1308. Edguy / The Savage Poetry. 2000. 3.5/5

There have been many stories over the course of this podcast of friends who come together at school and form a band, and that band either sprouts offshoots that go on to become one of the biggest bands of their age, or the actual band stays together and does that of its own accord. All of these individuals in the band would have had dreams of fame and success. One of those was Tobias Sammet, who at the age of just 14 got together with fellow school friends Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch, and Dirk Sauer in 1992 and formed a band called Edguy, named after their Maths teacher. Jens and Dirk played guitar and Dominik played drums, while Tobi took on the singing role. Initially the band played without a bass player, until Tobi took it upon himself to take up the instrument along with retaining lead vocalist duties. By his own admission, the band was not very good to start with, covering songs from their favourite artists. In 1994 the band wrote and recorded two demos, which they sent out to various record companies, all of which rejected them. So far, this story heads in the same direction as most when it comes to school friend band groups.
In 1995, the band went a step further, recording a full-length demo album, containing nine tracks, and even self-released it to garner some publicity. It was this release, which they called “Savage Poetry” that finally got the ball rolling for the band. Shortly thereafter, they signed with AFM Records who wanted to re-release “Savage Poetry” with more widespread distribution. Edguy however decided against this. It has been reported that they were unhappy with the way the album sounded by this stage, and they didn’t want it to be the first thing released by them on a major label. Instead, they headed into the studio to record their official debut album titled “Kingdom of Madness”, which was released in 1997.
Flash forward to 2000, and on the back of three studio albums Edguy has found its niche in the power metal world. At this time though, Tobi Sammet is deep into writing and preparing for a supergroup project that has been his passion, of writing an opera based around power metal music. That project would eventually come to be called Avantasia and the album would be “The Metal Opera”. With Sammet’s creative flow being consumed by this project, Edguy decided that for their next album, they would completely re-record their demo album from 1995 and release it as their fourth studio album. This they could do as it kept the band busy without requiring the time necessary to creatively compose a new album while their main songwriter was otherwise engaged. And thus came about the album with the slightly adjusted title and slightly adjusted track list called “The Savage Poetry”.

