EDGUY — Hellfire Club (review)

EDGUY — Hellfire Club album cover Album · 2004 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Kingcrimsonprog
Edguy are a Power Metal band from Germany, headed up by Tobias Samet (also known for Avantasia), and Hellfire Club is their sixth album. The 2004 effort is one of their best in terms of enjoyability and quality, and is interesting in their discography looking back, as it serves as a bridge between their Power Metal early days and their Hard Rock tinged later days, and also sees the band’s silly side come a bit more to the fore.

There are some very fine Power Metal moments on here, and there are some very fine Hard Rock-ifed moments. There are also some tracks that balance them both, in a mature and semi-progressive way similar to their previous album, 2001’s Mandrake, most notably the ten-minute ‘The Piper Never Dies.’ Its sort of a great midpoint between their various different styles and ambitions without being too far in any one direction and therefor it is very originally Edguy without any influences hanging obviously off sleeves.

The production job on the album is very big and radio ready, matching the stadium-focused choruses that have started to find their way in to the music. A huge memorable chorus like that of single ‘Lavatory Love Machine’ (a song about ‘the mile high club’ with a comic lyrical style) sounds gigantic on this record. Its a far cry from the thin and wirey dueling guitars of classics from Theater Of Salvation (a production style perfect in its own right, but for very different music). The band are fleshed out by a guest orchestra which gives things a bit of extra depth and bombast.

Highlights include ‘Down To The Devil’ which has a fiendishly catchy chorus, as well as the foot-to-the-floor ‘We Don’t Need A Hero’ which is one of the better tunes on here and the guitar work is noteworthy. Lastly, the cheesily-titled ‘The Rise Of The Morning Glory’ which I feel is the exact mid point of every thing going on here and the go-to tester track you should listen to if you want to get an idea of whether or not you’d enjoy this.

Overall; this is definitely one of the band’s better albums in terms of sheer song quality, riffs, memorable choruses and big hooks. Its not their most traditionally Power Metal release ever but isn’t so far away from the formula that it would be off-putting either like some of their albums **Cough**Tinnitus Sanctus**Cough** (and what it lacks in that department it makes up for in creativity and fun). The orchestral addition adds a lot, and the production is humongous.

Ps. If you can, try and get the version with bonus tracks so you can hear Kreator’s Mille Petroza join in on ‘Mysteria’ as well as the bonus track ‘Children Of Steel’ which is one of the most traditional Heavy Metal songs the band have written to date.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Everything Hurts And I'm Dying Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NEGATIVE BLISS
Buy this album from MMA partners
L'impôt du sang Melodic Black Metal
CONIFÈRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Pleroma Progressive Metal
ORGONE
Buy this album from MMA partners
n​ê​bam​Ω​ejn Atmospheric Black Metal
TRHÄ
Buy this album from MMA partners
∫um'ad​∂​ejja cavvaj Atmospheric Black Metal
TRHÄ
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Origin Of Infinity - Chronosphere (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)
ORIGIN OF INFINITY
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Kingdom of Heaven - “Pleasures of Pain”
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Bosh66· 1 day ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed