Edguy – Age of the Joker (2011)

After Edguy getting split-decisions (very good/very bad) in the band’s last few full-length releases, today we have “Age of the Joker”, another release that will surely polarize fans even more. It is hard to imagine that people are still expecting the older Power Metal approach to things that Edguy had in their first few albums, particularly after the last 2 releases have been heading in the same direction: 80’s styled Metal. So haters will be haters and trash this release, but if you actually give it a chance, you will find some pretty good tunes and an overall very solid release.

The hard-rocking “Robin Hood” delivers a powerful introduction to this release. With its new psychedelic elements, this track is pretty much a continuation of where the band left off on “Tinnitus Sanctus” and incorporates the recent Avantasia sounds as well. As you can expect we have very epic chorus sections and Tobias Sammet’s amazing voice paired with very well crafted music. The buildup section around the fourth minute mark is excellent and allows the song to nicely grow.

On the track “Nobody’s Hero”, things move a bit faster and we are somewhat reminds us of older Edguy releases, but is still showing the ‘new influences’ of the band.  In “Rock of Cashel” we have an instrumental passage eerily similar to something out of Amorphis “Silent Waters” album, this totally ripped off and kind of sad that a band of the caliber of Edguy is doing something like this. The bluesy/western song “Pandora’s Box” sounds a bit more like what a hair-Metal band would have whipped out on their hay day and nicely fits into the flow of this release.

Moving to heavier and more ‘exciting’ things, “Breathe” is our favorite song of this release due to the somewhat Power Metal sound to it and the very straightforward structure. “The Arcane Guild” is probably the second best song in this release thanks to the psychedelic sounding organ sounds; this is something that takes the band’s sound even further in time (and closer to the sound of Amorphis). The closing power ballad “Every Night without You” is very typical from Edguy and we can see this song playing on our home stereo when having a girl over for dinner.

If you are a fan of the most recent works of the band (“Rocket Ride” and “Tinnitus Sanctus”) you will very much enjoy “Age of the Joker”. This release has all the elements from those two albums but more refined and better put together. We also have a few new things here and there that make this album far superior to anything released by the band in the last few years. However, if you are still being nostalgic for the band’s older sound, walk away from this release and save yourself some money.

Release: August 26th (Europe) / September 13th (North America)

Country: Germany