Any Blind Guardian fans in this forum? Excellent German power metal band with strong medieval sounds and significant early-Queen influences on their later albums.

A Traveler's Guide to Space and Time is a 15 CD box set of remasters (and some complete remixes) and a few rarities. Unfortunately it does not include their two most recent studio albums. Still looks like a really nice set to me.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009TO99G4/?tag=imwan-21





Tracklisting for A Traveler’s Guide to Space and Time (15 CD Set)

Disc 1- Battalions of Fear (Digitally Remastered 2012)
1. Majesty – 2. Guardian of the Blind – 3. Trial by the Archon – 4. Wizard’s Crown – 5. Run for the Night – 6. The Martyr – 7. Battalions of Fear – 8. By the Gates of Moria – 9. Gandalf’s Rebirth (New 2013 Mix)

Disc 2 – Follow the Blind (Digitally Remastered 2012)
1. Inquisition – 2. Banish from Sanctuary – 3. Damned for All Time – 4. Follow the Blind – 5. Hall of the King – 6. Fast to Madness – 7. Beyond the Ice – 8. Valhalla – 9. Don’t Break the Circle – 10. Barbara Ann

Disc 3 – Tales from the Twilight World (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. Traveler in Time – 2. Welcome to Dying – 3. Weird Dreams – 4. Lord of the Rings – 5. Goodbye My Friend – 6. Lost in the Twilight Hall – 7. Tommyknockers – 8. Altair 4 – 9. The Last Candle – 10. Run for the Night (Live)

Disc 4 – Somewhere Far Beyond (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. Time What Is Time – 2. Journey Through the Dark – 3. Black Chamber – 4. Theatre of Pain – 5. The Quest for Tanelorn – 6. Ashes to Ashes – 7. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) – 8. The Bard’s Song (The Hobbit) – 9. The Piper’s Calling – 10. Somewhere Far Beyond – 11. Spread Your Wings – 12. Trial by Fire – 13. Theatre of Pain

Disc 5 – Tokyo Tales (Original 1993 Mix, Digitally Remastered 2012)
1. Inquisition – 2. Banish from Sanctuary – 3. Journey Through the Dark – 4. Traveler in Time – 5. The Quest for Tanelorn – 6. Goodbye My Friend – 7. Time What Is Time – 8. Majesty – 9. Valhalla – 10. Welcome to Dying – 11. Lost in the Twilight Hall – 12. Barbara Ann

Disc 6 – Imaginations from the Other Side (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. Imaginations from the Other Side – 2. I’m Alive – 3. A Past and Future Secret – 4. The Script for My Requiem – 5. Mordred’s Song – 6. Born in a Mourning Hall – 7. Bright Eyes – 8. Another Holy War – 9. And the Story Ends

Disc 7 – The Forgotten Tales (Original Mixes Digitally Remastered 2012)
1. Mr. Sandman – 2. Surfin’ USA – 3. Bright Eyes – 4. Lord of the Rings – 5. The Wizard – 6. Spread Your Wings – 7. Mordred’s Song – 8. Black Chamber – 9. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) – 10. Barbara Ann – 11. A Past and Future Secret – 12. To France – 13. Theatre of Pain

Disc 8 – Nightfall in Middle-Earth (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. War of Wrath – 2. Into the Storm – 3. Lammoth – 4. Nightfall – 5. The Minstrel – 6. The Curse of Feanor – 7. Captured – 8. Blood Tears – 9. Mirror Mirror – 10. Face the Truth – 11. Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) – 12. Battle of Sudden Flames – 13. Time Stands Still(At the Iron Hill) – 14. The Dark Elf – 15. Thorn – 16. The Eldar – 17. Nom the Wise – 18. When Sorrow Sang – 19. Out on the Water – 20. The Steadfast – 21. Dark Passage – 22. Final Chapter (Thus Ends)

Disc 9 – A Night at the Opera (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. Precious Jerusalem – 2. Battlefield – 3. Under the Ice – 4. Sadly Sings Destiny – 5. The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight – 6. Wait for an Answer – 7. The Soulforged – 8. Age of False Innocence – 9. Punishment Divine – 10. And Then There Was Silence

Live (Digitally Remastered 2012)
Disc 10
1. War of Wrath – 2. Into the Storm – 3. Welcome to Dying – 4. Nightfall – 5. The Script for My Requiem – 6. Harvest of Sorrow – 7. The Soulforged – 8. Valhalla – 9. Majesty – 10. Mordred’s Song - 11. Born in a Mourning Hall

