Customer Reviews

Mandrake

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...This, "Mandrake" is without question the most mature effort Edguy has released to date. It's got everything your average hardcore Heavy Metal fan could want. It's powerful, it's beautiful, and it's very well produced.

Edguy has that very melodic sound that remainds me of classic Iron Maiden(my personal favorite band). T. Sammet is not a Bruce Dickinson rip-off, but he's very much in the same catagory as Bruce. If you had never seen a picture of the band before hearing this, you may think it's Iron Maiden. A very big compliment I might add, but with this, they deserve it.

Edguy has now reached greatness with this releases in my opinion. It's just an all around great release. Strong sounding, very memorable lyrics, and the power that many Heavy Metal bands of today rarely ever produce...."Mandrake" is Edguys' greatest achievement to this day.

Don't hesitate, If you like most classic style Heavy Metal like me, you'll be very thankful that you picked this masterpiece up...TRUST ME!!!!

Very impressive indeed.

Yahooo!!!! finally, after waiting for 3 months i finally got my hands on this awesome album from one of my favorite metal band!!
to be honest i was a little worried when i heard that Edguy is going to release an album in 2001, why?? because after the flawless AVANTASIA i was affraid that the new album wiil not reach the standard for an edguy album.OK so i admit it was foolish of me to question mr.Sammet!! this guy is a genius!!!
i really love this album, its got everything from the fast double pumping-kick drums songs to mid-pace to majestic song and to emotional ballad, it has a lot of tempo change, beautifull accoustic passages and bombastic choir!! mr.sammet's voice sounds amazing on this album, sometimes his high pitched vocals reminds me a lot of michael kiske with a little shriek!! anyway this is a must have album for all fans of Edguy or power/speed metal in general!! ...Hail to the NEW Lords of powermetal!!!!!!!!

OK when I entered my friends house he was playing tears of a mandrake the first song on the album which by the way is a great song with a very melodic and powerful guitar solo. So what happended is I asked him which Maiden song this was since I didn't seem to know it....He said it wasn't Bruce Dickinson the guy that was singing....Seems Tobias Sammet was that great....having someone compare ou with Bruce Dickinson is saying something...Well this guy isn't just a great voice he is one of the best voices I have ever heard ranks up there with Michael Kiske, Bruce Dickinson, David Coverdale, and obviously Axl Rose. At first not really paying attention I really liked this CD but having heard ir again and again just like any good CD it grows in potential....and Im serious this is one of the best cd i own and that is saying it kicks *** My first tracks are Tears of a Mandrake, Jerusalem, All the Clowns and Painting on the wall. Stil this is a classic must own and you will be more thatn amazed if you do hear it....If you do read this I really suggest you buy it,,, why else would I be writing this...you must listen to this cd for the love of god...hahaha no seriously please do so it is Edguy's best and one of my all-time greats...no word to describe what this CD is about. Tobi is a creative genius just like Steve Vai and Jason Becker are on guitars this guy too can write inspiring stuff....check it out...

This is the third Edguy's album I bought after I knew the band, some years ago. This album (including "Theater of Salvation" and "Vain Glory Opera") is my favourite one. In fact, for me, these are the 3 best ones (even if all their albums are good anyway). I also like "Hellfire Club" a lot a lot a lot OF COURSE...but I don't know...I still hear the old ones more often.

Really, with "Mandrake" you can find songs for all tastes and especially, for all moods. The lyrics are just great, fun, the music/beat is explosive (don't know how to say that but it kicks asses hehe !!!), solos are ALWAYS great (here I'm talking generally, for all their albums) and Tobi's voice is INCREDIBLE, as usual !!! A "REAL LITTLE" Bruce Dickinson haha !!! No matter the way you feel in the day, you'll find the perfect song for you !!! The album is great from A to Z, no exception and it's a real pleasure to hear it all...Every time I hear it, it puts me in a good mood. I feel so "powerful" haha...(That's something great with Edguy, their albums never make you feel down...) It's so GOOD !!!! :-)
Oh ! And I must say that the sound quality is pretty good too !!!

Which is the best song for "Mandrake" ? Mmmmmm. I really can't decide...I hear all of them all the time, since I got the album...(like all the other albums anyway...) Let's say that I simply LOVE all of them. I hear all of them equally, just depending on my mood of the day. But for sure, I won't mind to hear this album many times in a row...I'll never get tired of it.
When I feel angry or when I need to "release" some frustration, I put "Nailed To The Wheel" as loud as possible !!! It's very good and very efficient !!! But when I feel more calm and feel like hearing something more sweet, I hear "Wash Away the Poison" or "Roses To No One"...When I wanna have a good laugh (and picture poor Felix very well haha), I listen to "Save Us Now"...when I want to hear a long song and a VERY great one, with lots of musical changes, I put "The Pharaoh" (lots of different and special noises, etc. You never expect how the song will turn...which I love very much !!!) and let's say...Maybe "Fallen Angles", "All The Clowns", "Golden Dawn" and "Painting On The Wall" are the best ones ????? And what about "Tears Of A Mandrake" ???? And the bonus track ???? Sorry. It's very difficult. I don't know...But don't worry...The whole album is very special, fantastic and I'm sure you'll like it very very much !!! All the songs are EXCELLENT !!! If you don't have this album yet, run to get it ! You won't have any regrets, count on me !!! You absolutely need it in your collection !!!! In fact, you need them all, I promise you that !!!! (NO, NO...I'm not an Edguy's addict...lolllll) Today, I say thank you a thousand times to the person who gave me the incredible luck to know about this wonderful band !!!! Every album is a kind of "surprises box"...They'll leave you totally staggered.

