New drummer in BLIND GUARDIAN

German epic metallers BLIND GUARDIAN have announced a replacement for drummer Thomen Stauch, who left the band in April after 20 years. The new man behind the kit is fellow German Frederik Ehmke, so far fairly unknown in the world of Metal.

The band released the following statement: “A few weeks ago an unknown guy who introduced himself as Frederik Ehmke applied for the job as a drummer in a fairly firm manner. His vital, expressive and skillful performances of some B.G. classics ('Journey Through The Dark', 'Time Stands Still' and 'And Then There Was Silence') blew us away completely . Pretending not to be convinced we invited him to do a shoot out recording session under real production terms to check out if the creative chemistry would also work out fine. After finishing these recordings it was obvious to us: Frederik is going to be our new drummer!”

The production of BLIND GUARDIAN's debut on NUCLEAR BLAST will start in late August with the help of Charlie Bauerfeind. No album title has been set yet, but it looks like there will be a total of ten songs. Some working titles, which might be kept, are: 'Carry The Blessed Home', 'The Edge', 'In Search For The Lionheart', 'Market Square', 'Another Stranger Me', and 'Otherland'. The release of the first single is planned for February 2006, the album will follow in April, before the band embarks on a world tour in June/August.