Edguy - Mandrake - review
Edguy - Mandrake - review
Tracklist
01. Tears Of A Mandrake02. Golden Dawn
03. Jerusalem
04. All The Clowns
05. Nailed To The Wheel
06. The Pharaoh
07. Wash Away The Poison
08. Fallen Angels
09. Painting On The Wall
10. Save Us Now
11. The Devil & The Savant [bonus]
12. Wings Of A Dream [2001 version] [bonus]
A review by
Dream Taster September 16, 2003
From the first track 'Tears Of A Mandrake', you undestand that Edguy is Edguy and Avantasia is Avantasia. No mix between the styles, although they are still in the same "metal universe". But what happened to Tobias Sammet? His voice is so clear, so powerful! Without losing his vocal style [full of vibratos], Tobias has improved his capabilities to become a terrific singer. 'Tears Of A Mandrake' is a long and powerful song with a haunting chorus... What a cool opening track! 'Golden Dawn' is closer to standard power metal but here too the vocals make the difference between Edguy and other bands. 'Jerusalem' starts with a cool bass line and has a nice bagpipe line too! But no worries, guitars are still here. In that second song too, you hear that background vocals have been the subject of particular attention. Background vocalists are Ralf Zdiarstek [as usual], Rob Rock, Markus Schmitt, Daniel Schmitt and the entire band. And by the way, the title of the song 'Jerusalem' might be related to another one of their songs called 'Babylon' [on the album Theater Of Salvation].
Now, already amazed by these three first tracks, 'All The Clowns' and its funny lyrics ["Tell me why all the clowns are gone..."] is a bit surprising but the song is really good, and everybody knows that Tobias Sammet is a little joker, so... 'Nailed To The Wheel' is my favorite song on "Mandrake". It starts like an acoustic ballad until the melody just moves into angry riffs a la Judas Priest. The chorus has the power of a truck and Tobi plays with his voice as he never did before. As a result, 'Nailed To The Wheel' is a real must. Talking about musts, 'The Pharaoh' - unusually long for an Edguy song: 10:36 - is pure art. Erratum: this one is my favorite track! 'Wash Away The Poison' is the usual ballad [present on all Edguy albums] but that's one of the best ever! 'Fallen Angels' is in the same style as 'Golden Dawn' while 'Painting On The Wall' has a huge melody with bells. 'Save Us Now' has the weirdest lyrics ever [about their drummer who is supposed to be an alien bunny...]. Finally, 'The Devil & The Savant' is a wonderful bonus track, in the tone of the whole album. God that's an album!
These five guys from Germany are still excellent in their heavy/power metal and with "Mandrake", they have released their masterpiece so far. Reaching his best level [both in composing and singing], Tobias Sammet is now clearly set up as one of the best singers in metal. Besides, "Mandrake" shows us that Edguy is a serious candidate to be the world's leading band in power metal.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written on 16.09.2003 by
Written on 16.09.2003 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"
I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math.
Comments
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| king of fools
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 Posts: 848 |
Posts: 848
Indeed! This album is amazing, one of my favorites (if not my favorite) edguy album, I also agree with the songwriting part, its just awesome.
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 Posts: 2955 |
Posts: 2955
Thats a wonderful album! Only exellent songs.. Golden Dawn is very good, and i consider the worst of the album. Tears of a Mandrake and Jerusalem are the best tracks..and The Devil & The Savant is a great surprise at the end of the album 9.7
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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 Posts: 4323 |
Posts: 4323
That's quite a high rating for an album like that. I agree on it being a good one, but not that good. Neither in a pure Edguy context, nor a whole power metal one. But it is as catchy as you describe it. And the rating aside, I really like your thoughts about it. And apart from Hellfire Club, which marks Edguys transition to whatever you call what they play now, this album is a milestone in their discography. Edguy's last true power metal album. Let's drink on it, for that era is over 
---- 
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Posts: 163  |
Posts: 163
This album is one of the best power metal albuns ever!! the best of edguy! great songs, great lyrics, tobias voice fucking rocks... pure awesomeness! 10!
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Posts: 1469 Written by corrupt on 09.11.2008 at 02:02 Probably the best Edguy album, and the last good one, before they took a much more commercial direction. Like you say, that era is over. Edguy are in their cock rock era now.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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 Posts: 1567 |
Posts: 1567
Yeah, great album.....tied for best Edguy album with Hellfire Club, for me haha...yes, theyre in their cock-rock era now, but I have all of the faith in the world that they'll return to form, some day.....theyre still young!
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 Posts: 8702 |
Posts: 8702
I like Hellfire Club, Theater Of Salvation and Vain Glory Opera more, but this isnt fault of this album...it is still great - and "Tears Of A Mandrake" or "The Pharaoh" live? what a passion!
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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Posts: 64433 Written by Uirapuru on 07.11.2008 at 14:27 all songs esely can fit in best of album, all stands out, its an exalent album album
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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