Somewhere Blind Guardian is raising a toast & seating their crowns a bit more firmly on their heads.
For a while now Edguy has been gaining ground on the current overlords of European fantasy power metal. Scratching and clawing their way up the slope with some really strong releases in the category - Vain Glory Opera (with an appearance by Hansi, to boot) and Mandrake before the blistering Hellfire Club and its majestic song selection including "Mysteria", "The Piper Never Dies", and my personal favorite "Navigator".
A bit ahead of them Blind Guardian was releasing such dominant classics as Imaginations From The Other Side, Somewhere Far Beyond, and the mind-bogglingly excellent Nightfall In Middle-Earth, which got me to do something I'd tried and failed several times to do - read Tolkien's The Silmarillian. Taking a little time away after these masterpieces, head honcho Hansi sits down with Iced Earth axemaster Jon Schaffer to make pure magic. The initial Demons & Wizards release both rocked and grooved. Blind Guardian continues very ambitious projects, A Night At The Opera containing the exhausting Trojan war novella, "And Then There Was Silence". At times catchy, at times crunchy, this album worked for me in large part, though I find I enjoy it more in pieces than digested all at once. Back goes Hansi to the welcoming arms of Demons & Wizards where they craft one of my favorite albums of all time - Touched By The Crimson King. My jaw spent most of the first listen on the floor. Just wow. "Beneath These Waves" is one of my all-time favorite songs (particularly the edited version without the needless near-silent interlude). "Terror Train", "Crimson King", "Dorian", "Seize the Day", "The Gunslinger"...packed with hits. Apart from some very troubling low points, VERY troubling, like "White Witch" (and the agonizingly slower and worse edit of same) and bizarrely chosen and executed "Immigrant Song", this is a great album. Then, back to BG to face a real challenge. You're churning out magic with your side band and your 'real' band just produced an album that many consider a letdown. You've got to make a statement to save the band. Out comes A Twist In The Myth. Mission accomplished. Not their best, but a very strong effort including "This Will Never End", the hate it or love it "Fly" (I like it a lot), and some real highlights - "Turn the Page", their most haunting and beautiful song, yet, "Carry the Blessed Home" and the wonderful bard tale "Skalds and Shadows". I wrote a full review here: link. Funnily enough, you'll see that at this time I was comparing the bards not-so-favorably to Edguy, although they had just released a so-so album of their own. To summarize this long story, Blind Guardian climbed back on top of the heap.
Back to Tobi and Edguy. Here, at their peak, Tobi took some time from Edguy and was tinkering with Avantasia. Even more his project than Edguy, the eponymous initial release was excellent, featuring truly memorable tracks. The second, not so very much. Back to Edguy out comes the highly anticipated Rocket Ride. Ugh. Cripes, what's up with that? I mean, yeah it's not a bad album, hardly a stinker, but after Hellfire Club it's like, what were you thinking? Best moment is the hard-rocking "The Asylum", what a great song. More humor than power. European comedic metal? Where'd your nuts go, Tobi?
Oh, I see. They're with Avantasia. Out comes another of my favorite all-time albums, The Scarecrow. Wow. Freaking wow. Damn. Wow. Practically without a flaw. If you don't have it, go buy the damned thing. Wow.
So what will Tobi do back with Edguy. Tinnitus Sanctus. Well, the title's hopeful, right? They're gonna power this one out of the park and snatch the crown right off Blind Guardian's head, right? Damn (in a totally different way). Sad me. Where's the blistering face tearing off wave of metal guitar might implied by the title? What, in the name of all of Tobi's helicopter dreams, has happened to the thing that drew so many of us to Edguy in the first place - the catchy, hooky, yeah-a-bit-corny, shout-along choruses that drop an anchor in your brain and hang out there for a few tide cycles? Again it seems that Tobi has decided that Edguy is a humorous party band that should primarily sing about sex and leave "The Piper Never Dies" for Avantasia. This is bad, folks. Not that it's a really horrible album, it's probably better than a lot of power metal out there, but I honestly think it is their worst album - yes, worse than Rocket Ride, worse than Savage Poetry, and much worse than Kingdom Of Madness. I see that Tobi wrote the whole thing, too. Did he just walk in and go 'OK, guys, we're going to do a whole album that's an homage to "Lavatory Love Machine"'? Sadly I get the same feeling as I got with the latest Tool release, that Maynard spent all his energies doing what he really wanted to do on A Perfect Circle and returned to his 'home' with creative dregs. Say it ain't so, Tobi, get your fanny back up that hill and climb!
Ministry of Saints - A pretty strong start, actually. Having seen this video before getting the album, I was cautiously optimistic. Not an overwhelmingly good song, but a nice, rocking, strong opener, typical of better Edguy releases. For this album it's got an unusually strong chorus. Maybe the only "Edguy song" on the album? No, not the only one, but this remains one of the better efforts.
