“I’m Hoping For Either Late ’25 Or ’26”

For those who like their metal bathed in epic tales, the wait for a new Blind Guardian studio album might not be as long as you think. In a recent interview with Metal Roos, frontman Hansi Kürsch hinted at a potential release date for the band’s next musical offering, offering a glimmer of hope after the seven-year gap between The God Machine and its predecessor.

But hold your horses, eager bards! While Kürsch expressed optimism, he also cautioned against getting too excited: “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be…. I’m not sure what it will look like exactly. We did the re-recordings for Somewhere Far Beyond for the anniversary album, and we did the live recordings in 2022, so this is something certainly to come up very soon. But we’re talking about new material.”

“That is still on hold then, because after that we do some acoustic playings, which we also worked on because we had to kill some time. And then, yeah, after Wacken Open Air and after these shows we’re going to play within this year, we keep our focus on regular songwriting. And I don’t know — I would be very surprised to find out that there’s no new Blind Guardian album before ’27, which is an accomplishment already, but I’m hoping for either late ’25 or ’26,” Kürsch explained.

And what about keeping things fresh after all these years? Kürsch credits experience and, more importantly, passion.

“You gain a bit of expertise over the years. This is helpful. And then in addition, it’s a passion on the one hand, it’s a profession on the other hand, which makes it a bit easier. And the excitement is still there. I believe maybe that’s the central point in Blind Guardian. Everyone is feeling completely relieved because we have accomplished so much. But everyone is also focused because we build up a market in [a country like] Australia and we still see development in the right direction. So that’s encouragement and motivation, and we have plenty of that. What I have to say is I don’t see the moment where we are running out of ideas.”