Edguy's Reviews

Hellfire Club

Hell yeah!

Edguy wear their influences on their sleeves -- anybody who enjoyed Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, or Helloween at their peak will find a lot to like on this album. Hey, for my money, the outright Priest-worship of the opening track sounds way better than Priest ever did. But even if there's a lot of borrowing and a lot of tribute paid to the masters, Edguy have got their own sound and a whole lot of charisma that no other active band can match.

This album is stripped-down (the symphonic overkill of earlier albums is mostly gone), song-centered and a WHOLE lot less pretentious than other competitors in the current slew of prog/power-metal. It's definitely rock, not opera, and every song stands out, as was the case with Maiden at their peak. You get one epic (but not over-orchestrated) track, "The Piper Never Dies", which is good all the way through its 10 minutes and builds up to a crushing finish. Other standouts -- Mysteria, Under the Moon, King of Fools, and The Navigator, but really there's not a weak track on it.

Last thing: the album has a great sense of humor that very much reminds of Helloween (Dr. Stein, or Rise and Fall, for instance) and completely deflates any pretentiousness about the album. It's pretty nice -- too many bands in this genre are way over-inflated on self importance. Edguy cuts right through all the BS and delivers nothing more or less than a flat-out crank-it-up, sing-along-as-you-floor-it-down-the-highway good time.

Buy this album on Amazon at $14.99