Somewhere Far Beyond
Encyclopedia
Somewhere Far Beyond is the fourth studio album by German power metal act Blind Guardian
.
It was released in 1992 and produced by Kalle Trapp. The cover artwork was created by Andreas Marschall, who has also drawn the artwork for some more of Blind Guardian's releases (Tales from the Twilight World
, Nightfall in Middle-Earth
, etc.).
The album saw the band creating its own original sound, while still employing most of their speed/power metal techniques.
The strong songwriting of the album (including fan favorite "The Bard's Song - In the Forest") made the album a power metal staple. The image of the cover 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 frequently calling the fans Bards.
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 first live album of the band, Tokyo Tales
.
It was remastered and re-released on 15 June 2007, with bonus tracks.
Note: The 2007 re-release has all the previous bonus tracks, although they are not listed as such.
Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s 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...
.
It was released in 1992 and produced by Kalle Trapp. The cover artwork was created by Andreas Marschall, who has also drawn the artwork for some more of Blind Guardian's releases (Tales from the Twilight World
Tales from the Twilight World
Tales from the Twilight World is the third studio album that was released in 1990 by Blind Guardian. The cover artwork was created by Andreas Marschall, who has drawn the artwork for some of Blind Guardian's other releases...
, Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Nightfall in Middle-Earth is a concept album by Blind Guardian, released in 1998. It is also Blind Guardian's sixth studio album.The album is based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a book of tales from the First Age of Middle-earth, recounting the War of the Jewels. The album contains not...
, etc.).
The album saw the band creating its own original sound, while still employing most of their speed/power metal techniques.
The strong songwriting of the album (including fan favorite "The Bard's Song - In the Forest") made the album a power metal staple. The image of the cover 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 frequently calling the fans Bards.
The album was acclaimed by power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
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 first live album of the band, Tokyo Tales
Tokyo Tales
Tokyo Tales is the first live album by the German metal band Blind Guardian.Remastered and re-released on 15 June 2007, with the same Japanese bonus track.- Track listing :# "Inquisition" – 0:47# "Banish from Sanctuary" – 6:03...
.
It was remastered and re-released on 15 June 2007, with bonus tracks.
Track listing
- "Time What Is Time" – 5:42
- "Journey Through the Dark" – 4:45
- "Black Chamber" – 0:56
- "Theatre of Pain" – 4:15
- "The Quest for Tanelorn" – 5:53
- "Ashes to Ashes" – 5:58
- "The Bard's Song - In the ForestThe Bard's Song (In the Forest)"The Bard's Song " is a single by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released in 2003. It contains 5 different versions of this, one of their most popular songs, which originally appeared on the album Somewhere Far Beyond....
" – 3:09 - "The Bard's Song - The Hobbit" – 3:52
- "The Piper's Calling" – 0:58
- "Somewhere Far Beyond" – 7:28
- Bonus Tracks
- 11. "Spread Your WingsSpread Your Wings"Spread Your Wings" is a rock ballad by Queen, from their 1977 album News of the World. Written by bassist John Deacon, it was released as the A side of the single Spread Your Wings/Sheer Heart Attack in 1978. It features Deacon on guitar and bass, Freddie Mercury on piano and vocals, Brian May on...
" (QueenQueen (band)Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
cover) – 4:13 - 12. "Trial by Fire" (SatanSatan (band)Satan are a heavy metal band originating from Newcastle, England in 1979, known as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. " Though generally obscure throughout their career, the band is considered influential for playing a form of proto-thrash metal that was fairly advanced by the...
cover) – 3:42 - 13. "Theatre of Pain" (Classic version) – 4:13
- Re-release Bonus Tracks
- 14. "Halleluya" (Bonus) - 3:18
- 15. "Time What Is Time" (Demo version) - 5:08
- 16. "Theatre of Pain" (Demo version) - 4:09
- 17. "Ashes To Ashes" (Demo version) - 5:51
- 2007 Re-release Bonus Tracks
- 14. "Ashes to Ashes" (Demo Version) – 5.51
- 15. "Time What is Time" (Demo Version)
Note: The 2007 re-release has all the previous bonus tracks, although they are not listed as such.
Lineup
- Hansi KürschHansi KürschHans Jürgen Kürsch, better known as Hansi Kürsch is a German musician, the lead vocalist and lyricist of power metal band Blind Guardian. Together with André Olbrich, he is also the principal songwriter for the band. He was also the bassist in Blind Guardian until the 1998 album Nightfall in...
– vocals and bass - André OlbrichAndré OlbrichAndré Olbrich is the lead guitarist of the German power metal band Blind Guardian. He is one of the band's founders together with vocalist Hansi Kürsch, and serves as one of its main songwriters....
