Haha, I love Blind Guardian and have seen them live ;). But they are the only metal band I have any interest in, so in general I agree with you. 'Sacred Worlds' is a great song, though, as is 'Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)' . 'The Bard's Song' is acoustic and not really metal at all.
I'm not familiar with them, but I'd give them a try. Growing up, I used to focus heavily on classic, soft rock. Then all the Brittney wannabes and boy bands came along, and I realized that if that garbage didn't kill me, I could survive listening to pretty much any type of music at least once (though I still have a bit of a preference towards music that's older than I am).
JJ, I don't know where you're from, but I have to admit that I'm at least a little amused that this conversation consists of guys from Germany and Scandanavia expressing their distaste for/unfamiliarity with a German power metal band, and a woman from the USA fangirling over them . Break all the stereotypes!
(Well, and it also reminds me of the time I met a linguist at a party who told me up front he did not care for Tolkien. I then spent the next couple hours discussing linguistics with him - which meant I consistently and relentlessly brought the conversation back to Tolkien.)
Sorry, Haerangil - I really am this obnoxious in real life.
It’s really not my kind of music I’m afraid - I tend to zone out after a few songs, and then suddenly come to and realise there’s music playing that I wish to turn off.
The music itself doesn't bother me too much (parts even remind me a little of TSO, which I love). However, when they start screaming, it's just really unpleasant to listen to. Also, they're really hard to understand sometimes, even when I stop everything to just focus on the lyrics.
Personally, I think I'd prefer a more Weird Al approach; just parodying popular songs with a Tolkienish theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n63UbX5kzAc
But to each his own, of course!