The Germans debuted in a raw, harsh way, but already sketching good traces of melody
By Luiz Athayde
On this very day in the class of 1988, one of the exponents of Teutonic metal was making his recording debut with Battalions of Fear via the No Remorse Records imprint.
The metal zeitgeist included names like Helloween, Assassin, Tankard, Living Death, Kreator, Sodom and Destruction when four guys from Krefeld, Düsseldorf area, were still signed as Lucifer’s Heritage.
They released only two demos: Symphonies of Doom (1985) and Battalions of Fear (1986), which ended up serving as the basis for what would become the album of the new nickname – including for the title of the second one. The best examples are: “Majesty”, “Halloween”, renamed “Wizard’s Crow”; “Run for the Night”, and “Battalions of Fear”. In addition to “Gandalf’s Rebirth”, featuring as a bonus track on the CD edition.
On the first demo, vocalist Hansi Kürsch and guitarist André Olbrich were joined by Marcus Dörk (guitar) and Thomen Stauch (drums), while on the second, guitarist Christoph Theissen and drummer Hans-Peter Frey took over.
The classic line-up took shape in 1987 with the entry of guitarist Marcus Siepen and the return of Thomen. By this time, the Germanic line-up could enjoy considerable experience, so their next step was naturally the recording of a full-length album.
In October and November of that year, the quartet holed up in the Karo Musikstudio in Münster, Germany, and for the first time had Kalle Trapp in charge of production – the other would be on the subsequent album, 1989’s ‘Follow the Blind’ – a specialist in both thrash bands and with pop artists.
In a video commemorating 35 years of the iconic record, Marcus Siepen commented, “It was the first time we recorded a professional album in a studio, which was a trip, because before that we had only recorded demos and demos and demos.”
For long years Blind Guardian has been known as one of the exponents of German heavy metal and power metal in general. And it is not by chance. Their debut is marked by the aggressiveness befitting the period, and the harshness that the style has always called for. However, the addition of melodies in the middle of this recipe, which brought influences from thrash metal and the melodic power of Judas Priest, and also Iron Maiden, made the difference.
As for the themes, inspirations that the band would bring to much of their discography, namely J.R.R. Tolkien (“Majesty”, which had The Lord of the Rings as its north) and Stephen King (“Guardian of the Blind”, this one inspired by the novel It).
For a group still unknown and, mainly, debutants, the reception was good. Battalions of Fear received a 9 rating in the Rock Hard magazine, and in the official German charts, the album reached the 53rd sales position.
In the licensing sphere, Battalions of Fear won a few reissues on vinyl, cassette and CD, including the 2007 one, where it features 4 bonus tracks extracted from the Lucifer’s Heritage demos.
Battalions of Info:
+ Cover art is signed by Detlef Van Waay, who only later worked on Acid’s 1989 album ‘Don’t Lose Your Dreams’, on ‘Follow the Blind’.
+ Excerpts from ‘Gates of Moria’ are taken from Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s ninth symphony, ‘From the New World’.
+ The organ introduction of ‘Majesty’ is a version of Johan Strauss II’s waltz ‘The Blue Danube’.”