Artist: Edguy
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2005
Rating: 3/5
Superheroes is a “maxi single” that gives us Edguy’s first quick taste of the studio album “Rocket Ride” (2006). As usual, the band didn’t let us down this time either. There’s over 25 minutes of music here, and it’s the kind of release of this sort that doesn’t pad things out with a “single” in six different versions to (cheaply) string fans along, but instead packs in five completely different tracks next to it. On top of that, none of them show up on the “Rocket Ride” studio album.
The track Superheroes is pretty atypical for Edguy. With its mid-tempo pace and keyboard motif, it almost jogs the memory of the opener of “Mandrake” more than anything from “Hellfire Club”. Before long you realize that, beneath the recognizable Edguy pomp, the song carries a riff that’s closer to “hard rock” than to the power metal the band cultivates. With the sped-up Spooks In The Athic, the band confirms its innate knack for a polished mix of melody and punch, which is simply their well-established and sought-after trademark. The sleepy Blessing In Disguise has a gorgeous contrast between a sensual pre-chorus and a melodically refined chorus, marked by splendid layered vocal harmonies around Tobias Sammet’s centered lead vocal, the track on the maxi single where Sammet’s voice dominates. The album’s peak, though, confirms the band’s fateful, eternal obsession with Helloween (Yes! Without Helloween there’d be no Edguy!). Here Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) and Tobias Sammet trade vocal parts. The wound-up-to-the-max power opening heralds a proper metal anthem that tips the scales in its own favor without breaking a sweat and takes the title of the first big attraction of this “sinlgle”. In the middle section it brings in an interesting motif which, with its choice vocal multi-harmonies, reaches for something the great The Queen used to do. It’s a 7-minute track that works like a mini EP, with a nice heap of colorful motifs and tempos flowing tastefully into one another. Edguy quality, plain and simple. The Spirit, with a Celtic-flavored acoustic motif in the pre-chorus and AOR hard rock-seduced punch, surprises again, since it’s another departure from the band’s usual power metal course, and it surprises all the more because the song lacks absolutely nothing for it. Eguy wriggled out of it skillfully once again! To close, there’s an orchestral-spiced version of Superheroes, with piano front and center, that will melt the romantic metal hearts out there.
What else is there to say other than that Supeheroes is a “maxi single” Edguy fans simply have to own. No point wasting words: anyone who sympathizes with metal rooted in the Iron Maiden school won’t do themselves any great harm by checking out “Superheroes”, an Edguy release that feels fresh for the band because it offers a few interesting stylistic detours, yet all under the absolute dominance of the familiar and acclaimed Edguy melodic, punchy perfection. A thrilling forerunner to the album “Rocket Ride”, then.
Line-up
Tobias Sammet – vocals
Jens Ludwig – guitar
Dirk Sauer – guitar
Toias “Eggi” Exxel – bass
Felix Bohnke – drums
Production
Sascha Paeth & Edguy
Track list
1. Superheroes
2. Spooks In The Attic
3. Blessing In Disguise
4. Judas At The Opera
5. The Spirit
6. Superheroes (epic version)
EP length: 26.06
