lukretion In the mid 1990s, Edguy took the power metal scene by surprise, releasing a handful of albums that, despite the band’s young age (they were merely 18 years old when they released their breakthrough album Vain Glory Opera), sounded as professional, consummated and mature as those released by some of the giants of the genre. Mandrake is Edguy’s fifth album and follows closely in the footsteps of the band’s previous releases, offering once more their trademark blend of energetic but melodic power metal. It’s a solid album that does not cover much new ground but rather consolidates Edguy’s position as a great up-and-coming power metal band.

Edguy is not the band you should be turning to if you are looking for groundbreaking or innovative songwriting. The band’s songwriting moves within a fairly well-defined canon and never strays too far from it. Edguy’s sound is heavily influenced both by the German speed/power metal tradition (Helloween) and by the classic international heavy metal sound (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest). The band’s true strength lies in the mastery with which they manage to blend these influences into tasteful and classy numbers that rarely fail to impress the listener. Mandrake is no exception in this regard. Indeed, the record’s biggest selling point is probably the class with which the band manage to navigate between their influences across the ten songs of the album. The album moves impeccably through breakneck speed metal assaults (“Golden Dawn”, “All the Clowns”, “Fallen Angels”), epic Maidenian mid-tempos (the strong opener “Tears of a Mandrake”, “The Pharaoh”), classic 1980s heavy metal belters (the outstanding “Nailed to the Wheel”) and mellow ballads (“Wash Away the Poison”). There are even a couple of episodes of hard rock-infused metal (“Painting On the Wall”, the Europe-influenced bonus track "The Devil & the Savant"), while the comedy metal piece “Save Us Now” (aka “Highspeed Alien Drum Bunny”) offers a surprisingly humorous closure to the album. This diverse material ensures that the listener never gets bored or feels as though the songs are repetitive.

The quality of the playing is remarkable. Guitarists Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer exchange plenty of fun riffs and solos. The rhythm session is rock solid and especially drummer Felix Bohnke displays some impressive chops, particularly when the tempo speeds up. However, Edguy’s secret weapon is undoubtedly singer Tobias Sammet. He has an expressive and distinctive voice that is convincing both when he uses his gritty mid range snarl and when he reaches for the high notes. He reminds me of both Michael Kiske and Bruce Dickinson, which is quite an achievement in and of itself. Apart from contributing a strong vocal performance, Sammet is also Edguy’s main songwriter and for that he is rightly recognized as one of the most significant personalities in the power metal scene.

The production is also very good. The album was mixed and mastered at Finnvox studios by expert sound engineers Mikko Karmila and Mika Jussila. They gave the album a clean sound that does not sacrifice neither power nor detail. My only criticism is that the albums sounds a tad too loud. I would have liked to hear more dynamics in the music, but instead nearly all of the album keeps the pedal firmly to the metal, which inevitably fatigues me in the long-run.

Overall, Mandrake delivers exactly what one would expect it to deliver: 60 minutes of high-octane melodic power metal that subsumes the best influences of the European heavy metal tradition with class and style. There are no weak spots or fillers on this album. Each track is an energetic slab of headbanging heavy metal fun, with plenty of catchy (yet not cheesy) choruses to sing along to. Edguy do not invent anything new on this album, nor do they push any boundaries. In this sense, this album is far from the masterpiece some people say it is. But if you are okay with that and just want to spend one hour of classic undiluted heavy metal, then Mandrake will not disappoint.

[Also published on https://www.metal-archives.com]

Kingcrimsonprog There’s a very handy Metallica comparison that works when thinking about Edguy. So, Kingdom of Madness is the Kill ‘Em All of the discography, a more raw and charming affair that wears its influences loud and proud and is fun but not yet fully developed. Vain Glory Opera is like Ride The Lightening, a more mature and uniquely them record that starts showing off their ambition while still rocking. Theater Of Salvation is Master Of Puppets, the magnum opus, the really grand and ambitious album that contains amazing, well constructed and monstrously catchy songs. The Savage Poetry is …And Justice For All, the follow up to their best album and almost as good in its own right.

