"". Metal Injection. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian - Upcoming Studio Album Additional Details Disclosed". Metal Storm. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian: the details of the new album The God Machine". metalitalia.com. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian's The God Machine Album Gets Release Date; 'Blood Of The Elves' Music Video Available". Blabbermouth.net. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian Announces New Album The God Machine". Blabbermouth.net. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Band Blind Guardian stellt neues Album in Köln vor". Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German). 17 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian to release new studio album The God Machine on September 2nd 2022". Grande-Rock.com. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ Gromen, Mark (17 September 2022). "BLIND GUARDIAN - The God Machine". BraveWords. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ Everley, Dave (4 September 2022). "Blind Guardian: The God Machine album review". Classic Rock. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ Lawson, Dom (28 August 2022). "Blind Guardian: The God Machine album review". Metal Hammer. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian - the God Machine Review • metal.de".
- ^ Bowar, Chad (31 August 2022). "Album Review: BLIND GUARDIAN The God Machine". Metal Injection. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Blind Guardian – The God Machine Review". My Global Mind. Travis Green. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian - The God Machine (Album Review)". Sonic Perspectives. Jonathan Smith. September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ^ "Blind Guardian: The God Machine Listening Session". powermetal.de. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Blind Guardian Studio Report 3". Mark Miranovic. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 12 September 2022". The ARIA Report. No. 1697. Australian Recording Industry Association. 20 June 2024. p. 24.
- ^ "Austriancharts.at – Blind Guardian – The God Machine" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Blind Guardian – The God Machine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Blind Guardian – The God Machine" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Blind Guardian: The God Machine" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Blind Guardian – The God Machine" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Blind Guardian – The God Machine". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2022-09-12/p/5" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Billboard Japan Hot Albums: 2022/09/07 公開". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Blind Guardian – The God Machine". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Blind Guardian – The God Machine". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Blind Guardian – The God Machine". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 20, 2024.