Blind Guardian's upcoming album

The Century Media website has an interesting bit of news about Blind Guardian's upcoming album:

"German power metal veterans Blind Guardian are nearly finished recording their new album which you can read about in the "New Album" section on their official website. The band and Charly Bauerfeind will produce the album. Lyrically, there will be a topical issue for each song. The music is reportedly a straight progression of Nightfall In Middle Earth and Imaginations From The Other Side, though the band assures that there will be some surprises, of course. At least one song (the longest they have written so far: 13 minutes) will be dedicated to author J.R.R. Tolkien. A release date has not been scheduled for the album yet but stayed tuned for details."