Edguy CD Review
Edguy
Rocket Ride
(Nuclear Blast)
German metal band writes the best rock anthem of the year (Decade? Century?) on an otherwise so-so record.
Edguy can officially retire. They can get on the boat and sail away with Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo, and all those elves because their task on Earth has been completed. For they have given us “Fucking With Fire,” a song so epic in the scope of head-banging, fist-pumping, foot-stomping, air-guitar glory it – for better or worse – denies the existence of the other 11 tracks on the record. We really have no clue what it’s about; there’s something about being “loaded and cocked,” rockin’, the Titanic (“Let me be your Titanic/before you know what’s goin’ on/I may go down), rockets on fire, and of course, Air Force One. But Edguy knows it doesn’t matter what a song is about as long as it’s done with pounding drums, screaming guitars, and a chorus hook that would bring tears to Def Leppard’s eyes. There may not be an arena in the world big enough to contain the power of this song.
The rest of the record? Well, nothing else fucks with fire, per se, but it’s a solid chunk of traditional metal. Frontman Tobias Sammet has a hell of a Dickinson-esque wail, which is fitting because songs like “Return to The Tribe” and “The Asylum,” like most of the record, are dedicated Maiden/Dio tributes. “Wasted Time,” though, borrows a few seconds of music from the 1991 Skid Row song of the same name, proving Edguy aren’t above a good laugh.
Just in case we didn’t get our point across about “Fucking With Fire,” consider the track has recently replaced Turbonegro’s “City Of Satan” as the official theme song of the Illinois Entertainer office. Because we, like Edguy, are nothing if not “nasty, bad boys” (and girls).
Everything else: 6
— Trevor Fisher
Click here to stream a Real Audio sample of “Wasted Time.”
