 Welcome to The Metal Voice, another recurring guest. One of the nicest guys in metal. We've had the pleasure of interviewing Hansi on numerous times. And it's great to have you back on The Metal Voice. I'm privileged and pleased to be back. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. All right, The God Machine going to be released September the 2nd. That's the 12th studio album. Wow, what a, what, what, what? 11th, 12th? 12th, is it 12th? Is it 12th? Are we going to rate that? Just nailed it. I'm not sure either. Is it the 11th or is it the 12th? Depending on legacy of the Dark Lands, right? Yes, yes. So we'll say 12th because it sounds a lot more, you know. Yeah. Prestigious. Prestigious, yeah. All right, so considering the time we needed it for all these albums, yeah, 12th is better. I'm going to start off with, right off the bat, the artwork. It sort of moves away from the traditional blind guardian artwork. It's sort of now we're getting into another, I don't even know how to describe what that artwork means. Is there a meaning behind it? Well, the artist Peter Mobacher could probably tell you what the meaning is behind this artwork. We were just simply blown away when we saw the artwork. It's about that. I think it's Gabriel, one of his war-ferrished angels. And he's pretty much into angels. It's very archaic. That's what we felt. And it was very suitable for the music. We needed something connected to mythology, philosophy, religion, and also computer games. And basically, that is all planted into that artwork. He is a genius. And we felt that would be the next step. We didn't feel it was so far away from what we usually do. It's maybe a little more intense. And other than that, we were so convinced that it would fit the purpose that there was no question within the band members. We just went for that one. Yeah, it's beautiful. It really is. Yeah, you're not really sure what it is. You know, it's nothing that's, it's quite interesting at artwork. It makes you look at it and kind of study it. It kind of fits the themes on the album, you know? Yeah, I think so too. I mean, it's an angel on there. And this angel basically is organic, but still it also has an artificial approach. And this is also what we are dealing with in the lyrics. There's a lot of deities moving in. There's a lot of futuristic stuff, like in Architects of Doom where I was hired by that. But I'm going to pause you right there. Is that Battlestar Galactica there? Yeah. Yeah. OK, all right. OK, you're just going to say that. It's hard to cut you off. I was like, you know, I'm a huge fan. No worries. I'm just happy if you figured. It's about the cycle of violence, you know? And this is also reflected in this artwork. There's that fragile, still bold angel, you know? And even there, this piece of art fits very well. Are you a fan of Battlestar Galactica? Was it the book or the movies or the TV series? In this case, it was the TV series in the first case and both the old ones and the new ones. I was probably even more relating to the new ones because of the intensity the series had. But then I digged into comics and books as well. That's what Jeremy wanted to bring up. All the themes, all the books you must have read to get the lyrics for this album. Just lucky I sometimes pick the right book in the right moment, it seems. Or I figure something because it pops up because of when I work on the vocal melodies, I have some vocal lines and they guide me into a direction. Sometimes it's the music itself, which just says, well, this is fantasy. This needs to be intense. This can be a little more playful like in Destiny where I relate to Hans Christian Andersen and The Ice Maiden because it's such an obsessive song, such a fragile song, but still threatening somehow. And The Ice Maiden is about obsession. And I wanted to have a sort of love story. I think Hans Christian Andersen maybe is the best storyteller. And I was chasing for that for ages and ages and ages. And finally, when I got the opening pieces of Destiny, I was like, okay, this could be a song for Hans Christian Andersen because he is just so great in inventing stories. And there always is that deeper sense going along with it. And I like that for the story. But it's about the cold obsession of love. And finally, about the results, which are somehow fatal, at least for one part. Just describe to the people who have not heard the first two signals what the rest of the album sounds like musically compared to, let's say, the last few albums by Blind Guardian. It's a natural resource of blind dining qualities, I would say. You will have a better view of the four protagonists in the band. So the intensity is extremely high. It is more on the let your hair down side than on the, I would say, bombastic side, even though there are some bombastic moments. I would say it's a Back to the Roots album because there's a lot of new elements in there. But it has the intensity of what we did in the 90s. So like imaginations from the other side. I would put it in the imaginations from the other