Oops, fallen behind again. S’OK, I’ll catch up at some stage. 
A Twist In The Myth – Blind Guardian (2006)
Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth
Some call it Battle Metal, some call it Folk Metal, I call it awesome. What you’ve got here is essentially Iron Maiden on steroids, and once you get over the need to classify and pigeonhole every variation in sound into some new sub-brand of metal, you can realise that Blind Guardian are a bloody awesome band. I’m personally not a huge fan of their much-lauded album Nightfall In Middle Earth, possibly because I couldn’t get on with Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion” on which it is based, but also perhaps because it’s a concept album based on one long story and I personally like to enjoy things on shuffle, dipping in and out as I see fit. Either way, A Twist In The Myth is a collection of separate songs all of which are based on various stories myths and legends, and all of them executed with BG’s excellent metal style and flashy guitar work. If you like your metal to have some kind of story to it, I couldn’t recommend this enough, and I thank ex-colleague Mr. Nick Jones for introducing me to Blind Guardian, as well as another band who are coming up later in Rocktober.