Again the power metal lads from Germany, Blind Guardian, appears for the fourth time with one of their newest songs for Song of the Day. The song of which I speak of is the second ballad of two that Blind Guardian composed and produced for their latest album, “War of the Thrones”.

While metal bands have done ballads in the past and will continue to do so, Blind Guardian has shied away from the power ballads of most metal bands and have instead opted for the kind of folksy ballads that troubadours and traveling bards of the Middle Ages and the Age of Renaissance played much in inns and royal courts across the lands. In fact, the band has seen themselves more like traveling bards (but with a power metal kick to their music).

“War of the Thrones” definitely sounds like something a traveling troupe of bards would play at a royal court. Even the subject matter which inspired the song is from a historical fantasy series of novels by fantasy writer George R.R. Martin whose A Song of Fire and Ice many have seen as the American Lord of the Rings. The band never shies away from the fantasy aspects of their songwriting and with this song they embrace this aspect of their band’s sound.

The song’s lyrics has themes and ideas from Martin’s fantasy series. From the raging war for the throne of Westeros which has engulfed the lands south of the Wall to the sinister “Others” beyond the wall whose march will raze the Wall which keeps them from the warring kingdoms in the south. For fans of Martin’s fantasy series the song should be a delight as it brings up imagery from the books. For fans of Blind Guardian it’s a nice addition to their growing folksy ballads which goes hand in hand with their faster and more complex work.

War of the Thrones

Nothing will grow here
Icy fields – blackened sorrow
Legacy of a lost mind
Feed my void
What you’re waiting for

I’m too late
It is more than a game
The river reveals
Now I’m in between these lines
I cannot escape it seems
Sail on, my friend

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Walls they fall
When the march of the Others begins

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Rise and fall
When the War of the Thrones shall begin

While I sit there in silence
Come and talk to me
I can’t free my mind
It is all I’m begging for

While I sit there in silence

Will it ever end?
Will I find what I’m longing for?
Will I ever walk out of shadows so grey?
I’m condemned, I am hallowed
Icy fields they won’t hurt anymore

Will you walk with me?
Any further
There at world’s end
It’s me
I sing

I cannot escape it seems
Sadly I sing

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Walls they fall
When the march of the Others begins

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Rise and fall
When the War of the Thrones shall begin

Away
Watch the river it flows
(Now and ever)
I cannot believe in more
And now my time will come
Carry on

Will I ever learn from the past?
Will I fade away?
Will I ever stay where the shadows will grow?
There is luck at the gallows
I will free my mind
Soon it will show

Let it rain
There’ll be no spring
My dream is a mirror
It reveals a matter of lies

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Rise and fall
When the War of the Thrones will begin

All I ever feel is
All I ever see is
Rise and fall
When the War of the Thrones has begun

Leave a fee for the tillerman
And the river behind…