EDGUY — Mandrake (review)

Album · 2001 · Power Metal

3/5 · 2021-03-21
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]