EDGUY “The Age Of Joker” (2011)

Production by Sascha Paeth / Edguy
Label : Nuclear Blast

Line-up :
Tobias Sammet  : Vocal
Jens Ludwing     : Guitar (solo)
Dirk Sauer          : Guitars (rythmics)
Tobias Exxel        : Bass
Felix Bohnke        : drums

Tracklist:
1. Robin Hood
2. Nobody’s Hero
3. Rock of Cashel
4. Pandora’s Box
5. Breathe
6. Two Out of Seven
7. Faces in the Darkness
8. The Arcade Guild
9. Fire on the Downline
10. Behind the Gates to Midnight World
11. Every Night Without You

The yellow emergency truck of INEM, stationed all bawling fires and annoys therefore my Sunday afternoon relaxing on my flowery terrace because low turns off neighbour (a bloody idiot) of irritating agonies, which stress me again, and because an vindictive Sun melts much too fast (to my taste) the cubic ice cube of my friendly vodka, adding to the Berezina. This infamous shit played in my mp3-player, which digs more my wrath and my disgust tickle.

Great God, you did not sold your soul to the devil under the musical incantations of Black Sabbath for today to support such a disgusting mixture by the overestimated and tiring Tobias Sammet, totalitarian leader of  EDGUY, which today I strike his new mischief “The Age Of Joker”, ninth cake blister (heavy-metal for Dummies) which is a brilliant as an oil gull (“Robin Hood” which opens the auditory massacre), burn our last hopes with this sad announced degeneration of the traditional heavy-metal. It is clear, it’s lacking some “balls”..!

And bizarrely after the rather light Avantasia part 4, you can feel the permeates. Syndrome of the “Scorpions” (with them Edguy made a tour of 8 dates in Germany in 2010), which loses its Darter and becomes harmless, EDGUY cracks everywhere and increasingly looks like the Saxon of the 1980s (not the most glorious era…).

Not Queensryche or Maiden still less Dio (even if the major and notable album asset remains Peppermint Park Studios production, enough vintage indeed, particularly in parts of drums sound decision-making, here true success) the again convened Joker (under the carpet from “Mandrake” in 2001) is stealing the development of pretention and experiments (it is still far from King Crimson) at the edge of kitsch (“Rock Of Cashel” and its moods Celtic and the “Pandora’s Box” of western atmosphere with Resonata guitar). Heavy-metal junk, fun Skunk, when it loses its hair it should consider retirement right away…

More melodic and playful than “Tinnitus Sanctus” of 2008, who dared the development of a new recipe, this Joker irritates and does merit good slams in the face, nothing else. It is the metal of motorway, music for shellfish, bio sound when we  need more blood… Certainly, they will sell whole trucks ( block borders!) and everybody is happy and content.

The (good) music lovers, it would be tasteless to hang or to recover once again a good old Blue Cheer, true fathers of heavy metal, which should have once drown all their future bastards, if only they had known…
Avid metal Feisal, dick into the air and long teeth, just go on the new album (Kicking & Screaming) of the great eternal hungry hangover, Sebastian Bach, a pure, a tough and forget fast-fact EDGUY, the Michael Bolton of heavy-metal.
Too much cream, too much sugar,  in short, food for 3rd age.
Adipose superheros…

Reviewed by MEL DELACROIX