side, aggressive, more, you know. Yeah, from, if we speak about aggression, I think it's maybe the most aggressive one. And the only ones which get close to would be imaginations and follow the blind. There's no other album where we really raised speed so much and where we stayed so intense for the whole album. Even the more melodic songs like Secrets of the American Gods or Let It Be No More. They are very intense in terms of, you know, not being wimpy or showing a soft side. That's the word I would use for this album is aggressive and some anger in the lyrics, you know. I had to stop listening to get up, walk away, take a deep breath because I thought myself getting all stressed out listening to it. I mean, is it more of an angrier album because that's the impression I get. And you're right there. I think the two years which lie behind all of us, they had an impact on the album, on the lyrics and the lyrics always relate to the music. So the music came first and it was in there even before, you know, all the bullshit with Corona happened. But, you know, we started the production when, you know, the pandemic really started off. And that had an impact on the lyrics and that also had a big impact, I would say, on the performance of everyone because we were frustrated and, you know, we wanted to let the anger just go, you know, let loose. 100, you got top marks. You succeeded. I'm happy to hear. But I have to say with regard to the lyrics, I really was happy at one point and that was somewhere, you know, in February, March last year, I just said it's enough, you know, there need to be at least some positive perspectives. And that's when I started working on Life Beyond the Speaks, which is a sort of big bang theory in a philosophical way. And there are like an sort of alien race, which, you know, is watching the big bang moment and they could interact or interfere and they don't at the very end. So everything can just progress as it is supposed to. But these higher force had seen it gone wrong a couple of times. We go back to Architects of Doom, which plays with the same topic. There's a cycle of violence and there is a cycle of failure, but they just see, well, we give it another try. We just, you know, let things happen no matter what the consequences will be. So that's the positive aspect on the album. That's, you know, how we found or how I found my way back into more positive thinking, but you're right. I mean, it's an angry album. The constant optimism that humanity will finally get it right someday is what you're saying. We will not define that someday when that is. But yeah, still is hope. And I mean, there is that idea of, you know, whatever we are doing and whoever is doing what, it is for the good. There is no chance that anyone is intending to do as stupid as it sounds at the moment, but no one is intending to do anything that just, you know, so bad things can even evolve more. You know what? First of all, I wanna compliment you on, you know, like when you put this album on earphones and one thing I love about you and the band is there's so much detail in what you do and there's so much passion and it's just mind blowing like all the detail you put there, the vocal harmonies and the, you know, the changes of the tempo and the aggression to changes of, you know, from slow to fast, it's just, there's so much going on. It's just incredible. And this is sort of my question now. You've kind of moved from a speed metal band to a sort of prod speed metal band to adding more and more orchestra and choirs to the point where you came out with a legacy of the dark lands. Do you think you went too far there? Like, and now because of you, like you're stripping, stripping it all back. Do you think you said, okay, we've reached as far as we're gonna go in orchestration, but now we're just gonna throw away the violins and throw away all the choirs, even though there is a little bit there and we're just going back to what we, you know, back to this aggressive sort of metal band. Is there a question there that I just lose myself? No, no, no, no, no, I'm just, you know, I have to separate the band members because everyone has a slightly different perspective on this. For me, there was a necessity to just let go. I was released after we finished the legacy of the dark lands album and I did not feel the urge to go there back again, exactly after that album. I think it's really time for a new starting point for a new era to say so. And for me, it felt like going home or getting home with, you know, distorted guitars and having a band accompanying me. And I also felt that if there is something bad about legacy of the dark lands or even beyond the mirror, then it's that the protagonist, the band does not shine enough. There's so much going on and there's so much information and this takes away too much attention from the band members. And for me, it was clear from the beginning, I would like to do an album which just features us as a band so much. And when we discussed it over the first month of songwriting, everyone was pretty much on the same side. Even