Edguy – Age of The Joker

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Nuclear Blast
Produced by Sascha Paeth

Edguy’s ninth studio effort follows a reasonably poorly received (by their usual standards) Tinnitus Sanctus in 2008 and world-conquering outings with leader Tobias Sammet’s other project Avantasia, albums and tours from which really raised the bar in terms of what people now expect from him.

Opening with lengthy first single Robin Hood they manoeuvre between generic and interesting throughout its eight-and-a-half-minute running time, which more or less defines the song, this album, and in fact their career so far. During its fifth minute a harder, groovier riff and blistering solo highlights the song in the same way a similar effect achieved with some of the recent Avantasia material (indeed it does sound like something from the middle of The Scarecrow‘s title track), before dropping back into the standard chorus.

And throughout the rest of the album there is, as always, a certain amount of stock Edguy material too. A keyboard-emphasised Breathe, The Arcane Guild and closing ballad Every Night Without You are heard-it-done-it tracks which will offer no twists or turns to anyone who has listened to Edguy before.

The best moments of Age of The Joker are the new ideas the band have tried. The grooving, slide-guitar-draped Pandora’s Box is a contender for one of Edguy’s best ever songs, somehow pairing Aerosmith-influenced verse and bridge vocal melodies with an ever-so-Edguy chorus. The two devastating main riffs to the superbly sinister Face In The Darkness are their heaviest, and some of their best to date, and are directly rivaled by the ones from Behind The Gates To Midnight World later on the album; a much better nine minutes than Robin Hood.

Not all of the new ideas are good, mind; the quirky disco-synth melody on an otherwise reasonably enjoyable and utterly hilarious Two Out of Seven (complete with another excellent guitar solo) is dreadful, and the cheerily folksy melodies towards the end of Rock of Cashel aren’t much better, though the later are easily overlooked sandwiched between the outstanding Pandora’s Box and hard-driving, fast-paced metal of Nobody’s Hero.

Creatively (the most important thing) this is far better than Tinnitus Sanctus, and it contains just the right amount of old and new ideas that it should please a far greater proportion of the fanbase too.

“ they manoeuvre between generic and interesting throughout ”

Tracklist: Robin Hood / Nobody’s Hero / Roch of Cashel / Pandora’s Box / Breathe / Two Out of Seven / Faces In The Darkness / The Arcane Guild / Fire On The Downline / Behind The Gates To Midnight World / Every Night Without You
Special Edition Bonus CD: God Fallen Silent / Alistair Crowley Memorial Boogie / Cum On Feel The Noize / Standing In The Rain / Robin Hood (Single Version) / Two Out of Seven (Single Version)

Photo(s): Alex Kühr | www.alexkuehr.com

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Heavy Metal, Edguy