Album: Rocket Ride by Edguy

When it comes to modern Euro Power Metal, Edguy is one of my choice favorite bands; just a nostalgia thing I suppose, but nonetheless I enjoy them quite a bit. Almost completely abandoning his majestic fantasy Power Metal roots here, Tobias spins the wheel of his mariner and heads for new horizons, this time going for a very hard rock oriented sound without any real bells or whistles at all, and only a few nuances of the old style left behind; whispers of a nearly forgotten past.


On this album, Edguy goes back from their power metal hymns and almost does a completely hard rock album. Annoying kitsch glam rock like “Rocket ride”, Bon Jovi ballads like “Save me” or disco rock with keyboard experiments like “Matrix” or “wimps and poser” hard rock stuff like “Fucking with fire” dominate this album. This last song is a very cool party rocker and quite catchy while the keyboard dominated “Out of vogue” has a very addicting chorus and “Wasted time” very emotional lyrics and chorals as well as a catchy chorus.

The band shows us though that they can still write excellent metal hymns like the amazing opener “Sacrifice”. This song is modern rock opera shortened to eight minutes and is very emotional. Tobias Sammet does an extraordinary job on the vocals, the dominating piano fits perfectly to the song, and the solos are filled with passion and energy. Of course, you have another funny song on this album. “Trinidad” is a mixture of an exotically seventy’s pop song, Caribbean folk music and eighty’s glam rock. Brain off, party on could be the slogan of this hilarious song and while serious and closed minded metal heads will criticize this song, Edguy fans will probably enjoy this experiment and album closer that is followed by the bonus track and poser rock hymn “Fucking with fire” that goes into the same direction.

Although Sammet himself stresses the lack of overall story with the album – the track order was changed many, many times – I can’t help but imagine my own journey with the music; perhaps a fortunate side-effect of Sammet’s evocative writing. Yet, as insisted, the tracks are stand-alone entities that simply gel well in this arrangement. As we enter the age of mp3s and less call for strict CD-order playing, you have to admire the fact that, played in any order – be it on your desktop or mp3 player – each and every song stands up for itself.

The vocals on this album are also outstanding. Tobias Sammet has a great power metal voice with a lot of range and more importantly he knows how to use it. He knows when to be subtle and when to wail. Edguy is also a band that has a sense of humor and aren't afraid to inject it into their music. It's refreshing in a genre where a lot of people take themselves way too seriously.

Overall: 4.2/5 - Edguy are a band you can always journey with. Stick the CD on as you set off on a long coach or train journey, and you will ride with Edguy all the way. You don’t need to focus hard or listen intently – you can relax in the knowledge that whatever you are feeling as you travel on the Rocket Ride, Edguy are there to entertain you along the way.

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Album: The Art Of War by Sabaton

Based on Sun Tzu's Art of War this same titled album in corporates extracts into its songs to emphasize their by now well know style of singing about historical battles from the twentieth century. Sun Tzu says "The Art of War is of vital importance to Sabaton. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin" and in this case it is most certainly a road to safety.

So, what is good about this installment in Sabaton's story? All of the songs are polished and done in the typical 'epic' power metal way - they're either fast rockers with lots of double bass drumming and constant barrages of riffs, such as the opening Ghost Division and 40:1 or they're slower, grim 'power ballads', such as Cliffs of Gallipoli or The Price of a Mile. Relying heavily on Joakim's expressive yet powerful voice to evoke emotion in the listener we can tend to ignore the instrumentals and the music itself but this is rarely the case in this instance as we are swept along to battles past.

The 'glorious' feel most of the songs have is seen by many as a standard of Sabaton songs but here it is taken to a whole new level. Union, Cliffs of Gallipoli and Price of a Mile come to mind immediately. It's mostly achieved through clever use of keyboards giving the songs an operatic atmosphere and quality, Broden's layered vocals give the feel of a wide range of vocalists contributing to the album furthering this feel. In Panzerkampf this 'choir' like style is used to great effect giving the song the feel of a Soviet Military choir.

However, it is notable that the only thing making it stick out from other Sabaton albums is the woman reading exerts from Sun Tzu at the start of each song which gives the premise of each song. There is little or no experimentation or development in the songs but Sabaton do have the obvious luck of having achieved a winning formula early on in their career. The final song on the album 'A Secret' only lasts 37 seconds and seems to be there predominantly for the last 10 seconds where a robot says 'Illegal download detected executing spyware droid...' perhaps a nod towards the current trend of downloading albums off 'questionable' sites?

Overall: 4.15/5 - An classic installment in Sabaton's history, not for everyone and the lack of originality may annoy you at first but given time it will grow on you and before you know it it'll be on your playlist and you'll randomly start singing the lyrics (hopefully not at awkward moments).

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Album: Twilight Time by Stratovarius

It seems strange that the first review on this blog is of an album made before I was born! Yet I said I would review the next album I received in the post and this was it! Thats right I did say, in the post.. not downloaded! After all who could resist a proper album when they are for sale for under £4. Given its a in a box lets quickly skim over that.

The Box
The cover for this album is actually quite nice, one of Stratovarius' less garish albums covers! The text is very retro though but it all adds to the feel. It has a very cheep feel though once you take a look around the box, the lyrics are printed in Times New Roman on a white back ground.. and the only band picture is a postage stamp size and very pixilated. Although the plastic thing that the CD clips into was reenforced on my copy which is very good, I've had band experiences with other albums breaking there. For their second album on not much money, I should cut them some slack!

The Album
Now this is very important, as with any early Stratovarius: Listen to the album, Listen to it again.. go to bed wake up listen to it... let the songs sink into your head then play it very loud that evening! It sounds a bit odd but on the first listening of this album I hated it! Same with Dream Space, Fourth Dimension and Episode! Its mostly likely the nature of the genera that does this to you.
'Breaking the Ice' opens the albums with nice heavy punch, which is not Timo's strong point but it works.. just. The rifts as you would expect from stratovarius, very good, and the solos are too.
Besides 'Breaking the Ice', 'Metal Frenzy' is pretty heavy (by my standards!)
Anyone who has listened to Stratovarius will know they tend to include a 7minute + song, this is the song that keeps you coming back and I think for this album I would be 'Madness Strikes at Midnight'  when combined with 'Twilight Time' these tracks have a catchy enough chorus to bring you back in to enjoy this album that you would otherwise probably forget!
Theres no overal feel to the album but the tracks are slotted well together, it is an album not a collection of songs.

Notable tracks
Besides what I've mentioned earlier 'The Hills have Eyes' is an eerie feel, its a fantastic song. Its nice to hear some unusual sounds and despite the crititism that Timo Tolkki gets his voice does range and certainly does not spoil the album, the song has a great beat too it as well.
'Lead us into the light' does not do it for me though, its the classic Stratovarious finisher that could be compared to 'Wings of Tomorrow' or 'We hold the Key' but it just lacks the quality that could have really helped this album.

Summary
If you stick it out this album does reward you, it begin in my iTunes liberary with one star.. then the next day two and now I've raised it to four stars! Thats around what I'm giving this album, 3.75 stars. It lacks the real quality tracks or theme and has some weak links calling a five out of question but it really grew on me. Its a bit forgettable but when you do come back to it, it will be a pleasure. I'd give it four but its bettered by later stratovarius albums.

3.75/5 - Don't judge it too soon, its a must have for Stratovarius fans, but not amazing.

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I'm a big Stratovarius fan so if anyone cares to disagree, please comment away :-)