When you listen to this album having already heard the original demo of this album, you immediately notice the light years of difference between the two, in just a five year period. The first improvement noticeable is how far Tobi’s vocals have come in that time period. It is chalk and cheese between his vocals on the demo, and where they are on this release. Even when this was recorded, the band’s fourth album, these guys were only 22 years old, so the natural improvement not only in Tobi’s vocals but in the playing overall is stark as they grew into manhood. The music is tighter, and Tobi sings with more attitude and vigour, while they have also included keyboard arrangement that fill out the songs in a much better way, without trying to compete with Edguy’s proven assets of the twin guitars. New drummer Felix Bohnke, who joined the band for their previous album “Theatre of Salvation”, also adds a more powerful and fast double kick style to the songs that didn’t exist on the originals.
The opening track “Hallowed” is a great way to get into the album, an anthemic-like beginning both musically and with the combined choiring vocals through most of the song. The middle of the track with the traded guitar solos and melodic combining of the two is definitely the best part of the song, with the over-repeating of the same lyrics in the back half of the song a little over the top. This is followed by “Misguiding Your Life” which has a great thrashier start to the track along with requisite scream from Tobi get the song off to its solid beginning. There is a terrific mix of thrash tones and power metal highs through the course of the song, and the speed of the song balances everything nicely. The melodic guitar solos through their assigned slot also accent the best parts of the band's methodology, and the bass line beneath fills everything out to perfection. From here the album segues perfectly into “Key to My Fate”, a song that frames this era of Edguy as well as showcasing the influences that started the band and then got them to this point. The great opening heavy riff starts this off terrifically as an entry to Tobi’s vocals. Then the guitar solos, which act as a perfect homage to Helloween, who were an obvious heavy influence on the band from a young age, and that is brought to bear here. This section is the highlight of the song, wonderfully supported by Felix’s drumming and Eggi’s bass line. This was the song on the demo that showcased the talent the band had at that time, but here in its re-recorded and reformed version it is one of the band’s best ever instalments.
Power metal bands by decree must have power ballads on their albums. And the time has come for that to occur here, with the song “Sands of Time”. Over the course of their history, Edguy have actually written and performed some quite excellent power ballads – and this is not one of them. I understand the mentality to have to provide a section of the fan base with these types of tracks, but they just do nothing for me. Here Tobi offers us his keyboard laden version of this, which is more ballad than power ballad. It’s a skip song. And what is more the pity is that it is sandwiched between two great songs, as it is followed by “Sacred Hell”, which charges out of the blocks in the best Edguy fashion, double kick and guitars keeping up, while Tobi’s chorused vocals take up the baton and cry from the hilt. It is a typically structured Edguy song, indeed it also has similarities to the songs that appeared on Avantasia’s “The Metal Opera” and is another of those great solid tracks good albums need to back up the most popular and well-known songs.
The other thing that power metal is known for is the epic tracks, and Edguy’s first (only chronologically from the demo) is “Eyes of the Tyrant”, that rifles through the gears and covers every extravagance that the genre demands of such songs. It opens and closes with the moody keyboard and Tobi’s quietly building vocal, before bursting to life with the true opening riff of the song. Led by the double kick rolling drum beat and bass line, this ten minute extravaganza has everything you would expect, including a wonderful sweeping guitar break into the solo spots and then the melodic harmony transition back into the verse and chorus. It showcases every peak of the band in the one song and is one of the main attractions of the album. This is followed by “Frozen Candle”, the second longest track on the album which doesn’t scream epic as much as it does heavy standard. The start and end of the track comes across like material on the band’s true heavy metal album “Hellfire Club” down the track a few years, but it has an almost acoustic break within the middle of the song that negates that. It is still a good song, though perhaps the changes do end up making it a tad long.
Moving from the two long form songs of the album back into the second power ballad “Roses to No One” is, again, a pained one. This is a guitar-based power ballad rather than the keyboard-based ballad earlier on the album, which fits more closely with what you might expect from a power metal standard ballad. If you are a fan of these songs there is certainly something here for you with the choir backing vocals and upraising spirit singing, and the power ballad guitar solo. For me, I reach for the skip button extremely quickly. The album closes out in much better style with “Power and Majesty”. Lyrically, it is a bit like it was written by a 17 year old, which by perchance it was! But musically it takes off from the start and barely pauses to catch breath. There's a great galloping beat about the song that it reminiscent of Iron Maiden in its execution, and the solo from Jens is excellent. This powers along to the end of the song and is an effective and enjoyable way to complete the album.

Though I had been a fan from early on in my heavy metal upbringing of bands that would dominate the genre that became power metal, Helloween and Gamma Ray, it wasn’t until the turn of the century that I began to truly investigate and wrap myself in the bands of the genre that I now truly adore, such as Blind Guardian and HammerFall, Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica, and in particular Edguy. So these initial albums had already been released before I began to come on board the band. It was 2001’s “Mandrake” that first caught my attention and made me think that I needed to not only drown in what this album offered, but also to go back and find their first four albums and check them out as well. And that journey actually had me coming across a copy of the original demo version of “Savage Poetry” before I came across this 2000 version of “The Savage Poetry”. And in many ways that was a good thing, because I got to hear what the band sounded like at that very early stage of their career, and then got to hear this version of the album, re-recorded and improved immensely by five years of solid recording and touring and maturing, both musically and in the ages from 17 to 22.
In the quest for totally laying all my cards on the table, it is the albums after this by the band that are my favourites, ones that are conceivably heavier and with greater attitude and better songwriting musically and lyrically that I enjoy most. But what I like about this album is the unbridled joy you can hear in the music as you listen to the album. “Misguiding Your Life” and “Key to My Fate” especially showcase all of this, the speed of the former and the heaviness of the latter being guides to the way the band was heading at that time. And yes, it is true that listening to this album now does give you an insight into just how Tobi was progressing with his Avantasia project at the time because musically there are similarities along the way.
I’ve had this out again for the past few days and listened to it half a dozen times, and I have enjoyed it just as much as I have in the past. In the long run it was a savvy move to re-record their original demo to give it the polish it needed, and it filled a hole while Tobi was otherwise engaged. And if you like power metal in any way, you will find something at least here to enjoy. If you don’t, then you won’t.