Sex Fire Religion - A plodding, juvenile pile of 'whatever'. Stop saying 'sex fire religion visionary position', it's just stupid and would have been stupid on a Motley Crue album from the 80s. I expect this will soon leave my mp3 player. And leave it did...just a stupid, half-arsed effort.
The Pride of Creation - Not sure what to make of this song. It's sneaky. I don't want to like it because the last song leaves such a bad taste in my brain, but I think I do. It sort of worms its way into my head and whispers 'I'm not so bad, like me'. Hey! Are those guitars? Neat! Oh, carp. Is that more potty humor? Hey, is that a catchy chorus? You don't say! How about a big ending, guy? No? Rats. (update: Bit silly, but I end up liking it.) In the end this is one of my favorite songs. The chorus is such an Edguy chorus. This could fit in on a couple of the other albums, though it would be near the bottom of those albums, whereas here it's one of the best.
Nine Lives - Not terrible. Juvenile lyrics. Music is pretty classic Edguy. I enjoy it as I listen, then it just fades off the radar. Maybe because it ends badly.
Wake Up Dreaming Black - You're not Warrel Dane, Tobi. Try a little harder with the titles, m'kay? Not bad though, rocks pretty well. However, repeating "dying angels" is not a chorus.
Dragonfly - Confusion abounds, but nevertheless this is a pretty cool track. No, it doesn't make any sense, but half the time Hansi's stuff doesn't either. 'Bring me the sirens and we'll chop off their heads'? Nice song. Deserves better than to be on this album. Deserves better than yet more lame sexual innuendo. Pick up the pace and you've got a nice song. Have some sense to the chorus for singalongability and you've got a real winner. (update: OK, so it's about snorting coke, I guess. A bit faster and you've got a winner, though it's no Master of Puppets.)
Thorn Without a Rose - Trust me, guys, a ballad isn't what you're lacking here. Is it over, yet? It's Ok, it's a ballad, move on. OK, now here's a song that has benefited from moving away from the songs around it. I really like this song, now. Well sung, well executed. My initial reaction was driven by frustration of the lack of rock on this album. Removed from that situation, it's a decent song on its own.
9-2-9 - Yawn. Oh, sorry, I'm still sleepy after the last song and this isn't helping much. Hint: "9-2-9" is not as catchy as "and the navigator, is headed to hell" for a chorus. Were there supposed to be some guitarists involved with this song? Could've fooled me. This hasn't improved with age. It's still a middle-of-the-road song with a guitar solo that could have been, and sounds as if it were, played on a synthesizer. It doesn't utterly suck, it's just not that great. Forgettable.
Speedhoven - I don't know what the hell this is about, but it might be the best song on the album. It's fresh and creative and only lacks enough catchiness so that I can remember ANY of it after it's done to make it a solid, if not spectacular, addition to an Edguy release. Tobi clearly thought he was writing his high point for this album here - shout along vocals, pounding beat. Probably should have led off the album, but then the dropoff would have been really steep. Tobi really worked on his vocals for this one. This could work on The Scarecrow if that's a tip off. Drums, nice. Guitars. What guitars? More
Dead or Rock - No, this one doesn't make any sense, either. But it's actually a pretty good song as long as you don't want to sing along with it. More wallowing in teenager lyrics. Funny, these guys were writing better songs when they were teenagers. Yeah, if you ignore the lyrics and don't pay much attention it's not bad. The drums sound good.
Aren't You a Little Pervert Too?! - Oh, for crying out loud. What the hell is this? I listened to it exactly twice before removing it from my mp3 player to ensure that I don't have to hear it again. And I still haven't heard it again and have no desire to. The worst person to say what is beneath them is that person themselves. Edguy, this song is beneath you, despite what you think.
So. What do we really have here? Basically a juvenile record that I would have expected from the guys a decade ago. There's no maturation here. There's regression. Is it a career-killer? Probably not, but it's definitely strike two. If you're not an Edguy fan already I don't see much to tempt you. Not much at all. I suspect this will sell like carp. It should. I find it hard to believe that anyone turned off by Rocket Ride will shell out for this one after seeing the reviews. Guys, it's one thing to say 'to hell with what people say, we're not going to keep doing the same thing, we're going to do what we want' and knowing when you need to listen to the people saying 'this isn't good, what you did before was good, can't you do something almost like that stuff that is still good?'. Blind Guardian did that with Twist. Make a note, Edguy, make a note.
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I chipped in for the digipack release with the Live In Los Angeles bonus disc. Oops. Well, it's not THAT bad. The quality is OK, even if it sounds like Tobi is phoning it in. Actually there are some nice song choices here, it's just sort of, eh. I dunno. Maybe I was just hoping for more of the more powerful stuff. Track list includes:
Catch of the Century
Sacrifice (neat choice)
Babylon (VERY neat choice)
Lavatory Love Machine (fun song in small doses)
Tears of a Mandrake
Vain Glory Opera
Superheroes
F*cking with Fire (I'd be ticked if I went to see them live and they played this instead of something good)
Avantasia
King of Fools
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