– lead, rhythm, acoustic guitars and backing vocals - Marcus SiepenMarcus SiepenMarcus Siepen is one of two guitarists in the power metal band Blind Guardian. For the biggest percentage of Blind Guardian's songs, particularly in more recent years, he has almost strictly played rhythm guitar, with most lead and solo work being performed by André Olbrich.-Personal:Siepen is...
– rhythm, acoustic guitars and backing vocals - Thomas "Thomen" Stauch – drums
Guest musicians
- Piet Sielck –effects and guitars
- Mathias Wiesner – effects and bass on "Spread Your Wings"
- Rolf KöhlerRolf KöhlerRolf Köhler was a German singer, musician and record producer.Rolf Köhler has been one of the most successful singers from Germany. His first success was on the 1970s under the Marc de Ville pseudonym...
, Billy King and Kalle Trapp – backing vocals - Stefan Will – piano
- Peter Rübsam – Scottish and Irish bagpipes
- Kai HansenKai HansenKai Michael Hansen is a power metal guitarist and vocalist.Hansen is the founder, lead guitarist, and vocalist of power metal band Gamma Ray, and the co-founder and former member of German metal band Helloween. He is a prominent figure in power metal, and has sold millions of albums worldwide...
– lead guitar on "The Quest for Tanelorn"
Personnel
- Kalle Trapp – producing, mixing and recording
- Piet Sielck – second engineer
- Andreas Marschall/Becker — Derouet Hamburg – cover paintings
- Tom Nagy – photo
- a•r•t•p•o•o•l – graphics
Cover versions
- "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" has been covered by German a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
metal band van CantoVan CantoVan Canto is an a cappella metal band from Germany, founded in 2006 and composed of five singers and a drummer. Although the group is often classified as an a cappella ensemble, they use real drums in their music, instead of vocal percussion or beatboxing....
.
Lyrical references
- "Time What is Time" is about someone who finds himself in the Blade RunnerBlade RunnerBlade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
world. Very probably, a Replicant's view to the main subject in the film. - "Journey Through the Dark" is about someone who's forgotten who he is, time travel, and, specifically, Jhary-a-Conel. Jhary a-Conel is a bard and a companion of the Eternal ChampionEternal ChampionThe Eternal Champion is a fictional creation of the author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his novels.-About the Eternal Champion:...
, from the books by Michael MoorcockMichael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
. - "Black Chamber" deals with someone finding himself in the Twin PeaksTwin PeaksTwin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
world and facing a dark fate. - "Theatre of Pain" is based on the fantasy novel The Merman's ChildrenThe Merman's ChildrenThe Merman's Children is a 1979 fantasy novel by Poul Anderson, inspired by Danish legends of Mermen and Mermaids from Danish folklore. Portions of the work had previously been published as an identically titled novella and the novelette "The Tupilak" in the anthologies Flashing Swords! #1 and...
by Poul AndersonPoul AndersonPoul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
. - "The Quest for Tanelorn" is also about the Eternal Champion's search for a city called Tanelorn. (TanelornTanelornTanelorn is a fictional city set in the Multiverse of Michael Moorcock's fantasy novels.Tanelorn shares some properties with the author's key character, the Eternal Champion, namely its existence in all dimensions, albeit not at the same time...
is a fictional city in The MultiverseThe MultiverseThe Multiverse is a series of parallel universes in many of the science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories written by Michael Moorcock. Central to these works is the concept of an Eternal Champion who has potentially multiple identities across multiple dimensions...
of Michael MoorcockMichael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
's stories). - "Ashes to Ashes" is based on reality; it has to do with the death of Hansi's father. Source:http://blindguardian.fisek.com.tr/interviews/iv7.html
- "The Bard's Song - In the Forest" is inspired by the computer game The Bard's Tale. Source:http://www.gamespot.com/news/6190306.html.
- "The Bard's Song - The Hobbit" is based on J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The HobbitThe HobbitThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
. - "Somewhere Far Beyond" is a retelling of Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the ThreeThe Drawing of the ThreeThe Drawing of the Three is the second book in The Dark Tower series of novels written by Stephen King and published by Grant in 1987. The series was inspired by Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning. The story is a continuation of The Gunslinger and follows Roland of Gilead and...
. - "Trial by Fire" is about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiAtomic bombings of Hiroshima and NagasakiDuring the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. It's a cover of the heavy metal band SatanSatan (band)Satan are a heavy metal band originating from Newcastle, England in 1979, known as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. " Though generally obscure throughout their career, the band is considered influential for playing a form of proto-thrash metal that was fairly advanced by the...
.