BLIND GUARDIAN frontman Hansi Kürsch is featured in a new interview with Tangra Mega Rock discussing the band's forthcoming Best Of compilation, entitled Memories Of A Time To Come. An excerpt is available below:

Q: Compilation albums and collections and Best Of albums have grown a little jaded, so what is the special thing about this one?

Hansi: "Well, basically, the special thing is of course the Blind Guardian music. But in general we treated it like a regular studio album which means we did a remix for all the old stuff and we did some re-recordings of some other classic material. We did a version of 'And Then There Was Silence' which is a fourteen minute song which we did completely new. As well as we did a new version of 'Valhalla' with Kai Hansen (GAMMA RAY) and some other amazing stuff, so all in all, if you listen to the album it will be like a rollercoaster ride throughout our whole career with a new sound experience."

Q: Recording new versions of these particular two songs, does it mean that you’ve been living through the years with the bitter feeling that you could have done better? That something was missing on the original versions, or is there another reason?

Hansi: "The simple reason is, we liked these songs and we had the feeling we could just try out and see where we would end up ten, twenty years later. It was obvious for us that we would work on a song like 'And Then There Was Silence' again, because ever since we have recorded this one, there was so much more to say about this one or in this particular tune. With the others it was more a sort of taking back some nostalgic feelings."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Memories Of A Time To Come, the ultimate collection of Blind Guardian music from 1987 to 2011, will be released on January 20, 2012 via Virgin/EMI. It will be available as a double CD, 3 CD deluxe limited edition including the legendary Lucifer’s Heritage demos and as download.

Memories Of A Time To Come tracklisting:

CD 1:

'Imaginations from the Other Side' (7:11) *

'Nightfall' (5:34) *

'Ride into Obsession' (4:46) *

'Somewhere Far Beyond' (7:32) *

'Majesty' (7:29) *

'Traveler in Time' (6:01) *

'Follow the Blind' (7:11) *

'The Last Candle' (6:03) *

CD 2:

'Sacred Worlds' (9:17)

'This Will Never End' (5:07) *

'Valhalla' (5:13) **

'Bright Eyes' (5:15) *

'Mirror Mirror' (5:09) *

'The Bard’s Song (In the Forest)' (3:26) *

'The Bard’s Song (The Hobbit)' (3:41) **

'And Then There Was Silence' (14:06) **

CD 3: (only available with the deluxe limited edition)

'Brian' ***

'Halloween (The Wizard’s Crown)' ***

'Lucifer’s Heritage' ***

'Symphonies of Doom' ***

'Dead of the Night' ***

'Majesty'

'Trial by the Archon'

'Battalions of Fear'

'Run for the Night'

'Lost in the Twilight Hall'

'Tommyknockers'

'Ashes to Ashes'

'Time What is Time'

'A Past and Future Secret'

'The Script for My Requiem'

* Remixed 2011

** Re-recorded 2011

*** Re-worked 2011

Blind Guardian issued the following update on December 24th:

"'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Twilight Hall Santa Guardian and his band of dark elves put the finishing touches on a gift for all the bad boys and girls in Blind Guardian land. Santa Guardian thought it was unfair that 'The Bard’s Song – The Hobbit' was re-recorded for Memories Of A Time to Come but 'The Bard’s Song – In The Forest' didn’t get any special treatment.

Using his own special brand of persuasion, Santa Guardian 'convinced' the band to make an orchestral version of 'The Bard’s Song – In The Forest' for inclusion on Memories Of A Time to Come. Santa’s gift to every Blind Guardian fan is a 95-second preview (see below) of this song.

The whole Blind Guardian family wishes you and yours a very happy holiday season. See you in 2012!"