Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra: Legacy of the Dark Lands

Whispers and rumours of an orchestral project have swirled around symphonic metal titans BLIND GUARDIAN for most of the last twenty years. Some thought it might be focussed on the Lord of the Rings. Others thought it simply a myth. Rest easy, dear readers, for the truth is finally here. Legacy of the Dark Lands is that project, and it has been maturing like a fine whisky for the last twenty years.

It’s not often that a band creates a project quite like this one. Often, when something this radical comes along, it polarises fans. Only non-fans could be put off by this orchestral project though. Vocalist Hansi Kürsch reassures us that “it belongs to the BLIND GUARDIAN universe.” And it does. Given that they have become increasingly and literally orchestral over their more recent albums, utilising three separate orchestras and two choirs on Beyond The Red Mirror, it’s actually no surprise that they went for a purely orchestral album this time round. It’s still a separate project, with no electric guitars to maintain its orchestral purity, but otherwise it’s as Kürsch says: it absolutely belongs in the BLIND GUARIAN universe.

That’s not to say they weren’t tempted to include guitars during the creation process, however. They wrote the first two songs during the process of writing fan-favourite album Nightfall in Middle-Earth, at which point they realised the project would really be better off as a purely orchestral creation. “We just both felt after I accomplished my vocals for those two songs they sounded so ready and naturally fitting into the BLIND GUARDIAN universe that at that point we decided not to use any heavy equipment. Over the years, that has been a discussion, but at the very end, this was the main point. We kept it as originally intended, we kept it as pure as possible. We would still be able to use these songs with band performance and support, but it would change everything – we’d have to record it all anew. We may do so one day, but it’s not currently on the agenda so far. We went for the purest version of what we’d composed!”

Given that Legacy of the Dark Lands has been in progress in one form or another since 1996, the more recent involvement of German fantasy author Markus Heitz could have thrown a spanner into the works. After all, if most of the songs were already composed, retrofitting them around his influence must have been awkward, no? It was, in fact, not at all that difficult. “Markus has been involved in the process for the last five or six years, from the point at which I decided I would not be able to come up with the concept for the album alone,” Kürsch explains of Heitz’s involvement in the process. “Markus is one of my most favourite authors, and certainly the most favourite German fantasy author, so he was my first choice. It turned out he was a BLIND GUARDIAN fan as well, so it turned out to be a very beneficial choice for both sides!” Sadly, however, it is not up to the band as to whether to release this album’s lyrics as a novel in their own right. That decision lies with Heitz, so let us hope he decides to do so – releasing them together would work wonders from a storytelling perspective.

It is, of course, no secret that the band is hugely into fantasy. One look at their album covers, or the fact that they wrote an album based around Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, is more than enough to showcase their love for the genre. But how did that begin, one wonders? Well, no art is made in a vacuum. At the beginning of their career, Kursch was reading a lot of Tolkien and Moorcock, which bled into the art he was making with his band. “During that time I was heavily reading Tolkien and Moorcock, which had an impact on my creative process. At a point we did discuss whether it was a good idea to dedicate the song Majesty from Battalions of Fear to J.R.R. Tolkien, because at that point everyone in the band was infected by my passion for Tolkien. We all thought it was a good idea, but we didn’t think about making it the main agenda for the band, it just fit well with the song itself.”

If, like this writer, you’re getting more and more eager to see this project played live, you may have to work on your patience. For one thing, the world will be treated to a new BLIND GUARDIAN album, which “will hopefully be released in the first half of 2021 followed by a regular BLIND GUARDIAN tour. Once that’s finished then we can put our actions into a BLIND GUARDIAN TWILIGHT ORCHESTRA tour.” However, due to the sheer logistical difficulties of a whole orchestra traversing Europe, those shows will be limited. Kursch ventures that there “may be some stuff just in Germany or the big European countries in a real concert hall.” This is, at least, encouraging for fans on the European mainland. Either way, let us hope that whatever tours come off the back of this album and the next full-band album are ones that come to Britain.

Are there any fantasy authors, living or dead, whose works you might want to make into a potential future BLIND GUARDIAN TWILIGHT ORCHESTRA album?

Hansi: Many! One who would deserve it, from my point of view because music plays such a strong part in his storytelling, is Patrick Rothfuss. His Kingslayer trilogy – so far, the Name of the Wind and the second is the Wise Man’s Fear – has a defined role for music. It’s like in Tolkien where almost every word sounds like music. Rothfuss gets close to that impression. He tugs that string in me, which would make it a good match. Brandon Sanderson would sit better to our metal stuff, but could also work for BLIND GUARDIAN TWILIGHT ORCHESTRA.

If you could be any fantasy creature from any fantasy author’s universe, or from the mythologies of our own world, what would it be and why?

Hansi: It’s difficult to say! I like, right at the moment, I would say Hawkmoon from Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse. I like the Eternal Champion – I wouldn’t consider myself to be an Eternal Champion, but if I had to make the choice it would be this. The output is more positive than the Elric books, who is my favourite fantasy character of all time. I just like the more positive aspects of Hawkmoon.

Something we’ve heard about and wanted to clarify: Is it true that you play Dungeons and Dragons on your tour bus?

Hansi: It’s not true for me, but I suppose that Markus [Siepen] and Frederik [Ehmke] have done it. They’re into Dungeons and Dragons. I’m more into regular card games. Here and there I join in with Markus and Frederik’s games, but I’m not a pundit really. Markus and André are more into games, so they play whatever’s coming around. What attracts people attracts them as well, but they’re also into board games. Roleplay games are for sure something they’re into!

Other than Heitz and Tolkien, who are your favourite fantasy authors?

Too many! I was mentioning the DEMONS AND WIZARDS activity earlier: we finished the album in the summer while doing some shows at the same time. In that, I dedicated a song to Brandon Sanderson, who was a strong influence on some of the lyrics. I also did three songs about Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. So that’s been a strong influence for me and for BLIND GUARDIAN. I also like dystopian, living or dead. I would love to do something with the Handmaid’s Tale, for sure. Two of the new songs for BLIND GUARDIAN go into such a direction. André asked if I was willing to do something with the World of Warcraft games. I’m not so much into games, though I like the WOW universe, so it’s something to look into.

Legacy of the Dark Lands is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.

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