of the band's previous albums, Imaginations continued to stray from purely speed metal tendencies. In addition to fast guitar riffing, high-pitch distorted singing and extreme drumming (signature of speed metal) came catchy chord progressions and clean singing - components reminiscent of classic European folk music. Two tracks, "A Past and Future Secret" and "Mordred's Song" (comparable to their previous album's "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" by similar use of acoustic guitar), could even be considered to be a "ballad" and "power ballad", respectively. Critical reception In 2005, Imaginations from the Other Side was ranked number 373 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. Loudwire named the album at second in their list "Top 25 Power Metal Albums of All Time" and Metal Hammer ranked it at third in a similar list. Track listing All songs written by Hansi Kürsch and André Olbrich, except for where noted. Lyrical references "Imaginations from the Other Side" contains references to The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, The Sword in the Stone, The Never-Ending Story, Chronicles of Narnia and the Corum novels. "I'm Alive" is about "The Sunset Warrior" by "Eric Van Lustbader". "A Past and Future Secret" is about T.H. White's The Once and Future King. "Mordred's Song" is about the character Mordred from Arthurian Legend. "Bright Eyes", according to an interview with Hansi, is loosely connected to the second part of the book The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Personnel Hansi Kürsch – vocals and bass André Olbrich – lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars Marcus Siepen – rhythm guitar Thomen Stauch – drums and percussion Guest musicians Mathias Wiesner – effects Jacob Moth – acoustic guitar on "A Past and Future Secret" Billy King, "Hacky" Hackmann, Rolf Köhler, Piet Sielck, Ronnie Atkins – backing vocals Production Andreas Marschall – cover paintings Ulf Thürmann – photos Flemming Rasmussen – producing and mixing Flemming Rasmussen and Piet Sielck – engineering Henrik Vindeby – assistant engineer Flemming Rasmussen and Cuni – drum tech References 1995 albums Blind Guardian albums Song cycles Albums produced by Flemming Rasmussen Virgin Records albums