Edguy - Age Of The Joker review
| Band: | Edguy |
| Album: | Age Of The Joker |
| Style: | Power metal |
| Release date: | August 26, 2011 |
| A review by: | Baz Anderson |
Disc I
01. Robin Hood
02. Nobody's Hero
03. Rock Of Cashel
04. Pandora's Box
05. Breathe
06. Two Out Of Seven
07. Faces In The Darkness
08. The Arcane Guild
09. Fire On The Downline
10. Behind The Gates To Midnight World
11. Every Night Without You
Disc II [Limited edition]
01. God Fallen Silent
02. Aleister Crowley Memorial Boogie
03. Cum On Feel The Noize [Slade cover]
04. Standing In The Rain
05. Robin Hood [Single version]
06. Two Out Of Seven [Single version]
German superstars Edguy return with album nine much in the same vein as the last three albums. It is common knowledge now that since 2006's Rocket Ride these Teutonic terrors have opted for a path of lukewarm heavy metal, while Tobi's dirty power metal urges have been kept locked away safely with Avantasia.
Although three years apart in the real world, Age Of The Joker and Tinnitus Sanctus in Edguy's universe aren't too different from each other. The German jesters are quite content sitting on their current format of slightly catchy, melodic heavy metal songs. The album has some great moments, "Nobody's Hero" is somewhat catchy, the folky last portion of "Rock Of Cashel" is pretty awesome, and "The Arcane Guild" offers a glimpse of power metal too.
Let's not get carried away though; as much as we'd like to fall for the charm of these cheeky fellows as we reminisce over the Mandrake and Hellfire Club days, Age Of The Joker just feels long and drawn out, suffering from a lack of the kind of quality that keeps an album like Hellfire Club great time after time. Age Of The Joker is marginally better than the previous Tinnitus Sanctus, but that shouldn't have been a challenge for these guys that definitely have the quality but just seem to be getting it wrong over the last few years.
There is only one Tobias Sammet and only one Edguy; the band can still boast a unique sound in metal, but you might just start to wonder how much longer you want to hear it. Age Of The Joker is a step up, but not really in the right direction.
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Heavy metal
Germany
Length: 1:05:23
Nuclear Blast
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Comments
| Darklands Posts: 6  |
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| Crème fraiche Posts: 703  |
Yeah pretty spot on Baz. I was really hoping these guys would step it up and put out something amazing again. I've tried really hard to get into thsi and Tinnactus Sanctus, but idk, i may need a new power metal idol ;( ;(
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| Kingface Posts: 335  |
Great review Baz and I generally agree with it. I think one thing it definitely has over Tinnitus is that all the songs on the album are worthy of inclusion, whereas I think on Tinnitus there are two or three songs that are well below par ('Sex, Fire, Religion' and 'Dragonfly' spring to mind).
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675  |
Written by Kingface on 07.10.2011 at 14:48 While I do think the new album is quite a bit better than Tinnitus, I'd say "Two Out Of Seven" is worse than anything from the previous album... it's a totally awful song! I'd personally give the new album 7.5/8. I think there's a lot to enjoy, and is definitely overall better than the last 2 albums. A couple of fillers bring it down though... I have no idea why "God Fallen Silent" wasn't on the album proper! It's a great song and really should have been on the album. 
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| Kingface Posts: 335 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 07.10.2011 at 21:11 Fair point. 'Two Out of Seven' is quite boring for the most part. Although the seemingly ridiculous and humorous lyrics I do find funny and to me aren't as a immature as they seem at "face value" so to speak.
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| corrupt With a lowercase c Admin Posts: 3536  |
Tobi's dirty power metal urges are locked away with Avantasia? They may be locked away, but that in a seperate space far away from Avantasia. I don't even hear that much of a difference between today's Avantasia and today's Edguy. Both sound like the same recipe repeated over and over again. There doesn't seem to be a lot of urge for anything besides the big $$ in Tobi.
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Kingface on 07.10.2011 at 21:58 The lyrics actually made the song even worse for me, although I was never interested in the song to play it long enough to pick up on any deeper meaning in the lyrics.  I think where I really prefer this album over the previous two, is the killer to filler ratio is far more heavily weighted in favour of killer, whereas on the last 2, there were more fillers. There's only 3 songs on the new album I don't like, whereas on the previous 2, there was only about 3 or 4 that I really liked. Tobi is definitely eschewing the power metal sounds in favour of a more hard rock sound, both with Edguy and Avantasia. "Symphony Of Life" is the worst song Tobi has ever written, nothing on the last 3 Edguy albums is that bad!  "Age Of The Joker" is a good album, I like it.
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| JorgonQ Posts: 500 |
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941  |
Written by Irritable Ted on 10.10.2011 at 12:04 It is definitely not metal, if you ask me. Bon Jovi were often heavier than that at the time of "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey".
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Guib Thrash Talker Posts: 3220  |
Bleh never liked Edguy that much... generic, quite boring and never surprising. You get the same ol' shit again and again until you decide to put an end to it and buy something worth your money idk like the new Warbringer... or the new Decapitated. Something that stinks metal from head to toe and you know you won't regret. In short, something opposite to Edguy  something GOODAnd if you think that im being harsh wait t'ill you hear me talk about bands like Dragonforce or Sonata Arctica you won't believe it.
---- - Headbanging with mostly clogged arteries to that stuff - Guib's List Of Essential Albums - Also Thrash Paradise Thrash Here
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Irritable Ted on 11.10.2011 at 20:38 Yep, it sure is! Most of the songs on Age Of The Joker are quite a bit heavier than anything Bon Jovi has put out. There is a small amount of Avantasia songs that are just as much soft rock as Bon Jovi, but not overall. I hope Tobi never falls that far!
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| JerryNichols Posts: 4 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 08.10.2011 at 13:19 Symphony of Life is indeed a bad song, so you'll be pleased to hear that it's written by Sascha Paeth.
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941 |
Written by Irritable Ted on 11.10.2011 at 20:38 Not if you define heaviness by aggressive riffing (playing) and energy. Many old Bon Jovi songs are more 'in your face' than current Edguy or Avantasia, Imo. Heaviness is not only a matter of weighty sound. Imo, Edguy and Avantasia are more pussy now than Bon Jovi were in the 80s.
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Nemo Atkins Posts: 257 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 08.10.2011 at 13:19 Tobi didn't write "Symphony Of Life", that was written by Sascha Paeth. But I agree with it being a bad song: I think that's the only song from the album I can't sit through without wanting to skip it. I don't know what to make of "Age Of The Joker", having come straight from The Scarecrow Trilogy to it. I don't dislike it, but there's nothing that really grabs me when I listen to the album: it just gets a bit of a "meh" from me. I tend to stick with the bonus CD, as I love everything on it. Maybe I'm just not getting the album?  Edit: Just noticed someone else already mentioned "Symphony Of Life" wasn't written by Tobi.  I'm now making a mental note to actually check the comments completely before making a comment.
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10094  |
Imo, this album does have a very power metal sound to it, aside from maybe Beyond The Gates to the Midnight World. From what I've heard of the album it's pretty good though.
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