Sitting on a boat on the river Rhine near Cologne in his native Germany, Hansi Kürsch looks at peace with the world as he basks in the glorious sunshine. His band, Blind Guardian, have just treated a small contingent of journalists to a playback of their upcoming 12th album, The God Machine – ablinding reimagining of the bombastic, straight-ahead power metal they championed throughout the 90s.
Their first full album in seven years (2019’s Legacy Of was attributed to the ‘Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra’), it may even be the heaviest record Blind Guardian have made since their epic 1995 breakthrough, But even as the beer flows readily and Hansi cracks jokes about how it feels to finally play international shows for the first time in almost five years, it soon becomes apparent that it’s been anything but smooth sailing for the singer.
