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EDGUY PROVE THERE'S MORE TO METAL THAN THE BIG FEW
Edguy: 'Monuments'
Out Now (Nuclear Blast)


20th July 2017

jonathan churchill
Words: Jonathan Churchill

edguy



Heavy Metal comes in all sounds and styles and few are more eclectic than Edguy who are celebrating twenty-five years of 'doing their own thing' with their career-spanning new three CD/DVD release.

'Monuments' delivers a best-of twenty-two tracks from their ten studio albums, plus five new songs and one unreleased demo from way back at the start of their career.

With a long-standing line-up that has been in place for the last twenty years, Edguy have carved out a special niche within the world of Heavy Metal and this album has something for everyone. With a sound that is distinct yet entirely unpredictable, Edguy manage to capture big melodies and a huge sense of fun across their back catalogue.

Whether it's the trashy hard rock of 'Love Tyger', the 'Final Countdown' style keyboard intro to 'Vain Glory Opera' or the dumb lyrics of 'Lavatory Love Machine', there's no denying the diverse song-writing abilities of Tobias Sammet, or the power and musical chops of the band which is really evident on faster, heavier tracks like the epic 'Mysteria' or new tracks 'Landmarks' and 'The Mountaineer'.

It's not all good though – the bizarre 'Judas At The Opera' may have deeper meaning within its surreal lyrics but it takes the eclectic side of the band largely into parody; notwithstanding a childish, ill considered casual homophobic line in the song, which doesn't sit well. At other times though, to balance this, you can clearly hear the innovative and creative 'Avantasia' side of Sammet's writing in 'Holy Water' and 'Spooks In The Attic'.

The five new songs by comparison are surprisingly trad-Metal, particularly 'Open Sesame' and opener 'Ravenblack' which packs a serious melodic Metal punch. All five are well worth a listen though and a great addition to the band's repertoire as a whole.

Edguy may not be as well known in the UK as in their native Germany but 'Monuments' proves that there's far more to Metal than just the big few.

'Monuments’ comes as a three disc box-set including the five new songs, the classic material remastered, a DVD featuring a concert filmed in Sao Paulo from 2004 and all of the band's promo videos. The limited edition package also features a 160-page photo book covering the history of the band.





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