though I believe that Andre, for example, he would love to do another orchestral album directly. For me, that's not what I want to do within the next five years, certainly not. Yeah, yeah, I get it. The other day I went to Aventage. I played all their albums back to back. And right away, I'm like, that's Hansi. You know, I hear one of the songs you did with Toby and I'm like, your voice is so distinctive and you're singing great on this album. I mean, every album you've ever sung is fantastic. How do you keep it up? Like after all these years of your voice is still so strong. I take my time off. That's one thing. And I like what I'm doing. And basically I do a lot of physical exercises for the voice. And this, in my case, seemed to work. But yeah, it's not carved in stone that this will go on forever. Right now, I just feel quite confident. And I have to say that I learned a lot during the legacy of the Darklands recordings and composing. So that even gave me a little bit of a push. You know, when I first heard the song, and I think a lot of people, it was the American. Secrets of the American God. Secrets of the American God. Wow, what a track. I go, this must be something related to, you know, John and Ice Earth and Demons and Wizards. I mean, that was the first thing that came to my mind. And a lot of people's mind, right? Were you worried that would happen? Like that fans would first perceive that sort of connection or disconnection between you two? I mean, this song has been written and even performed, I think, in 2020. So the one thing has nothing to do with the other. It's related to Neil Gaiman's story, The American Gods. And I was simply so amazed by the story. And because Neil Gaiman creates great images, the atmosphere is amazing. And I build it up on that. And the music I was not so convinced about at the beginning because that was too close to what we did on Beyond the Red Mirror, I first thought, and it was still too complex. So I was not struggling with the song. Therefore, it was so too strong. But my intention, as said, was to get further away from whatever we did in the past few years. And this one is closely related more to Beyond the Red Mirror than any other song on the album. We just approached it differently. There is a lot of orchestration, but different to Beyond the Red Mirror or Legacy of the Darklands, these orchestral parts, they just play. They are efficient when they are supposed to be efficient. When not, they are supporting the band other than in ninth wave or grand parade, for example, where they literally take the lead and the band stands behind. So I make my piece with that one. And I would also say it's maybe the strongest song on the album. But I have to be honest, it's the first one we wrote. It has a long story. I think we started this one even before I worked on the Demon's Wizards album. I believe it was finished, actually, at least in terms of the arrangements long before I started working on Demon's Wizards 3. Which was a great album, too, by the way. I just want to compliment you on that. Yeah, thank you. I also think it's a very good album. I think Secrets of the American Gods is like seven minutes long. It doesn't feel like it. Everything's going on. I would agree with you. It probably is the best track. Not to say that the other tracks are not good. It's just blind guarding it at their best. That's what I think. I'm really happy to hear that. And the ingredients are there. What makes it a bit different, I think, from, let's say, Beyond the Red Mirror, for example, is that the vocals, for example, they're pretty much designed for the lead vocals. So everything else, even though there is that gigantic choir and that hook line, which hopefully people will not get out of their head, the whole thing is more down to earth. No matter how big it is and no matter how effective some of the orchestral hits are, it's pretty much down to earth. And this is what I like on it so much, even though it has all these elements, it's easier to comprehend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alan, did you have another track? Yeah, I let it be no more. I thought that was very interesting as well. So let it be no more is interesting. It's also a long process of creating this one. I think that is also something which we worked on in the end of 2018, 2019. So you can see the process of songwriting took a while again, and that was when my mother passed away and that had an impact on the vocals and on the melody lines, especially in the verses. And I made that sort of topic. It's about loss in general and about what a loss means to those who are left behind and those who depart. And that was also related to the TV series, The Leftovers, which gave it an additional depth and a little bit more of this concern, I would call. Yeah, you know what's amazing about you? Like, English is not even your first language and you can capture the essence of a situation. It's just mind blowing. Your English is so good, you can actually write better than most people who actually speak it as a first