Customer Reviews

Fly

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Here's my impressions of the single.

The first time I listened to it, I thought the song Fly had a Weird intro. I was like what the hell is making that scratchy noise? Then I got into the song, and I liked it as it got going. It has some very epic elements, but it is also very succinct. Not as elaborate as "And Then There Was Silence," but in many ways more understandable. The guitar solo I thought was one of Andre's best and most definable.

Then Skalds and Shadows came on and I was by this time fairly psyched to be blown away. I had read about this song being "in the tradition of 'Bards Song' and 'Past And Future Secret'," but I guess I was hoping for more. It's a good song by itself, but the problem is that it doesn't bring anything new to the table. That's why I really liked "Maiden/Minstrel Knight." It was entirely BG ballad, but at the same time it was completely different from any ballad they had done previously. Skalds and Shadows just doesn't differentiate itself from the BG ballad sound enough for me.

Inna Gadda Da Vida was a nice bonus. The riff was cool, but Hansi's vocals sounded a little weird. Like he was trying to be true to the original singer but couldn't do it.

Those were my first impressions of the single.

After several weeks of listening to Fly on and off I have changed my mind about a few things. Firstly, the song Fly is one of the best songs the band has ever done. It builds tension in just the right places and releases it like sex. The guitar solo is a thing of beauty in its initial simplicity and in building complexity. I still think the beginning is weird, but the rest of the song is so perfect that I say, who cares. Skalds and Shadows is still too much of a template song, though it stands alone as a beautiful ballad. Inna Gadda Da Vida has grown on me. What at first seemed like bad vocals now seem to be exactly what they were intended to be. A mixture of Iron Butterfly and Blind Guardian.

There are a lot of people who are going to say "this isn't Blind Guardian" simply because while the band are maturing and developing a more complex style, these "naysayers" have stayed behind in the dust. These are the same people who think Batallions of Fear was Blind Guardian's finest work, and who also think Metallica is the greatest metal band of all time. So unless you think Batallions was the band's best album (raises eyebrows), or Metallica the greatest thing since sliced bread (smiles), pay these naysayers no heed. If you want Blind Guardian to "return to their roots," then think again. This has been done before, and it's never worked out. Remember Iron Maiden's "No Prayer For The Dying"? It was exactly a return to Maiden's roots, and it tanked. The wonderful thing about Blind Guardian is that they have improved from each of their albums to the next, and this single, Fly, is a perfect example of how the band continue to broaden and improve their music. "Just when you think they couldn't get any better" is a phrase not uncommon among Blind Guardian fans, and there's a reason for that.

The only other music I've heard by Blind Guardian was A Night at the Opera. That album didn't really do it for me, but after listening to the melodic metal powerhouse "Fly," my interest in the group has been renewed. Two more songs are featured on this single release. The group harkens back to Medieval Times with the acoustic version of "Skalds and Shadows," and delivers one of the most energetic and progressive versions I've ever heard of "In a Gadda Da Vida." Can't wait for the full album.

Don't let anyone tell you that this song sucks. I can't wait for the new album and am pleased that Blind Guardian continue to grow instead of re-making "Nightfall..." over and over.

This song has an odd beginning, and takes a couple spins to really grow, but it's a phenomenally crafted song and definitely sounds like Blind Guardian, completely with only slightly-less sludgey and layered production than usual.

Good for them for being creative. Shame on the close-minded members of their fanbase.

The CD single Fly was originally intended to give fans a preview of their (then) upcoming album A Twist in the Myth. And what a preview it was! "Fly" bursts out of the gate with pure energy. This song is every bit as powerful, progressive, and well-orchestrated as we've come to expect from Blind Guardian, who continue to remind us with every album why they are the absolute best power metal band on Earth. "Fly" is a great indicator of what ATITM has to offer.

Also included on this single is an acoustic version of another ATITM track, Skalds and Shadows. This is a folksy, vintage Blind Guardian ballad, and to be quite honest I can't really hear that much of a difference between this version and the one found on ATITM.

