Nuclear Blast
2014
1. Sabre & Torch
2. Space Police
3. Defenders of the Crown
4. Love Tyger
5. The Realms Of Baba Yaga
6. Rock Me Amadeus (Falco Cover)
7. Do Me Like A Caveman
8. Shadow Eaters
9. Alone In Myself
10. The Eternal Wayfarer
There was a time when I would have considered Edguy one of the top bands in the power metal scene, but that time becomes increasingly distant by the album. Age of the Joker got an okay rating from me, but it was not exciting, and the two before that fared considerably worse. With that said, it's easy to see why I only approached this one with passing interest going in. There's always the glimmer of hope a band can refind themselves though so I gave this one it's shot.
Sometimes you feel like you should have known better and Space Police - Defenders Of The Crown is certainly one such case. Sometimes I wonder why I even put myself listening to albums like this. I mean it was pretty easy to have an inkling that this would be entirely too goofy from the title of the album and the single Love Tyger. At least the last album had the kind of fun Robin Hood for a single which was lighthearted, but not so incredibly self parodying as to not be taken seriously.
Listening through this one I basically just heard a completely unexciting blend of uninventive power metal mixed with varying degrees of glam/cock rock nonsense and too much silliness popping up far too often. There are very few redeeming qualities to Space Police really and just when you think a song may get good it tends to take a turn just as quickly. What made early Edguy classic was the choruses, punch of the songs, and the epic overtones and those elements rarely show up here and then only briefly. Instead what we get is a whimsical pop rock vibe that contaminates even the songs that are more power metal oriented at their core.
The track Space Police starts off well enough for instance but then gets goofy as it progresses with the addition of spacey sounding keyboards and Tobias' strange warbling over poppier sounding music. Then there are pure throwaways like their cover of the already goofy Rock Me Amadeus, Love Tyger which sounds like pure 80s hair metal with power metal production, the poppy and goofy Do Me Like A Caveman, and a sticky sweet ballad by the name of Alone In Myself. The sad thing is that even the more pure power metal track Sabre & Torch fails to be exciting as the whole thing sounds forced with Tobias sounding strained as opposed to majestic or powerful. Defenders of the Crown also suffers from similar problems as the chanted chorus just comes off as uninventive and none too powerful. The Realms Of Baba Yaga also tries for more of a power metal approach, but comes off as too light hearted in sound and lyrics for the subject material as that pesky silliness pops into the song again.
Really, there are only two songs I didn't find myself internally complaining about too much and the first one, Shadow Eaters, didn't come until track 8 and then only attained a rating of being passable. It's a pretty average power metal song really, but by this point it just not sucking was noteworthy. The real kicker though is the fact track 10, The Eternal Wayfarer is actually pretty good. A slower intro builds up to a nice mid-paced roll coupled with a strong keyboard presence and a lot of epic flare. If more of the album was like this one I would be writing a very different review, but the rest of the album doesn't even come close to this level of quality. This is the one song here that really reminds me of why I used to like Edguy and conjures up memories of past glories like The Piper Never Dies and The Pharaoh. This is just destined to be a hidden gem that I rarely listen to based on all the crap surrounding it. Just good enough of a song to cause frustration over the rest of the album not pursuing this direction.
The only way to sum up this album is that it is pretty much to the modern era of power metal what hair/glam metal was to the 80s. This is just too goofy and stupid to be taken seriously or enjoyed. Tobias seems to think he's hilarious and fun but to me at least he just comes across as juvenile and stupid these days. Until he gets back to writing more serious material and lyrics I just have no interest in Edguy and I don't see it happening. Too much pop, not enough epic power.
Highlights: The Eternal Wayfarer
Rating - 1.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment