Mandrake

Artist: Edguy
Label: Afm
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 766488019520
EAN: 0766488019520
ASIN: B00005O577

Release Date: 2002-06-01

Related Categories:

General

| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock

| Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal

| Imports | Stores | Music

Listmania:

Jester Metal
Favorite Metal CDs of 2001
Omnibands
The heart of metal.
Versatile Metal List
The Power of Power Metal
Top 25 Metal Albums
The Best Power Metal
EDGUY
best metal crossover list

Tracks:

Tears of a Mandrake
Golden Dawn
Jerusalem
All the Clowns
Nailed to the Wheel
Pharaoh
Wash Away the Poison
Fallen Angels
Paintings on the Wall
Save Us Now
Devil and The Savant [*]

Similar Items:

Vain Glory Opera
Hellfire Club
The Metal Opera
Theater of Salvation
Rocket Ride

Customer Reviews:

Marvellous album with creepy cover art..........2006-08-09

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!

\m/

Masterpiece.......2006-04-28

End of description. If you don't have this album, there is an "Add To Shopping Cart" button on your right. Do it now!

Very Surprising.......2006-03-22

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.

One of Edguy's best - but have they had a bad one yet??.......2006-02-10

A MUST own... plain n' simple.. Hellfire Club was the first time I ever heard of Edguy.. This was my second purchase and my favorite Edguy album; and I own 'em all, even the EPs... If you get ANY of Edguy's albums, you will not be disappointed.. I highly recommend this, Hellfire Club, and Theater of Salvation.. And Burning Down the Opera is killer too..

Discover this album !!!!.......2005-07-29

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" !!!! :-)

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Together Again! ~ The Four Brothers

Millennium Edition ~ John Miles

The Gathering ~ Testament

Entertainment Or Death ~ Motley Crue

Malembe ~ %C2%A1Cubanismo!

Thing Left Behind ~ Retromania

Long Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence ~ Peter Gabriel

Sweet Summer Day ~ Chris Rea

Outland

Shhh ~ Quietman