language, like me. I maybe have the privilege that I can simplify things and still people will appreciate it. But on the other hand, brings some phrases which are sometimes not exactly correctly spoken like in Black Chamber. I sing Black Chamber and there is that line in Pro Jerusalem on a night at the opera where I tend to sing Wilderness instead of Wilderness. That's maybe artistic freedom because I'm a non-native speaker, so I have the privilege of that. So people are probably more patient when it comes to this. But yeah, I pay a lot of attention to the words. And in the past, especially when we started all the stuff, I tried to make things complicated. And over the years, I learned the more precise the words are that I use. The deeper I go with regard to the sense, I believe that's the whole package. We create the music and we have the feeling that no matter how long it takes, it all has to be related. And it should make sense. So when I speak about the fall of the Noldorian race, the music needs to fill this purpose. And basically, we always find a solution somehow. But that also means especially the lyrics are very essential part. And they sometimes take forever. It's not that the words come from sometimes they do not come spontaneously. Sometimes I'm just lucky and I'm really chasing until I feel I find the right words. What is also very important, I believe, since I do the vocal lines, I have decided that the phrases which I created, no matter what I sang when I did the vocal lines, which is sometimes almost nonsense, the later phrase must fit 100% otherwise I don't stop. Yeah, yeah, of course, of course. Deliver Us From Evil, another great book, The Crucible, I'm assuming, right? The Salem Witch Trial, which is a fascination in North America, at least. I don't want to just speak about that, about how they used to. It is fiction, right? But it's based on reality, right? Didn't they just pardon a whole bunch of witches in Scotland last week? They went back and said, we pardon you. You're no longer witches. And we're sorry, we burned you at the stake. What the heck? Did you hear? Nobody read that? Oops. Yeah, it's kind of oops. I haven't heard about that. Yeah, but I mean, Arthur Miller, he pointed it out himself. I mean, there is also that deeper sense about denunciation and how quick a situation can get out of hand. So that also I have to say the song was composed and finally produced in 2020. It is about sitting in the glasshouse and throwing wood stones and then creating a damage and probably not understanding that the revolution always will eat all its children. Well, I mean, it's a forecast. But I mean, the Salem Witch Trial was a case of it's telling of every generation, even the COVID generation, where you're isolating a group of people and you're condemning them. And sometimes it's just not right to most times it's not right to condemn these people. Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, and there's always a story. There's a narrative which certainly has an origin which sometimes is planted with a needle seat. There is an intention by people. You never understand. But Abigail's intentions were kind of really weird. And how quickly society gets behind condemning that small group of people. That's even the worst part about it. And that throughout history of humanity, you can see that, right? Yeah, I would agree 100%. Especially when it comes to the abuse of religion. People always or many people think religion is a bad thing. It's not religion, which is a bad thing. It's what people sometimes made out of it. They're interpretations, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, we'll get it right one day, like you said earlier. That's right, that's right. But it's a great opener for the album. I love that song opening this album. It's a strong, strong opening. You know what I'm saying? We've got it very confidentially. I went through the whole discography just because I always, before interviews like Alan, I just would go through everything, right? This album, it probably is, and I hate to say it, but it's probably one of your best albums because it's so complete in so many ways, you know? It doesn't go overboard in the orchestration. It doesn't go overboard in the choir. It doesn't go overboard on the aggression. There's a little bit of everything there, I don't know. I would agree, it's complete. You just mentioned it. For us, whatever album we're doing, once we're finished, it's the best album. There's no doubt about that. And sometimes we have been proven wrong because the fans did not feel the same way we did about particular albums. They all were doing their job and they certainly have their reasons. And as it is with children, we're still proud about everything, but there are some which do it for everyone and some who just appeal to a certain amount of people and the others do never really get into it. But with this one, I would say it's so complete and it's so defined that I would think that most of the Blind Guardian fans will fall in love with it. And may they call it the very best