About a month ago, I went to see one of my favorite bands; the German, heavy metal-playing Blind Guardian. My boyfriend had gotten me into them years ago, by ordering their album "Nightfall in Middle Earth". I have to be honest here and cringe a bit: I thought this stuff was like Spinal Tap meets the Scorpions when I first heard it. But, I'm also the same idiot who scoffed when that same boyfriend suggested reading a little book called "The Eye of the World" about a decade ago. Oops.

Anyway, when I stopped being a music snob for a minute and actually listened to the album, I started loving the hell out of it. It wasn't some cheesy LoTR crap. It was all about the Silmarillion, and all songs happened to be about moments in the book I myself considered incredible. These German boys had nailed Tolkien without actually quoting the book a single time, doing a damn good job of it, and the music itself had me staring at my guitar like it was a live snake. Sort of like how "Marvin Berry" stares at the guitar Marty McFly uses in Back to the Future after playing "Johnny B. Goode", hehe. These cats are shredding, and with a classical flair to boot.

So, here I am at this show, and one of the encore songs is called "Wheel of Time". I didn't have the new album, and so thought it was just some song about the concept of time being cyclic or something. I had also been planning to catch the band on their way out and ask if they'd ever read WoT, and if they had, would they maybe ever write an album or song about it.

Thank god I didn't, cos when I got home and checked the lyrics to "Wheel of Time" I saw the words "ta'veren", "dragon reborn", and "Father of Lies" in there. That shit was absolutely about THE WoT, and the song itself was pretty badass, conjuring up memories of Led Zep's "Kashmir" and "Achilles Last Stand". I was so freaked out and excited that I immediately set out to catch the next Blind Guardian show two days later in a town four hours away. (It was ridiculously worth it, by the way!)

So, yeah. What could be more awesome than when one of your favorite bands starts writing songs about your favorite books?! That scenario is just heavenly to my dorky ass, that's for sure. I've read some ridiculous youtube comments about the song being long for no reason, or that it's too general lyric-wise. Call me crazy, but I don't want to listen to a song that describes everything from Padan Fain's wagon wheels to Two Rivers shoes. I obviously think it's freaking amazing, and dig the crazy Eastern vibe it has.

Few will probably like it, and hey, that's cool. I know that "Transcendental Classical Fantasy Metal" isn't everyone's genre of choice. I just thought I'd toss it out there that there is a Wheel of Time song, and that it is indeed about THIS Wheel of Time, hehe. But these guys are undeniably talented, have excellent taste in books, and are incredibly cool to crazy fans like myself. So don't make me send Bayle Domon's aged grandmother to your house to punish you for talking smack about Blind Guardian!

LYRICS

Now there is no end
The wheel will turn, my friend

I'm in flames
Cause I have touched the light
It pulls me so
we shall be one
Forevermore
It's all I want
It's all I need
Everything is fixed
There's no chance
There's no choice

It's calling me
"Saidin"
So precious and sweet
My mind keeps fading away

It's crashing deeper
My sole reliever
How can I find you now?

Passing through the flames
I see
How terror will rise
It soon will be over
Oh Father of lies
Like foul winds at twilight
It's coming over me
What was and what will be?
What is?
I don't know

Driving me insane
Just feel the heat
Madness creeps in
I'll tear it down

There's no end
Wheel of time
It keeps on spinning
There's no beginning
Turn the wheel of time
There's no beginning
Just keep on spinning

Light - it binds me
Light - it blinds me
Light - it finds me
Light denies me now

I creep along
So desperate and tired
Let me ask you
Why?
I am what I am
Prophecies I am the chosen
"Ta'veren"
The flame will grow
Feel the heat
I'll keep on breathing
After all there's no tomorrow

Wheel of time
Save my soul, find a way
And if I fail, will it all be over
Oh wheel of time

The vision
So fleeting and vague
Once again I will bring down the mountain
One last glimpse
It is constantly slipping away

The young man said
"I will never give up"
The inner war
I can hold against it
My mind, my mind
My mind's in darkness

The young man says
"I will never give in"
The prophecy behold it's true
I conquer the flame
To release the insane
I'm crying
I cannot erase
I'm the dragon reborn
and in madness
I soon shall prevail
Twice I'll be marked and
Twice I shall live
The heron sets my path
And name me true
Twice I'll be marked and
Twice I shall die
My memory's gone
But twice I pay the price

Wheel of time
Save my soul
find a way
May it be as the Pattern has chosen
Oh, wheel of time
Turn the wheel of time
It keeps on spinning
There's no beginning
There's no end, wheel of time
There's no beginning
Just keep no spinning

Shine on
Embrace and deny me
Turn on, wheel of time
Shine on
You've burnt, now guide me
Weave on, wheel of time