BLIND GUARDIAN have received the Echo Metal Award for German Album of the Year for their 2022 masterwork "The God Machine," with the accolade presented at an industry ceremony in Berlin on March 6. The award, voted on by a combination of industry professionals and readers of the German music press, is the first major national prize for the Krefeld power metal legends, who have been creating elaborate and symphonic metal albums since 1987.
"The God Machine," released through Nuclear Blast Records, was an ambitious step forward for a band already known for orchestral extravagance — featuring a stripped-back, riff-driven approach relative to their previous albums, the record demonstrated that BLIND GUARDIAN could write lean, powerful songs without sacrificing their signature melodic grandeur. Frontman Hansi Kürsch accepted the award in a brief but heartfelt speech, thanking the German metal community for their decades of support and reflecting on the band's unexpected longevity.
The Echo Metal ceremony also honored ACCEPT (Legacy Award), RAMMSTEIN (Live Experience of the Year), and POWERWOLF (Most Streamed German Metal Act), but it was BLIND GUARDIAN's win that generated the most buzz in the heavy music press. The band are currently in the studio working on a follow-up to "The God Machine," which Kürsch has described in recent interviews as the band's "most conceptually ambitious project since 'A Night at the Opera,'" their complex 2002 album. No release date has been confirmed, but the new album is expected to feature the full BLIND GUARDIAN ORCHESTRA that recorded the acclaimed "A Night at the Opera" live performances.