album or one of the best album, that's up to them and that's maybe just something time will tell, but we feel like this. And I have to say, we had a bunch more of a good amount of songs, which we did not finally put on the album and we did not even work on during the production because we found our way with the songs which are on the album and we never left that path. And this was also very helpful. Wow. I'm thinking about three decades ago when you started out, where do you think you'd be in 2022? I would have thought that we became superstars for earlier, maybe within the first five years of our career and as a 25 year old, I would never have thought about something beyond 35 or 40. So we just went for it, it was fun and that the profession became an obsession and it was the right thing to do for us and would last so long, I would not have thought about it at all. If you told me, I would have said maybe, yeah, no, I don't know, I don't care because the moment was important back then and I remember that we were disappointed with the success of The Talents of Fear, which was minor anyway, but we were disappointed but we were still amazed enough from the business to stay in and we then realized that there would be only the chance of small steps in getting more popular and popular and that helped until now. You know, it's amazing and I will leave with this that the band, you guys kind of sort of building your brand or the band, in the time when metal was just, there was nothing there, right? There was no industry support, you know, the early 90s, right? That's when you're building the band, right? Yeah. So it's just, and I guess now it's gonna come to fruition because you sort of rebuilt it for so long that it took that long to have that bigger success. That's what I'm getting at. So it's the timing, right? It's all timing. It's all about timing. Some have had a better timing in each sense and others, they had a far weaker timing. So for us, it seems to be the perfect timing. But yeah, that is something people sometimes, you know, glorify too much the 80s, especially in the time when we got in, it was not good in business. It was difficult to establish a band in the late 80s. Of course, there were some very established bands, but for young bands, it always had been difficult. And from what I figured over the years, when other bands came after us, it was pretty much the same. The good ones survived and they found their way, whatever the industry had changed, they just adjusted to it. So did we. And this is what is demanded by young bands nowadays. It's a different game, I would say, good in YouTube things or whatever is necessary, social media stuff that certainly demands different skills than back in the days when we started it. But all in all, it's always the same, how to attract people and how to hold them. It's funny how the guys that had massive success and hits don't have the legacy and the careers of those. And I think the metal community really expects legacy bands like Blind Guardian and where you built very slowly, but you're still around and people are like demons and wizards, I mean, they were queuing up eight hours before the show even started. It's amazing, but the metal community is really appreciative, I think, of that type of legacy. Yeah, for sure. But it's because the fan praises honesty, the fan praises quality and music and longevity as well. So if you're on the heart of a metal fan, it's forever. It's kind of like you guys are starting off in 88, 89. And it's like, that's when it was all over in the 80s, right? You guys kept going and kept going and kept going and the quality, like you said, spoke at the end of the day. It's the quality that speaks at the end of the day and that's the thing that attracts the fans, right? Even in the hardest metal years, you guys were still cranking about, which is amazing, which is totally amazing. Yeah, I hope that the future looks even more bright. I would not mind at all. Nuclear blast, September 2nd, the God machine, blind guardian, Hansi Kirsch, we're here with us today. Always, always a pleasure, Hansi, to speak to you. You're one of our favorite guests we've ever had on the Metal Voice and thanks again for doing this today. Likewise, I'm happy that we could talk today. Is there a North American tour coming up? No, not right now. We have had a few offers, but at least until the end of the year, we won't play any more shows than the ones which are announced, maybe one or two in Europe. We keep all that for 23. We also have to come back with regard to the album because now we're just teasing somewhere far beyond and this will go on until the end of the year. So God Machine, in terms of live performances will be the main priority for 23. And I would guess that's the time when we come back to North America. Gotcha. All right, I forgot. I should have squeezed that question in before, but I forgot. Okay. Thanks, Hansi. Talk to you soon. You know all the magic souls, you just do it. Absolutely, man. Great talking to you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you.