Disc 11
1. Under the Ice – 2. Bright Eyes – 3. Punishment Divine – 4. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) – 5. Imaginations from the Other Side – 6. Lost in the Twilight Hall – 7. A Past and Future Secret – 8. Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) – 9. Journey Through the Dark – 10. Lord of the Rings – 11. Mirror Mirror

Imaginations Through the Looking Glass – Live in Coburg, 2003 (for first time on CD – digitally remastered 2012)
Disc 12
1. War of Wrath – 2. Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) – 3. Banish from Sanctuary – 4. Nightfall - 5. The Script for My Requiem – 6. Valhalla – 7. A Past and Future Secret – 8. Punishment Divine – 9. Mordred’s Song – 10. The Last Candle

Disc 13
1. Bright Eyes – 2. Lord of the Rings – 3. I’m Alive – 4. Another Holy War – 5. And Then There Was Silence – 6. Somewhere Far Beyond – 7. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) – 8. Imaginations from the Other Side – 9. And the Story Ends – 10. Mirror Mirror

Disc 14 – Nightfall in Middle-Earth – Special Edition (Digitally Remastered 2012 & New Mix 2012)
1. Into the Storm – 2. Nightfall – 3. The Curse of Feanor – 4. Blood Tears (new vocal mix 2012) – 5. Mirror Mirror – 6. Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) – 7. Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill) – 8. Thorn – 9. The Eldar – 10. When Sorrow Sang – 11. A Dark Passage

Disc 15 – An Extraordinary Tale (Live Rarities & Demos – Digitally Remastered 2012)
1. Welcome to Dying (Demo) – 2. Lord of the Rings (Demo) – 3. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) (Demo) – 4. The Bard’s Song (The Hobbit) (Demo) – 5. Theatre of Pain (Demo) – 6. Trial by Fire (Demo) - 7. The Quest for Tanelorn (unreleased extended version) – 8. Harvest of Sorrow (rare version) – 9. I’m Alive (Demo)

More information here:
http://www.blind-guardian.com/2012/12/0 ... uary-2013/

Bump: Added the Amazon UK link, and also a big image of the entire package (click to enlarge).

Considering buying this.... just because. How does it sound?

I'd give the sound quality about a 7.5/10. A little loud for my tastes, but never overbearing. But in most cases I prefer the original mixes over the newer mixes contained here, but I would suspect that would be true of most people who are familar with the catalog because they are used to hearing these albums a certain way. The new mixes certainly are not bad, they are significantly different but well done and do not change the original "spirit" of the material.

Packaging is a bit of a letdown. Although it is beautiful, the CDs are in gatefold cardboard sleeves. The sleeves are glossy, high quality and look beautiful, but they are still just cardboard sleeves. There are 2 titles in here that are doubles (both live albums), and in my copies both discs 1 in those double sets had very slight scuff marks on them. The other 13 discs were in mint condition. I found the book to be a bit disappointing. The text is pretty much limited to brief comments by band members and is not informative at all. Credits for each album are included in the gatefold sleeves for each disc. No lyrics are included.

The box is limited to 8000 and the art print included is numbered (mine is 3985/8000).

The outer box is sturdy and looks great.

I ended up getting this through Nuclear Blast Europe mailorder.
http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/ ... -time.html
The shipping price was through the roof (22 EUR). But it was delivered by Fed Ex in under a week, was packed extremely well and the box arrived in perfect mint shape (no dented corners or edges, rare for me to get a box set in perfect condition from anybody!). As much as I'd like to order something like this through Amazon, I'd never trust their UK/European packaging/shipping to get it delievered in one piece.

Overall I enjoyed the set and certainly don't regret the purchase.

For people who might be interested in Blind Guardian but not a $160 price tag...just prior to this box set there was a 2 CD "best of" collection (a 3 CD version exists as well) entitled "Memories of a Time to Come." There is plenty of blank space on the discs (total running time of 2 CDs probably goes in the range of 100-105 minutes), but I feel it's the perfect introduction to Blind Guardian. They did a great job of balancing the band's early power metal to the medieval sounds they are now known for. The third disc on the 3 CD version consists of 2 very early demo tapes and they a few more demos of songs that were included on mid-period albums...this third disc is only essential for big fans of the band and is probably not of interest to someone checking them out for the first time. I'm generally not a big fan of these types of "best of" collections but this one is an exception, they really did a great job of putting this one together. I don't think this was released in the USA so copies are a tad bit on the expensive side, the 2 CD version is available at amazon (USA) for $20.