1053. Edguy / Theater of Salvation. 1999. 3.5/5

Much like contemporaries such as Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius, my everlasting problem with Edguy is the composition of their albums. You can generally split the songs into two categories, that being the faster and heavier versions of their metal songs and the slower ballad version of their metal songs. And for the most part their albums always excite me but also leave me feeling disappointed because of this. Theater of Salvation is no different on that scale.

The instrumental short "The Healing Vision" opens the album before leading straight into “Babylon” which is a terrific opening track that flies along from the outset with great vocals from Tobi Sammat. This is followed by “The Headless Game” which has a moodier and traditional heavier start to the song with a mid-tempo pace. “Land of the Miracle” is more or less a piano based power ballad, which by my definition takes any power out of the song. It’s okay for what it is, and the vocals are what really drives the song, but it's these kinds of songs that annoy me more than most others in all forms of music.
“Wake Up the King” sounds great, though the vocal lines seem little strange, even after all these years. They just don’t seem to follow what is being played instrumentally, and this is still off-putting. "Falling Down" slips back into that mid-tempo double kick scheme with Tobi sitting more or less in the one voice register, and mixes in a nice solo slot through the middle of the song as well as an inbuilt crowd singalong "woah-oh-oh-ooooh" leading into the final chorus. This leads straight into the faster "Arrows Fly" which kicks the tempo back up again, and is one of my favourites on the album, filled with those great power metal guitars while the vocals soar over the top without trying to do anything outrageous. Great stuff.
“Holy Shadows” is another song where the vocals in the chorus just seem out of ‘tune’ to what is being played musically. It's really very strange, and don’t feel right at all. It's a shame, because the rest of the song is really quite good, but I have trouble getting past this. “Another Time” is yet another piano based power ballad, and it doesn't matter how good Tobi sounds on this, it just makes me shudder every time I hear it. Yes, as always, I know what I've signed up for when I found and loved power metal bands. It doesn't mean I'll stop complaining about these kinds of songs though.
“The Unbeliever” is a MUCH better song, full of hard hitting drums, great vocals and terrific guitars. It immediately brings the right mood back to the album, one that should never have left it. Tobi sings hard and it is infinitely better than any ballad. Another of my favourite songs on this album. The album is then finished off by the epic title track, which flows from one mood to another in a satisfying climax.
There is a reasonable argument that Tobi has moved on from Edguy the band – that his Avantasia project has become his major focus over the past decade. Even at the time that this album was released it could be said to be true. The first Avantasia album was only a couple of years away from being released, and there are passages here that are reminiscent of the direction he went with it.

I always felt that the Edguy discography was growing towards something, improving with each album along the way until they reached their zenith, the album that would give the band the standing they deserved. While Theater of Salvation is not that album, it is yet another step closer to that goal. Like their previous albums there is plenty to like here and enjoy.

Rating: "I am the vision that comes to your mind when you denounce without regret". 3.5/5

1015. Edguy / Monuments. 2017. 4/5

Given the enormous amount of jumping between his two major projects that goes on, one wonders when Tobi Sammet has time to sit back and take a collective look at life itself. To be honest, does he start to spread himself a little thin? My argument for some time is that it is almost impossible to push yourself so hard between your day band – Edguy – and your guilty pleasure – Avantasia – and not spread yourself or your material a little thin. Thus, and I may be alone in this thinking, I believe that the past couple of Edguy albums have suffered from the fact that the best of Tobi’s creative juices have been flowing into Avantasia material rather than Edguy songs. Whether or not that is the case, when it came time to put together this album together to celebrate 25 years of Edguy’s existence, I think maybe it could be held as a reminder as to the power of some the earlier material of the band compared to the latter day songs.

