Edguy - Judas at the Opera

I am still riding pretty high from that Jericho Cruise, so how about a wild tangent off of that.

It should be safe to say that “Judas” is Fozzy’s most popular song, Jericho has been using it as his entrance music for a few years now. At some point, I was talking to somebody about this song, and/or other Fozzy/Jericho related items, and when the focus of the conversation landed on “Judas” I brought up my favorite song that includes that name. Despite my deep love of Jesus Christ Superstar and Carl Anderson my favorite song to include the name Judas is easily Edguy’s “Judas at the Opera.”

If memory serves me correctly, and it might not, but as I remember it, after seeing Avantasia in Berlin, and hanging out with two fine Swedish gentlemen, a Dutch gentleman, and an American punk rocker babe, all four agreed that their favorite Edguy song was “Judas at the Opera” I was the lone individual to pick “New Age Messiah.” I stand by my answer, I freaking love “New Age Messiah,” however, every fiber of my being also loves “Judas at the Opera.”

If additional memory serves me correctly, both “Judas at the Opera” and “New Age Messiah” both were never present on any Edguy studio album. Rather both appeared on the compilation album “The Singles.” I double checked just now, and I appear to be correct. When I first started getting into Edguy, I bought the CD of “The Singles” immediately, so my mind often forgets exactly how these songs were released to the public pre-internet.

In many ways, I suspect, that “Judas at the Opera” is a very Edguy song, as in, Edguy’s style, theme, and presentation are well personified here and now in “Judas at the Opera.” By extension and relation, “Judas at the Opera” is also a very Tobias Sammet song. My main man Sammet, is in addition to being my favorite song writer of our generation, is also a smartass. Several Edguy songs have a sense of humour to them, which for me land most of the time. Those Germans are known for having a stiff, and noticeably different sense of humour compared to Western European, and by extension all other Western cultures. Sammet even jokes about his attempts at being a German bloke making a joke in the hilarious song “England.” So, like many Germans, Sammet is self aware. The humour in “Judas at the Opera” is present, but I hardly pay any attention to it, so wrapped up in the hard rock that it deliveries. To be fair, Sammet’s smartass nature runs parallel to my own, so forget our insignificant cultural differences, I think this German bloke is hilarious.

Case in point, the chorus contains a “French fry” metaphor, and I am mostly confident it is a joke. It never gets a laugh at me, but it does get a smirk out of me every time.

“Forever french-frying,
You'd love to see me dying.
Who's let the peacock in,
To rock the house-Opera house?
You want me french-fried and,
You'd love to see me fired and,
Then kill Judas in the Opera house,
Opera house.”

I am smirking even now, typing this out.

The peacock metaphor could also be a joke. It this an actual bird we are talking about, or are we comparing this “Judas” to a show bird? I may never know. It is a weird and highly specific thing to try to google.

It is unlike me, but I never paid much attention to the lyrics of “Judas at the Opera.” Like most cases, I had been singing multiple points incorrectly for years, and only upon this recent revelation do I now know better. Long story somewhat short, the “Judas” in question, may or may not be a person, and the crowd may or may not be engaging in cannibalism. Which is actually a lot to unpack potentially, but for me, I enjoy the rock beat and rhythm on “Judas at the Opera” that I am largely unconcerned either way. And regardless of whatever “Judas at the Opera” is accurately about, it continues to rock the house and be one of the most enjoyable Edguy songs ever.

I certainly understand why those four other Avantasia fans in Berlin picked “Judas at the Opera” as their favorite. There are so many good reasons to feel that way, and I also just talked myself into agreeing with them.

- King of Braves

Edguy - Space Police

Tobias Sammet exists in two musical worlds now, Avantasia, the grand metal opera, and Edguy, the hard rock band. If Avantasia is a deep poetic adventure of fantasy and philosophy, and it is, what role should Edguy play? There are early signs of operatic and over the top production in Edguy that would eventually evolve into the sort of creative efforts that produced Avantasia, but now, with Avantasia existing, where does that leave Edguy? The answer, goofy fun.

“Space Police” is Edguy’s tenth studio album, and it is an important one. Coming off the success of multiple internationally acclaimed Avantasia albums, there were a lot of question marks regarding how Tobias’s band Edguy would fair. In my honest opinion their last album “Age of the Joker” left a lot to be desired, especially when we have to compare it to the titan Avantasia albums like “The Scarecrow” and “The Wicked Symphony.” “Space Police” is the album that will set the standard of what we expect from Edguy for the rest of their careers.

