Blind Guardian are a German heavy metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. The band is often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres, Blind Guardian was a part of the German heavy metal scene that emerged in the mid-1980's. The band's lyrics, written by vocalist Hansi Kürsch, are inspired by the fiction of fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephen King, and Michael Moorcock, as well as traditional legends and epics. Over the years, a running theme has developed associating the band members with travelling bards.