So here is Monuments, the five disc and 160 page book collated from their entire career, consisting of two CDs which constitutes a greatest hits package, a DVD of a live performance from the Hellfire Club tour as well as other video clips, and two CDs of that live performance. It is a ripping collection, one that all fans of the band will love. As a true standing of ‘greatest hits’… well, everyone will have a different opinion on what that consists of.
The five new songs start off the collection, and I think they are great. In fact, comparing those five songs - “Ravenback”, “Wrestle the Devil”, “Open Sesame”, “Landmarks” and “The Mountaineer” – to the next three songs on the album, “9-2-9” from Tinnitus Sanctus, “Defenders of the Crown” from Space Police: Defenders of the Crown and “Save Me” from Rocket Ride, and I think you have a fair comparison to what I was saying earlier about the Edguy/Avantasia conundrum. The new songs have that sparkle back, whereas the three songs from those three albums (albums which I wholly admit didn’t tickle my fancy) seems to be missing vital elements. Good news for the new songs, and perhaps some justification for my feelings otherwise.
The other choices for the remainder of the first CD though are top shelf. Anything from Hellfire Club gets top votes from me, and the addition of “Ministry of Saints” and the masterful “Tears of a Mandrake” makes for fantastic listening. The second CD opens with the wonderful “Mysteria” and “Vain Glory Opera”, and then mixes in some older stuff, some less well known stuff and a bit more of the latter day material as well. That they managed to find a place for one song off Age of the Joker, the average “Rock of Cashel”, was surely more for appearances than for being a truly ‘great’ hit. Honestly, how a song like “We Don’t Need a Hero” doesn’t make the collection in front of at least half of these tracks is beyond me. But that comes back again to an individual’s taste.

Fans like me already have all of the albums, so buying this comes down to the five new unreleased songs (worth it), and the live CDs and DVD (worth it). 25 years is a fair journey for this band to have gone on. It has been a fun journey at that. The good news is that I don’t think the journey is over yet.

Rating:  "Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the freak show!"  4/5

995. Edguy / Vain Glory Opera. 1998. 3.5/5

After the official/unofficial debut of Savage Poetry and the starting promise of Kingdom of Madness, there is a lot to like about Edguy’s follow up, Vain Glory Opera. The songs are tighter and better recorded, especially the drums which kick along stylishly with session drummer Frank Lindenthal putting in a terrific performance, the production is leaps and bounds ahead of their previous album, and it feels as though the band has found its purpose and drive. For the most part anyway, because as with all power metal releases there will often be the odd quirk which holds it back from being perfect.

There are no qualms about the opening stanza of the album. “Overture” jumps into “Until We Rise Again” which immediately gives you the sense of the updated Edguy product. Along with the following song “How Many Miles”, the pace of the songs are more upbeat that the general tempo of the previous album, Tobi’s vocals are not only of a better quality but are better focused along with the doubling to give them a choir effect. The drumming is miles more impressive, and the fact that the guitars are now turned up in the mix and are also more effective and involved in the songs makes this a whole new chapter and an immediately more enjoyable one.
It’s not all sunshine and roses though. Edguy will forever be a slave to the genre that they are a part of, and as such they do have a tendency towards producing those terrible stains upon the power metal genre, the power ballad. There are two here on Vain Glory Opera, and both are as unbearable as the other. Certainly they are better constructed and produced than “When a Hero Cries” from the previous album, but it will rarely ever be seen by me as a way to enhance an album. “Scarlet Rose” pops into the mix after the opening three tracks, all of which have done an excellent job to getting the album to this point, and I’m afraid all of the momentum is halted at this point because of it. Once again, it isn’t a terrible song, and the band sounds great, but it is a disappointment. “Tomorrow” however does exactly the same thing, killing off the mood of the album in the second half. It sounds like it wants to be like Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” without every getting out of that first gear. My abhorrence of power ballads is well known to those that read my reviews, and the number of albums they have killed is innumerable. This is all keyboard and no guitar and basically no drums. If you want to do these kinds of songs, for goodness sakes do them as B-sides to singles. This is just awful.
The saving grace for “Scarlet Rose” is that it is followed up by the wonderful “Out of Control”. I do think I would enjoy this song without its special guest, as Tobi and the backing vocals sound great and the band really nail down their contribution, with hard hitting double kick drums and great guitar solos by both Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer. But what makes this song even better are the guest vocals within from Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch. His energetic and magnificent contribution lifts this song from very good to great. I think this is the first ‘great’ Edguy song. It is lifted again when what is probably the second ‘great’ Edguy song follows it, the title track “Vain Glory Opera”. I guess it sounds a bit “The Final Countdown”-ish in the middle where the pomping keyboards take centre stage and the choiring vocals through the middle of the song, but again the guitar solo section is terrific, along with a contributing guitar solo from Stratovarius’ Timo Tolkki and the contributing vocals again from Hansi Kürsch. This is then followed by the fastest song on the album “Fairytale” which is a welcome addition to these three songs that are the star attraction of the middle of the album. This is the section where you can hear that Edguy have got themselves together and have found their mojo. Great harmony guitars, Tobi’s vocals are beginning to find that air that they needed and the rhythm of the bass and double kick drums that are driving the songs, and not just keeping everyone in time.
After this enjoyable interlude, the mood is dialled back a tad with “Walk on Fighting” which is only an average song in most aspects, before it segues into the aforementioned ballad tripe of “Tomorrow”. This again segues into the infinitely better “No More Foolin’” which returns the album to the fast paced drum and guitar driven antics where Edguy are at their best. This mirrors the best aspects of a band like Accept or Motorhead, with lyrics built to chant along to either at home or in concert. Seriously – why isn’t the album full of songs like this? Is it just me, or would Edguy’s reputation be immensely better regarded if they stuck this frame of the metal industry and withdrew from the power ballad side? Just to emphasise this, to finish the album the band does a rousing cover rendition of Ultravox’s “Hymn” which closes out this opus in style.

