Edguy - Kingdom Of Madness

Year of Release: 1997
Label: AFM
Catalog Number: AFM CD 015
Format: CD
Total Time: 75:00:00

Here is another one of those little gems that got passed by in the mad rush of huge orders ... I won't go into the story of how I got this one, but after spending a few days with it, I am glad I did ...

It's not going to floor you, but it will give you another power / melodic metal disc for your collection that you'll be happy to own, and here is why:

THE STYLE:

German, power / melodic / metal that can be speedy at times ... I would imagine that fans of Scanner, Helloween, Gamma Ray among others will really appreciate this disc ... At times it can be very speedy like Helloween or Stratovarius, then at times it slows down to a slow, crawling power ballad ... then it switches to some straight ahead power metal at times reminding me of Mind Odyssey... at any rate, you should get the picture from those bands mentioned ...

THE BAND:

This is where it gets interesting ... these guys have an average age of 19, I would say between the four members, they are from 18-21 ... its great to see bands of this age putting out great discs like this ... Clockwork and other bands this young have a promising future if they put out discs like this as debuts ... it can only get better from here ... The band consists of 4 members, twin guitars, bass and drums ... The bass player does all of the singing, and plays keyboards as well ... most of the melody comes from the double guitars though ... There are tons of double bass rolls, and plenty of guitar solos as would be expected from a lineup like this...

THE SINGER:

The bass player does all of the singing, and he has a good voice for this type of music ... definitely foreign sounding, but that is a plus when coupled with this music ... I cannot begin to tell you who he sounds like, because it is not a unique sounding voice, but he does have quite the voice when he does the ballads, singing in a very pleasant tone, but then ripping it up again when they kick it in ... for a young kid, he has quite the mature sounding voice, sometimes reminding me of Udo from Accept, but nowhere near as raspy ... this guy here is well understood in his pronounciations ...

THE PRODUCTION

Very raw, in your face type production ... no effects, no additives, just 4 guys jamming away playing "au naturel" which is welcome after hearing some of the effects that some bands use to enhance their sound ... not much overdubbing, if any, and every instrument is heard clearly on every song ... it is a heavy disc, but my only small complaint is that the snare drum is just a bit on the weak side, sounding like card board when it needs to sound like a two-by-four, but this is a very small complaint compared to the rest of the disc ... what happens is that the music overpowers the snare drum on a few parts, but this is for the picky ears only, and it doesn't take away from the overall sound of the disc ...

THE COMMENTS:

This is a very competent disc, clocking in somewhere around 75 minutes ... 4 kids, playing power metal, kicking out a 75 minute disc while some of the established power houses are putting out 45 minute jobs ... go figure ... this disc is complete with an 18-minute EPIC powerhouse called "The Kingdom," which is my favorite track, complete with mad villian saying his piece halfway through the song ... with this disc, you get power, melody, warmth, length, ballads, speed, prog ... what more could you ask for??? This disc has something for everyone in it, but there is no mistaking that Helloweenish / Scanner styled sound as the base of it all ... As I said, this disc won't floor you, but it will give you about 75 minutes worth of good power metal, and its great to see kids this age pounding out the tunes ... they have a good future if they keep this up, but if not, its a great addition to your metal collection ... I recommend it to power metal lovers ...

Tracklisting:
Paradise (6:24) / Wings Of A Dream (5:24) / Heart Of Twilight (5:32) / Dark Symphony (1:05) / Deadmaker (5:16) / Angel Rebellion (6:44) / When A Hero Cries (3:59) / Steel Church (6:28) / The Kingdom (18:33)

Musicians:
Dirk Sauer - guitars
Tobias Sammet - vocals, bass, piano and keyboards
Tobias Exxel - bass
Jens Ludwig - guitars
Dominik Storch - drums
Chris Boltendahl - guest vocals (9)

Discography:
Savage Poetry (1995/2000)
Kingdom Of Madness (1997)
Vain Glory Opera (1998)
Theater of Salvation (1999)
Mandrake (2001)
Burning Down The Opera - Live (2003)
King Of Fools (ep) (2004)
Hellfire Club (2004)
Hall Of Flames (2004)
Superheroes (ep) (2005)
Rocket Ride (2006)

Superheroes - Heroic DVD (2005)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin DE

Added: July 25th 1999
Reviewer: Larry "LarryD" Daglieri

Artist website: www.edguy.net
Hits: 2800
Language: english