For those who don't know Edguy or Edguy's albums very much yet, I hope I gave you the feeling to want to hear them...It's worth ! I honestly can tell you that every person I know who heard Edguy even ONLY ONCE all liked it right away (it happened to me the first time I heard them. I got "bewitched" by the song "Theater of Salvation" and then, I just NEEDED to hear all the other songs...maybe the Edguys are putting a kind of spell in their music to drive us crazy like that, haha !! Just kidding)!! But I never really heard bad comments from people who listened to them !!!
Well. All I can say for now is "Have fun" !!!! :-)

I have heard Edguy songs before, but this is the first CD I buy from the group. After hearing Avantasia, and some songs of previous Edguy releases, and after reading great critics of their latest CD `Mandrake', I decided to go ahead and purchase it. After playing the album a couple of times for a couple of days I decided that I definitively love this CD, a brilliant work of power metal, and certainly it has become one of my favorite power metal albums.

Except the bonus track and `Wash away the poison', all the rest of the songs are not just good, they are great. `Golden Dawn', `Jerusalem', `The Pharaoh' and `Painting on the Walls' are beyond great.

I think "Mandrake' sounded great, their choruses went beyond beauty in some instances, really magnificent. In conclusion, as a power metal band (their music), and as singers (choruses and Sammet's solo vocals), `Mandrake' is certainly a five star album, no doubt. I'm looking forward to buying some of their previous works.

If you are new to Edguy this album is the perfect place to start. Mandrake showcases all of Edguy's musical range perfectly from ballads to rockers to epic songs, it's all here. I believe this is Edguy's 4th release but i might be mistaken it could be their fifth. Anyway the music Edguy play is purely a mixture of the good parts of power metal and heavy metal. Their music is semi-operatic in the way that it involves quite a lot of theatrics and besides Tobias Sammet did write The Metal Opera (by Avantasia)!! The band here consists of Tobias Sammet (vocals), Jens Ludwig (guitars), Dirk Sauer (guitars), Tobias Exxel (bass) and Felix Bohnke (drums). They are all highly talented young musicians, i especially like Ludwig on guitar as his solos are great fun and Tobi (Tobias Sammet) is kickass on vocals. I recently saw Edguy at Bloodstock Open Air down in Derby and they were freakin awesome!!

Anyway gees onto the music!! This album has a nice old-school metal crunch to it but is still quite 'heavy' in modern respects. Notice one thing that Edguy doesn't have a full-time keyboardist like most power metal bands, this i think is a huge upside for them as some bands just overload on the keyboards!(I won't mention names!lol) And it also allows Edguy to focus more on the heavy metal side of things--which is what it's all about in the end!!

Anyway onto the album. This album has a lot of diversity as far as the songs go. Some sound quite serious and heartfelt where as others are just fun and silly. That's how German metal usually is. There quite a few fast paced power metal rockers such as 'Golden Dawn', 'All the Clowns', 'Fallen Angels' and 'Save Us Now'. 'Save Us Now' is quite a weak song and probably the only weak one on the album. It has some really weird parts and the solo is below average. 'Golden Dawn' and 'Fallen Angels' are great rockers with loads of fast riffing, double bass and great solos. 'All the Clowns' has a Stratovarius-ish opening and goes into some really cool crunchy Maiden-esque riffs. The chorus is very catchy but the lyrics for the song are silly lol. Unfortunately it has a shorter solo than i would have liked it to have. 'Jerusalem' follows the unpredictable pattern German metal lays us with. it starts off with crusader like tune and then turns in some nice acoustic guitar strumming and then suddenly it blasts off into a mid-paced song. It's worth a listen and the solo is OK. There are quite a few ballads, 'Wash Away the Poison' is an example of one which has some very good singing with a slow basic solo and the instruments carry this song along well. My favourites on this album have to be 'Tears of A Mandrake', 'Nailed to the Wheel', 'The Pharoah', 'Painting on the Wall' and the bonus track 'The Devil & The Savant'. These songs to me shows Edguys complete range of ability, diversity and versatility in their music. 'Tears of A Mandrake' opens the album which is strange because this song is a semi-epic and quite long at 7 mins. It boasts some very good solos throughout and has a powerful chorus with some humourous lyrics. Another fav of mine is the quite heavy semi-ballad 'Painting on the Wall', this song has brilliant riffing and a nice slow solo. The tempo changes on this are great and all the instruments are utilized well. 'The Devil & The Savant' is in the same sort of suit as the previous song, i don't know i just must be a sucker for those sorts of songs lol! 'The Pharoah' is a kickass epic song. As you would guess it has an Egyptian theme hence the middle-eastern opening. The vocals on this song are great and this is a strong solid song. The guitar is pretty heavy and it has 4 excellently placed solos! I have always loved Tobias Sammet's epic songs like the 'Seven Angels' from Avantasia, 'Piper Never Dies' off Hellfire Club and 'Judas at the Opera' from Rocket Ride and this is another one to add to that list, just amazing! But my real favourite on this album is 'Nailed to the Wheel' i love everything about it. It has a great acoustic opening with harmonized vocals and then it just lifts off into a thunderous ferocious rocker almost thrasher. This song is aggressive and gets Tobias to really sing to his limit! The solos on this are by far the best on the album just totally rockin man! And the guitar is thick and raw.