This is a 66% album for me. “Scarlet Rose”, “Tomorrow” and even “Walk on Fighting” are in a different league compared to the rest of the album. If you take those songs out it makes it a 38 minute album instead of a 51 minute album. Short, yes, but for me this would be a 4/5 or 4.5/5 album in that instance. Keeping them in does drop the overall rating of the album, and while it is in my opinion still above average it is disappointing that I cannot give it a better rank overall because of the misnomer of three songs.

Rating:  "Help me to gain the crown, here is my fate”.  3.5/5

994. Edguy / Kingdom of Madness. 1997. 3/5

I came into Edguy on the Mandrake album about 15 years ago, and it was that album and Hellfire Club that made me a fan of the band. So when it came to going backwards to discover the earlier albums there is always that doubt in the back of your mind, wondering if anything could be as good as the albums are where you actually discovered the band. Such is the case here for me with Kingdom of Madness, which depending on your view of the situation is either the official debut of the band or ranks second behind the original release of Savage Poetry. In any case, it is an undeveloped sound compared to the two albums I knew so well.

More than anything else, it is the song structure here that still has unsanded edges on them. The basics all sound good, but there is a definite difference in the maturity of the song writing and the structure of the songs as they are played. Perhaps what it is mostly is that the band itself seems unassured of its own place in the music world. The drums, while technically proficient throughout with that typical power metal double kick, are nonetheless for the most part just a timekeeping device rather than coming into their own. They are also very forward in the mix, much more so than the guitars, which is a little disconcerting. The fact that the guitars of Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer are not as prominent as they could be isn’t a huge factor but it does seem unusual given the history of power metal bands and what drives them to fans. It mightn’t have been such an issue for me if the drums had been more technical, but they aren’t. Even Tobi’s keyboards often seem higher in the mix that the two guitarists.
I get the feeling that these issues help to make the songs sound more simplistic and stagnant than they really are. The opening salvo of “Paradise”, “Wings of a Dream” and “Heart of Twilight” all have their moments, without any particular part of them jumping out at you and grabbing your undivided love of the track. Perhaps it was that there were other bands out there doing these kinds of songs better, with more emotive impact both musically and vocally that Edguy do here. You can decipher the bones of the songs and see and hear what they perhaps could have been, but they just don’t reach those lofty heights. They are good solid power metal songs that don’t get beyond that. The instrumental “Dark Symphony” seems a strange implement here to move into “Deadmaker”, which then changes tempo between the vocals and solo section in a combination that startles until you can get used to it. This is followed by “Angel Rebellion” which after a slow start picks up by the end to a satisfying conclusion.
“When a Hero Cries” is what makes power metal so difficult to completely embrace as a genre. The power ballad is a great stink on the face of metal, and this truly is one of the worst examples of such a song. Just keyboard with silent mournful vocals over the top. For goodness sakes, there is a place for this kind of garbage, and it isn’t on an album from a band that is purporting to make its way in the metal industry. It completely bombs out the momentum of the album, and truly makes you question why you decided to pick up and listen to this album in the first place. It is an abomination, a terrible piece of music that does not befit this or any release.
The closing track is the perhaps the first instalment of Tobi’s grandiose vision for the future, with “The Kingdom” stretching out beyond eighteen minutes in length. It does however have an unusual structure, with the laughing statement that breaks up the middle of the song. It then fades in and out of style, with the quiet reflection session coming out of a faster paced double kick pattern. Tobi is looking for the epic finale, the one that the punters will love and remember, similar to Helloween’s “Keeper of the Seven Keys” or Iron Maiden’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. It doesn’t approach either of those songs, but you can sense it is the direction he wished to head for.