All of that brings me to what I’m trying to say here. Mandrake is their Black Album. After four albums in one particular style and tone, the band decide to mature off in a new direction and break out of the confines of their home genre. Like The Black Album still had some Thrash songs on it like ‘Struggle Within’ and ‘Through The Never,’ Mandrake has some pure Power Metal songs on it like ‘Painting On The Wall,’ ‘Golden Dawn’ and ‘Save Us Now.’ Even then, sometimes when it does do traditional Power Metal, its more of a Master Of The Rings vibe than a Keeper Of The Seven Keys vibe if you know what I mean. Just listen to the little skiffly drumstick solo and high pitched comedy vocal in the middle of ‘Save Us Now’ to see what I mean.

Largely however, Edguy find themselves testing the limitations of their German Melodic Power Metal roots. ‘Painting On The Wall’ and its more progressive big brother ‘Tears Of A Mandrake’ have some very Bon Jovi and Detonater-era Ratt sounding influences audible on them, its no the whole picture but it is one colour they’re painting with. ‘Jerusalem’ sees them blending their Power Metal stylings with a more commercial Hard Rock vibe foreshadowing where they’d go on their next album. ‘The Pharaoh’ is a ten minute epic with an eastern vibe that sounds like a mixture between Sabaton when they get slow and stompy and when Rainbow would go eastern sounding like on ‘Babylon’ and ‘Tarot Woman.’ ‘Nailed To The Wheel’ although opening up acoustically with some very different vocal melodies than Edguy usually go for, evolves into the fastest most pissed-off Thrash Metal like song the band had put out to date. If you get the version with bonus tracks, ‘The Devil & The Savant’ also has a touch of Glam to it. Not the whole picture again, but its there. Its the band testing their boundaries.

The production job also has a lot to do with it. This album has a much more full, bright, unmetallic sheen to it. Commercial is the word best to describe it really. Its good in its own way but it sounds quite different to where they’d been living in previously.

Like with Metallica, there are lots of fans who consider The Black Album the last of the classic-five and there are other purists who think there was only a classic four and this is the first one afterwards. Of course, there are also a large amount of fans I’ve discovered online who prefer the band in their more Hard Rock form and say things like ‘Yeah, they got good when they stopped trying to sound like Iron Maiden’ and even those guys are also split on this record, because its not quite the Pure Power Metal style and its not quite not either.

Overall; Mandrake is a very good album, and a very interesting album, but whether you’ll like it or not very much depends on what you wanted out of it in the first place. The production job may be off putting if you wanted a certain thing, as may be the songwriting for about half of it. The songwriting on the other half may be off putting if you wanted a different thing. Vocals, guitar solos, drum patterns and creativity are all above reproach, its just the sound and musical direction that people are divided over.

Losimba Mandrake is an album that nicely shows the development of German power metal act Edguy which culminated in the following live album Burning Down The Opera.

This development is one I always enjoy, a band growing into their musical style and successfully trying to raise the quality both of their sound and songwriting. While Edguy started as some kind of Helloween clone in their teens, their songs, arrangements and consequently albums have grown in their complexity starting with Vain Glory Opera. I honestly can't understand why Edguy have not yet been introduced to the Progressive Metal section of progarchives.com, though most songs are of relative normal length.

But that's rambling, back to the album. The sound and production have stepped up once again on Mandrake, as has Tobias Sammet's vocal performance. The songs themselves are quite what one would have expected after Theater Of Salvation, and I can't find a song I would rate as utter crap. On the highlight side I would go for Painting On The Wall, Jerusalem and the epic The Pharaoh, but my absolutely favourite song of the album is Tears Of A Mandrake.

I can't explain why, but despite all those positive facts about Mandrake I'm not quite willing to hand out another five star rating. But the Essential category on this site starts at four and a half stars, so that's it.