As is so often the case with these import singles, Fly features one track that you won't find anywhere else. Blind Guardian always picks the best (and least expected) cover songs to perform, whether they are metal staples like Judas Priest and Dio or head scratchers like the Beach Boys. I don't think anyone expected the band to take on Iron Butterfly's classic "In a Gadda da Vida". Blind Guardian gives a double-speed rendition of the acid laced tune that sadly, just comes across as hurried and uninspired. It's a decent track, but is nowhere near the band's best cover tunes, and is probably one that only die-hard Blind Guardian fans will be compelled to buy a CD single for. I'm of the opinion that every BG song is worth having, so if you're into the band, you'll want to add this disc to your collection.

PS - "In a Gadda da Vida" is now available individually as a (legal) download right here from Amazon. If you don't want to pay for the full EP, you can get the one non-album track digitally for less than a buck.

In Hansi and Jon Schaffer's side project Demons & Wizards you could see changes in Hansi's vocal style, and im happy to say that the new vocals have been added to the newest Blind Guardian efforts. Fly is a perfect song and i hope that the new album has plenty more where this came from. It's very different, but in my oppinon it is some of the most complex writing the band has come up with yet. Im so happy that Blind Guardian isnt going downhill and you'd think that with so many good albums before them there's bound to be a bad one - THINK AGAIN!!!

OK, so first off, Fly is an awesome song. Second, the b-sides are good too. Skalds and Shadows is a great song, and sounds good acoustic, this song is practically not even a b-side (not good enough to be an a-side, but good enough not to be a b-side). In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda is the worst track on this album, but then again, it's more of a homage to Iron Butterfly's historical song than an actual song for you to enjoy (maybe you'll like it anyway, in that case, more power to you). What I liked about this single is that the only song that's really a b-side is In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda, and that's more of a collector's song than anything else, so theres no "real" b-sides at all on this album as that they're all good or worth having for collector's sake.
I definitely recommend getting this if you like Blind Guardian.

This Cd Blind Guardian is going in the right direction they have improved since battilions of fear and they are alot better. But i guess you have to have a tune for this one otherwise you wont like it at all.

Pay no attention to that idiot who gave the 1 star review. This is very easily the best single of the year. It bodes well for the forthcoming album that Fly, while an excellent song, also partially represents the direction of the band...and by the way, the new album is going to blow us all away, take it from me.

I am really suprised that any long time BG fan can like the new direction of the band. I find it insulting that their descent into cheesey rock meets corny fantasy movie soundtrack is being billed as "growth" and evolution". As a long time fan, I would really welcome that kind of change. For example I think the words "time" sorrow" "end" "away and "agony" should be banned from Hansi's lyrical toolbox. The guitar tones be played with in postive ways, different time signatures could be used, lyrical themes, different instruments added tastefully, such as a violin. I 'd like to see the band get heavier AND softer. Or not. Those are just examples.

But this new Guardian is not a growth, but a cheesey parody of their old material. "Dream in the shadows"? How is that new? That sounds like something that could have been on the last several albums by this band-with one important difference!
The flutes! Now flutes can be done tastefully, with some texture, as they were on Nightfall, but these sound absolutely corny. Blind Gurdian are better than bands like Rhapsody because they push the mystical as far as you can go without becoming a child's action figure or a unicorn poster in a 6 year old girl's bedroom. They also can write real lyrics, have real feeling and grittyness and heaviness that comes with applying slick production in the places where its needed for the bombastic effect all great epic metal requires, while at the same time stripping down elsewhere in the mix and delivering creativity at the gut level. But it seems they may have lost that now.
A horrible rock cover? They already did a whole album of those with forgotten tales, which not a single BG fan I know actually owns, but no one was offended by because it wasn't taken as serious.
The guitar riffage on fly sounds like straight up blues based rock, minus the soul-its almost like the music from a 90's tv car chase or something. And the vocals are low quality Alternative Rock from the same era.
Well, I know some true fans would like to see a return to the sound of Nightfall or earlier.
Not me.
I would like to see BG make a progression from that, but still be true to their best metal roots. They claim thats what this is. And some fans are sticking by it.
History will not buy that line, it never does.
This claim will evaporate amid the same sound as a million other bands "new directions" and "artistic growth" and other fatal slides into Crapdom that we all now look back on and laugh at. To me it sounds like they've actually gotten lazy and are resting on thier laurels, while introducing embaressing parlor tricks like dancy keyboards to gloss it over and then calling that growth. I think they are weak and out of steam, but, hey, they have already put out enough great albums and you cant always stay great forever.