Kingdom of Madness is still a good listen, with enough of the familiar sounds to make it worth your while. I tried to work out if I would enjoy this album more if I had come into Edguy at the beginning, and moved through their discography from the start rather than coming in at album number five and discovering them in reverse. My feeling is that yes, that would be the case. Despite that, for those that are power metal fans of this era, this is an album worth enjoying.

Rating:   “In the silence there’s a fear”.  3/5

922. Edguy / Tinnitus Sanctus. 2008. 2.5/5

It's an interesting state of affairs when you compare Edguy releases during the 2000's, and the strengths and weaknesses they gain against Tobi's other project, Avantasia, and the albums it releases. I was not as enamoured with Edguy's previous release Rocket Ride as I had been with their two seminal albums that preceded it, and I admit I was expecting something bigger from this album, especially as it coincided with a third album in the Avantasia series of albums, The Scarecrow. Comparisons between all of these releases in the long run just confuses the issue even more.

Early in the decade Edguy had discovered a power to their music that really forced the band to the forefront of the power metal genre on the continent. It was this power that had gained my attention, and while I felt that the two albums in question, Mandrake and Hellfire Club were not perfect, they had enough of the elements that suggested to me that things would get even better as we moved into the following albums. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't forthcoming on Rocket Ride, and for the most part has not occurred here either. Even scarier, it was almost not existent on the following release, Age of the Joker. In the meantime, The Scarecrow was a bigger success and a more exemplary showcase of that progression in power, which was then completed two years later with the dual release of the Avantasia albums Angel of Babylon and The Wicked Symphony.
So the question needs to be asked - is the direction Edguy have gone in this period of their careers the band members decision, or has Tobi just directed his harder material to his other band, and retained his lighter stuff for Edguy? Tobi wrote all of the songs here, which suggests the latter is closer to the truth.
I'm not suggesting that this album is a complete lemon. I still enjoy the album whenever I put it on. There are plenty of songs I like a lot, and find catchy. The opening track "Ministry of Saints" and "Wake Up Dreaming Black" are the two best examples of the Edguy sound that I would reside with. "Pride of Creation" is another that i can get on board with.
It's just that overall, it lacks the depth and the strength within the songs to hold its own against other releases, and not just those mentioned above. Is it a commercial bent that has crept into the songs? I guess one could look at it that way, though I'm not sure of what the official response to that is. For the most part the songs have been smoothed over, the speed has been dropped back to a very mid-tempo range, there are few squealing solos or tricks amongst the rhythm section. The lyrics are sung well but without that kind of reach and gusto that appeared on earlier albums. "Dragonfly" could be used as an example here, though I don't want to be seen as simply picking on this song. It just plods along, at the same slow tempo, without anything happening, for almost five minutes, dragging out the middle of the album interminably when it really needs a kick along. "Thorn Without a Rose" is perhaps even less admirable, the real ballad-like song which to me has even less qualities than its predecessor.

Perhaps Edguy feel as though this is their best well-rounded album, showcasing all of their skills in a number of genres within the songs they have written. The fact that they have not been able to stick to the script, and to my ears have jumped the tracks and decided to go across the fields instead the direction they had been heading. To me that is more the pity. Lovers of Edguy, and lovers of the hard rock that was made accessible by bands such as Bon Jovi and Europe, are likely to find plenty here to like and enjoy. Those who like me had been hoping for a bit more in the speed and heavy departments will no doubt share my disappointment.

