| The God Machine | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Blind Guardian |
| Cover: | Blind Guardian - The God Machine.jpg |
| Released: | 2 September 2022 |
| Recorded: | 2018–2021 |
| Studio: | Twilight Hall Studio, Grefrath, Germany |
| Genre: | Power metal |
| Length: | 51:08 |
| Label: | Nuclear Blast |
| Producer: | Charlie Bauerfeind, Joost van den Broek |
| Prev Title: | Legacy of the Dark Lands |
| Prev Year: | 2019 |
The God Machine is the twelfth studio album by the German power metal band Blind Guardian, released on 2 September 2022 through Nuclear Blast.[1] [2] [3] This is the band's first regular[4] studio album in seven years, following Beyond the Red Mirror (2015), marking the longest gap between two Blind Guardian studio albums (although a previous album was released three years earlier under the name "Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra").
The album's cover art was illustrated by American artist Peter Mohrbacher as part of the Angelarium project.
Production of The God Machine took place throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic; however some of the songs were written before 2020. Frontman Hansi Kürsch feared unforeseeable individual and social consequential damage from the pandemic. "For us, however, it was good from a creative point of view because we were able to take our time. We could think: What do we actually want? It has to represent us and it has to represent the time", Kürsch confirms the influence. "For me it could have been even a bit heavier. During the pre-production I was even involved in Death Metal at times. But the other band members vetoed that."[5]
"We didn't want to rehash our qualities from 1995, but didn't want to continue down this complex path forever either. The God Machine is a new beginning for us. We've set a new course and gone back to certain things that we've neglected a bit on the last few albums", Kürsch told music publications in May 2022.[6]
Marcel Rapp of powermetal.de praised the album, comparing it to 1990s Blind Guardian records: "Is The God Machine the best album after Nightfall in Middle-Earth? Possibly, because you haven't heard the Krefeld band so determined, heavy and direct since 1998."[7]
Travis Green of My Global Mind wrote: "Fans of any of the band's previous works should find a lot to love here, while any fan of the genre who somehow hasn't discovered the band yet would do no better than to start with this album, as it's one of the band's finest efforts to date!"[8]
| Peak position | |
| Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)[10] | 19 |
|---|---|
| Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[11] | 48 |