Edguy - Rocket Ride

Tobias Sammet is one of the most prolific artists in the world of metal. In the last ten years, he's penned six Edguy albums, and two Avantasia albums. It should be no surprise that less than two years after the latest Edguy album, Hellfire Club, the band is back with another new effort, Rocket Ride.

To call Edguy a power metal band would be a disservice to them. They started out as a power metal band, but the seeds of what they would become were hinted at as far back as Theatre of Salvation. One of the tracks off that effort, "The Headless Game", showed a hard rock bent that was devoid of the usual pomp associated with power metal. After Sammet indulged his power metal dreams with the two part Avantasia series, it came as no shock to anyone that Edguy's next album, Mandrake, showed decidedly less power metal than the band's previous works. The album was a throwback to classic hard rock, from the atmospheric qualities of the epic "The Pharaoh", to the rock ballads "Painting on the Wall" and "Wash Away the Poison", it was clear that Edguy was moving in a new direction.

Hellfire Club furthered this move, exploring the sounds of 70's and 80's hard rock, and leaving behind most of the signature sounds of the power metal that the band was formed on. Fans weren't sure how to react to the release, as the accepting saw it as a solid piece of metal that differed from what the band normally did, while the more narrow minded were unable to accept the album, as it was lacking the excess that they expected from a power metal band. The move towards a more hard rock oriented sound may have alienated a few of the bands original fans, but it did nothing to derail the success of a growing band. Hellfire Club was heralded by critics as the finest work the band had yet produced, and quickly became one of the best selling albums in the history of the Nuclear Blast label.

Expectations are high for Rocket Ride, as Sammet and company attempt to take their blend of metal, musicianship, and humor into the mainstream, to bring the cause of metal to an entirely new audience.

From the first seconds of Rocket Ride, it's apparent that Edguy is not reverting to their past sound. Processed guitars cut through pianos and keyboards, busting out a riff that would feel at home on any Scorpions record. Sacrifice is an epic song, cycling between soft piano sections and anthematic power choruses that would feel at home on pop radio. Every song plays their hooks to the hilt, turning them into giant choirs. Songs like "Superheroes" and "Save Me" seem written explicitly to garner airplay, the latter being the most unique ballad that the band has ever written, and a melodic slice of pop music that many artists would kill to have as a single.

The band knows that they can't alienate their fans by straying too far into the pop arena, and they anchor the rest of the album with melodic hard rock tracks that feel like a natural progression from Hellfire Club. "Sacrifice", "The Asylum", and "Fucking With Fire" are all beasts that show off the tight and powerful playing of guitarists Dirk Sauer and Jens Ludwig, who form one of the best guitar tandems in metal today. They particularly shine on the throwback power metal track "Return to the Tribe", which shows that the band hasn't forgotten where they come from, and hint that they can always return to their roots if the fans grow tired of their experimenting.

The musical experimentation doesn't stop with the more pop oriented tracks. Keyboards play an increased role in Rocket Ride, mirroring guitar lines and serving as almost electronica backgrounds for some songs. They serve as a subtle reminder that the band is moving forward in their musical progressions, even as their sound drifts slowly towards an older style.

The bottom line with Rocket Ride is that Edguy is doing what they want to, and they're not going to cater to the critics. Rocket Ride is full of humor, pop choruses, but also the same metal attitude that the band has always relied on. Rocket Ride is a departure in sound for the band, but the songs still retain the same qualities as their previous works. The experimentation serves both good and bad purposes. The diversity of the material is impressive, ranging from straight-laced power metal, to pop, to hard rock, and even a pseudo-reggae flavor in "Trinidad". However, the diversity of the songs also serves to make the album feel disjointed, as the songs lack the flow that made Hellfire Club so popular, and Theatre of Salvation the consensus favorite album of Edguy fans. In a genre that relies on albums, and not on radio singles, Rocket Ride sounds more like a collection of songs than an album. They're still damn good songs, but that special feeling of an album is missing for the first time.

Rating: 91/100