Rating:   "Tonight a thousand angels fall, heaven's up against the wall"   2.5/5

824. Edguy / Mandrake. 2001. 4/5

Mandrake was the first Edguy album that I heard and subsequently the first Edguy album that I bought. Thus it could be argued that I have a soft spot for it in the scheme of musical things, which I do. It has also become the point of comparison with every other Edguy album as to how much I will enjoy them, so it does have a major role to play in that respect. If nothing else, if this album was awful, then it would probably have stopped me from pursuing the band any further, so it was probably a good starting point for me.  The fact that it is probably one of the band's best helps in this respect.

The album starts off with "Tears of a Mandrake", and it is this song that made me believe that Edguy could be a part of my musical future. It is a superb beginning to the album, an opening act in itself, orchestral in nature both musically and vocally, combining those layered vocals throughout in operatic fashion. "Golden Dawn" sets off with that European power metal paced guitar and drums, but pleasingly it is those instruments that remains the centre of focus, with the keys remaining in the background. This is where Edguy appealed to me from the beginning. Unlike contemporaries such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica, where the keyboards are prominent to the point of being the main focus of the music, here they only complement the much more guitar focused music. Tobi Sammet's soaring vocals don't harm it at all either! "Jerusalem" continues the good song output, though with less impact than the opening two tracks. This is then followed by "All the Clowns" which explodes straight into melodic guitars and rocks along accordingly. "Nailed to the Wheel" is reminiscent of a Judas Priest song, or certainly perhaps the Fight song "Nailed to the Gun". After its mellow beginning it morphs into a fast heavy monster, propelling itself at speed, while being supported by Tobi's best Halford impression, especially during the chorus. Ripping tune. So to is "The Pharaoh", a more mid-temp song but heavy on the harder edged beat and guitars.
It can't all be bells and whistles I guess, and the power ballad "Wash Away the Poison" brings the album to a screaming halt in regards to its momentum. Perhaps it's not a bad song, but it does nothing for me, and indeed finds itself being a victim of the skip button on a regular occurrence. "Painting on the Wall" is very similar in this regard, which is disappointing given everything that occurs on the first half of the album. "Save Us Now" returns a bit of speed to the album, and indeed also reminds me of another song with a similar title, Helloween's "Save Us". Coincidence just like the comparison of "Nailed to the Wheel"? perhaps. Or perhaps not. "The Devil and the Savant" finishes off the album.

This is power metal the layman can get into, because the band's roots came from their early inspiration of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and KISS, so while the keyboards are in the mix of the songs the dominant force is the guitars, drums and vocals. This is what set them apart from their contemporaries, at least to this point of their existence. It's funny to think that as the Avantasia movement grew, the quality of Edguy's output seems to have diminished. However, with this album they put themselves firmly on the front foot and brought themselves to the front of the queue in regards to the European power metal scene.

Rating:  The moment the evil appeared, the chance to decide.  4/5

625. Edguy / Age of the Joker. 2011. 1/5

With Tobias Sammet bouncing between engagements with Edguy, and with the success of the expansionistic episodes of Avantasia's The Wicked Symphony and  Angel of Babylon as well as the live tour and album that followed, it was always going to be interesting to see what he had left in the tank inspiration-wise for his number one act. Not only whether it could live up to what Edguy had done in the past, but whether it could pull itself out of the massive shadow that the multi-starred Avantasia was casting.

