Review of the Album "Mandrake" by German Power Metal Band Edguy

German power metal band Edguy has a habit of creating and releasing fast, thundering high quality power metal. Their 2001 studio album called "Mandrake" is more than likely the best of their earlier albums. The first song called Tears of a Mandrake has a very good chorus and in the song, the message is that after the disappearance of the magic, people must be careful otherwise they will be in chains. Unlike the last album Theater of Salvation, the first song is a full song and that may be better musically for these guys because it lets fans know that the music begins without preludes or delays.

Golden Dawn has a very good Iron Maiden style interlude and it is even noticeable that vocalist Tobias Sammett sounds like Bruce Dickinson. He was more than likely influenced by this great British singer and that’s a very good thing in the music business. At the end of the song, Sammett utters the words golden dawn and he really holds on to his vocal extension showing that he is an elite vocalist in terms of vocal range. But more than that, his accent is not heavy enough that fans have a hard time understanding him.

Jerusalem is a song that is mid-tempo and it slows down as Sammett’s vocals take over. The lyrics refer to a piper calling and this is an important clue. The lyrics are similar to songs on Blind Guardian’s album Nightfall in Middle Earth. It is the weakest song in the album but for Edguy, even this is not sub-standard. This is one of the songs that doesn’t really sound like power metal.

"Nailed to the Wheel" Song Analysis

Nailed to the Wheel is a song about what can happen to a person as they walk through the road of life. When a child is born into this world he has the choice to walk many possible paths. Along the way there is that serpent or evil influence that can penetrate his young mind. That is why proper family upbringing is essential for the child so that they can walk through the proper paths of life. Although it is not the only factor, a proper family upbringing is critical to determining how this child becomes when they reach adulthood.

The Pharaoh is the longest song in the album clocking in at over 10.5 minutes. The song tells the story of the Pharaohs during the time of Ancient Egypt. This is not the first instance of an Egyptian themed song that we have seen. Back in 1984, Iron Maiden released their Egyptian themed album called Powerslave which described the Egyptian God Osiris and the seeking of immortality in a very human world. The song also has the sound of roaring clouds as the guitar plays and I sense an Yngwie J. Malmsteen influence in this part of the song. Some long songs can really seem to drag on an on with no end but it is safe to say that with this song, that’s not the case. There is an increased emphasis on this album of more than one voice singing in the songs. There are several back-up vocalists in this album, something that the band did not do as much of in the 1990’s.

The strongest songs in Mandrake are Golden Dawn, All the Clowns, and Wash Away the Poison. I’d be hard pressed to say that this is not Edguy’s best “early” album though you could make the case that The Savage Poetry is stellar as well. The last song called Save Us Now has good backing vocals by the other band members and sounds similar musically to the band Elegy when they wrote a fast song back in 1992, the same year that Edguy was formed. For some bands, life comes full circle as their influences are formed by various bands.

It is important to emphasize the greatness of the song called Wash Away the Poison. In life, we must learn to dance in the rain and not reject it. Life is about appreciating the rain and learning how to let the storms pass without looking them as always bad things or bad occurrences. As the saying goes: “life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”