This album is a fantastic one to have in your collection. I can't really describe Edguy's sound to newcomers because it is so unique and blends all the greats together. But for fans of Edguy you gotta get this album! Everything is here and the artwork is just so cool!! Looking or some well done heavy metal? You've got it right here!

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This is the first complete Edguy album I heard. Originally i'd written these guys off as total ripoffs of Iron Maiden, Helloween and Stratovarius. Actually they may still be (i'm assuming Ed is a reference to Eddie... and the wacky German humour is very Helloweenish). But the other day i came to to the conclusion: who cares? This is awesome stuff! Its not original, but its done with class, style and enthusiasm. The singer sounds like the love-child of Bruce Dickinson, Tomi Koltipelto and Rob Rock. And is that really so bad?
A word of warning though, you may hit the pause button every now again, thinking "now where have i heard that before..."
Serously though, its all good.

This is a solid album from a solid outfit. I still havent heard all of their albums, but trust me this is a great album. Im a huge Maiden-Helloween fan and this is in that league. Jerusalem and the Paraoh are the best tracks.

BUY IT.

If you check my review history, you'll see I'm quite a fan of many forms of metal, namely the 'power' variety. Those who are familar with the genre know there is a lot of repetitive groups pumping out a lot of records while not contributing anything 'fresh' amongst their music or lyrics. (I won't mention names).

But every now and then there's that power metal song that catches your ear, and you can't help but put that track on repeat and shake your fist along with the chorus =) "Mandrake" is one such album. Being a fan of Tobias' other work, I suppose I'm a little bias, but if you can get ahold of just the opening track, "Tears of the Mandrake", you'll see what I'm talking about. *VERY* masterful choruses that make you want to shout along, blazing guitar and spontaneous drum/keyboard scores, plus the frequent insertion of a strange or traditional instrument, one of Tobias' marks of greatness. One of the biggest plus' of this album is that it doesn't "re-beat the dying horse", so-to-speak, with "dragons, wizards, and heroes" spilled all over the lyrics.

Fans of any Tobias Sammet's earlier works will surely NOT be disappointed. And if you haven't heard any of his Edguy/Avantasia still yet, THIS is a wonderful introduction!

Contrary to what the music fan from US said in the previous review, Edguy are from Germany, not Finland. Edguy has been building its ban base steadily and with this album especially the promotion seems to be at a higher level than before. They just started their first headlining tour and will tour across Europe with a spectacular stage show. Needless to say, I already have a ticket for their 4th December Helsinki show. As for the album, there's one word that is perfectly suited to describing it: solid. Apart from the sloppy ballad Wash away the poison and the lame bonus track, there are no weak tracks. Edguy builds a huge wall of sound, a carpet of sound to walk on and to build huge, melodic choruses on....just the way we like it. "The Pharaoh" is the outstanding track on this album, 10-minute epic that reminds me of 'Powerslave' in certain aspects. Don't get me wrong, it's an original, great song, not a copy-cat effort. "All of the clowns" is infectious, with a marvelous, melodic chorus that you will be humming for the rest of your days. "Save us now" shows that Edguy doesn't take itself too seriously at every turn, the song tells of the terrible Alien Drum Bunny. Hilarious....."Painting on the wall" is a strong number and so is "Fallen angels" (despite the worn-out title). Some of the songs are less than original, especially Nailed to the wheel, but all in all, the material is above average and will undoubtedly win the band many new fans, especially now that the band seems to be more heavily promoted. Needless to say, every band member is technically excellent with their instrument, with Tobias Sammet's huge voice soaring above the massive drum/bass/guitar-attack of the others. I think "Vain glory opera" is clearly their best album to date and if you like this effort, you should DEFINITELY give it a spin, too. I can't wait for the 4th of December!!