What they were thinking when they put "Robin Hood" as the lead-off song here though, I have no idea. This was also the single lifted from the album (albeit a radio friendly 4 minute version), but at over eight minutes in length it is about five minutes too long. It could have had the chaff sifted out and shortened significantly to make it a more appealing song. This song also enhances the opinion that the band has left behind the power metal of wonderful albums like Mandrake and Hellfire Club and progressed closer towards a rock direction.
"Nobody's Hero" is like a throwaway song, something written as a B-side of a single, not the second song of a major album. "Rock of Cashel" sounds like it is trying to be a Blind Guardian song, without the pace and power of a Blind Guardian song. It is quite bland and uninteresting while bringing in the mandolins to try and create an old medievil fair sound. Not good. 
More is to come. The steel guitars come out in "Pandora's Box", which, seriously, should never appear in a song by a power metal band. It just isn't right at all, and while experimentation is fine, surely not in this way. A power metal ballad featuring steel and slide guitars makes this a dreadfully awful track with no redeeming features.
"Breathe" tries to come back to something close to Edguy's classic speed and power metal roots, before the almost gagworthy soft rock ballad "Two Out of Seven" drags the album back into the sickly mire of mediocrity. Is this all Tobi has left? It is repulsive.
"Faces in the Darkness" tries hard to restore some semblance of order but is still too close to the previous song to really enjoy. Finally, "The Arcane Guild" comes, bringing a pacey guitar riff and vocals that more closely resemble the Edguy of old. This is the pick of the album by a country mile.
Of course, it was too good to last, and "Fire on the Downline", despite great vocals from Tobi, is just another power rock ballad with little substance or heart, as if the guitar section of the band had been completely forgotten about.
"Behind the Gates to Midnight World" isn't a completely lost cause, and it does have its moments, though it isn't able to hold onto its momentum all the way through. However, all this is offset by the lacklustre and weak effort of "Every Night Without You". The closing song on the album is a close fought tussle of worst ever Edguy song. This is pretty much like a really awful Bryan Adams ballad, except that the Bryan Adams ballad would be better than this piece of shite. Truly, truly awful uninspiring crap.

I was so looking forward to this album when it was released, and have rarely been as let down by an album as I was by Age of the Joker. As a power metal band from the continent, Edguy has been one of the leaders in the first half of the previous decade. In recent times they have slipped a little, and whether that can be attributed to the amount of time their leader has spent with his 'side project', and that his creative juices have been used more thoroughly on Avantasia than Edguy is perhaps up in the air. Whatever the reason, this isn't what I was looking for nor hoping for from a band who I have a lot of time and respect for.

482. Edguy / Hellfire Club. 2004. 3.5/5

Another in the production line of power metal albums, and as with most bands of this genre, there is nothing new here. There are the stock-standard faster metallic songs, interspersed with the two or three comfortable soft metal ballads, that announce themselves full of keyboards and strings.

Edguy are a band that I have given a lot of time to over recent years, probably mainly because they bothered to tour Australia (at least twice) when our dollar was a poor performer on the world stage. And a lot of their stuff I enjoy – especially Mandrake which is the album I first heard of theirs. However, as with most power metal bands that like to dabble in the ballad, I feel it is their downfall. It does just halt the progress of the album. “The Spirit Will Remain” is one of those songs here on Hellfire Club. The fact that it is also the final song on the album (barring bonus tracks) is also a mistake. It kills the entire mood of the album, and defeats the conscious thoughts of listening to it all over again.

Fortunately, the remainder of the album is saved by songs like the terrific “We Don’t Need A Hero” raising this album’s ranking in the long run, and containing the flying drums and guitars along with Tobias Sammat’s amazing vocal range that make this band what they are at their best. The positives here outweigh the negatives however. The album begins wonderfully well with “Mysteria”, and clambers along with help from great tunes such as “Down to the Devil”, “King of Fools” and “Under The Moon”, showcasing the best that this band has to offer. In so many ways, bands of this genre can be far too similar in style and substance. If its done well, though, none of that matters. Hellfire Club is one of those albums.

Rating: Another great effort from the lads. 3.5/5.

161. Edguy / Burning Down The Opera. 2003. 4/5.

The first live release by this excellent power metal band, highlighting the best of their years in the business.

I am very impressed by their live performance. I must admit that before I heard this, I didn't think they would be able to pull it off live – especially the vocals.
Silly me. Tobias is a gem, and hits every note that he needs to without losing a step.

This double disc contains a lot of their best material, including Tears Of The Mandrake, The Pharoah, Vain Glory Opera and Painting On The Wall. Every song is pulled off almost note for note as they appear on the studio albums, along with the added live atmosphere and crowd support.

It is difficult to believe that Edguy are not better known in the metal industry. Everything they have done has been fantastic, and they are one of the best in the power metal genre. I know we are isolated in Australia, but more Australians must start listening to this band.

Rating : You could do worse than start off with this album if you are a beginning. For those that love live metal, this should be another addition to the collection. 4/5.