(Rated this album with 6 out of 10) Reviewed by
A music fan
from Columbia, PA United States
This is the first Edguy EP to date, I believe. I was anxious to hear new material from the band, so I picked it up. The first one is the radio-version of King of Fools, and while it is really enjoyable at first, I tired of listening to it after only a few days. I'm hoping the album version will include elements that make it a more lasting song. The second song is the best song on the album: New Age Messiah. This song is catchy (like King of Fools initially was) but it also has a lasting appeal to it. The chorus is really nice and the lyrical content is the best on the EP (One day oblivion will swallow up my fame; the common run of mankind will forget my name). As long as you're ready for the abrupt lyrical ending to the song, then you'll enjoy it. The Savage Union ranks among my least favorites of Edguy. It's too stereotypical and the parts that are supposed to sound really cool sound lame to me. I just don't like it, and it ranks down there with other songs I really disliked such as Land of a Miracle. Holy Water is an okay song. It's bombastic, and has a lot of majesty, and I know it will be the favorite of many, but I just don't enjoy it, despite all of these positive elements. It sounds too much like the song Avantasia (not the album, which I loved, but the song) in which there is a small verse, a chorus, a small verse, repeat, until the end. And the final song is really funny, and my second favorite of the album. The lyrics and the spoken interlude are great, and I especially love the lyrical part about the reality of piracy. Overall, while the album is good, it's still just the same stuff Edguy has been doing for years; nothing is really new or original. The highlight is definitely New Age Messiah, and the Life and Times of a Bonus Track was funny, but the rest of the album isn't up to par with the stuff Edguy has done in the past. From what I'm hearing about the Hellfire Club album, however, there is less of a funny approach and it seems it will be more fulfilling, so I'm hoping it will be at least as good as Mandrake, and maybe better. I give New Age Messiah 2 whole stars and 1 star for Life and Times, so I would rank this EP a solid 3/5.