“Space Police” reached number 2 on the charts in Tobias’s native Germany, the highest any Edguy album has ever reached, and perhaps more important than that, “Space Police” is a great good old fashion party rock album. I was a little worried after “The Age of the Joker” which I felt was a low point in Tobias’s creativity, especially compared to his works in Avantasia at the same time, the fear was that Tobias was perhaps finally running out of ideas, but then bam, “Space Police” radical and fun with a great flow from song to song, a true winner. Faith has been renewed.

The first single for “Space Police” was “Love Tyger” and of course “tiger” is spelled wrong because the whole album is a goof like that. The music video was a cartoon about outer space rock band Edguy coming to Earth and saving us even if we don’t want to be.

“They call me Love T-T-Tyger.
I'm gonna save your soul - never mine,
Love T-T-Tyger - I'm gonna save your soul.
There may be a lot who don't wanna be saved,
I'm gonna save them anyway.”

Love Tyger

The Eighties were an obvious inspiration for “Space Police,” or as Tobias put it;

The sounds of “Space Police” do carry the upbeat pacing and harmonies of popular rock during the eighties, and the attitude of the album is very carefree like many of the garage bands of that time. This is very evident in a bonus track “Aychim In Hysteria” a song predictably inspired, at least in part, by Def Leppard.

Aychim In Hysteria

A goal Tobias almost always has is to include an overarching story within his albums. This time around there is an obvious theme of space and authority, but the actual details of the story are unclear, as usual.

“The Space Cops lurk everywhere, in the corridors of power of the music industry, in the press, some are your ex-fans who loved you when you were an insider’s tip, an underground act who hadn’t sold out yet. You know, childish bullshit…” – Tobias Sammet

Read full interview here: http://new-transcendence.com/interview-tobias-sammet-edguy/

Tobias allowed a strong sense of silliness exist throughout the story this time around, which is wise self awareness, as not everyone is going to be able to take a eighties rock themed album about space police overly seriously, you know, childish bullshit.

Sammet has always done a very good job of leaving his visions open to interpretation and “Space Police” is no exception. There is a sense of tyranny as well as heroism established in the opening tracks “Space Police” and “Defenders of the Crown” regarding the actual Space Police. The middle of the album seemed more interested in having fun and rocking out, and connections to an overall plot are difficult to relate with certainty. At the end Edguy brings things back to continuity with songs like “Space Eaters,” after which my two favorite songs off of the album play.

“Alone in Myself” is a song of regret and a search for salvation. How it relates to the Space Police saga is not entirely clear but it could be any number of things, perhaps the rock star depicted in the “Love Tyger” music video is outcast and broken. Perhaps he failed to save the world with rock and roll, or perhaps his alien strangeness has left him a loner wondering in outer space. Or perhaps it is a song about the space police themselves losing a sense of purpose and meaning when the shadow eaters mentioned in the song before have overwhelmed them. I don’t know, but either way I like it.

Alone In Myself

I have always considered it important for a piece of art, be it a novel or a rock album, to end on a strong note. I have always considered it wise to end on a note that leaves the audience wanting more, and Tobias seems to get this. This is not the first time he had ended an album with what I would consider the best song from the entire set, “Journey to Arcadia” being a very big example from “Angels of Babylon.” The final song, and in my humble opinion the best song off of “Space Police” which is “The Eternal Wayfarer.”

Once again the exact correct interpretation is elusive. There could any number of possible explanations for the soul searching quest described in “The Eternal Wayfarer” it could be about forever lost space police or it could be about space wandering rock and roll champions. Whatever Tobias might have had in mind is strangely secondary in importance to the great stand alone music he has created. I like to imagine “The Eternal Wayfarer” is about the Silver Surfer forever searching the cosmos for his lost home planet, but I suspect this specific interpretation is incorrect. Once again in the end, it does not matter what specifically “The Eternal Wayfarer” is about, what does matter is that it is a great rock song with the power in invoke great ideas and imagery into the minds of the listener.

I believe it is safe to say “Space Police” is a success. Not only is it the best charting album Edugy has so far produced but it is of quality and uniqueness to stand out among the already very impressive Edugy and Avantasia catalogue. Sammet has somehow after all this time not run out of ideas, and we can only hope, he is only getting started, for he is, according to me at least, the greatest song writer in the world today.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Helloween - Halloween

I am working backwards discovering German rock music.

When I discovered Avantasia I learned all about front man Tobias Sammet, and knowning him I learned about his band Edguy. Sammet becomes my hero and through him I learned about Michael Kiske, Toby’s hero. Learning what an incredible singer Kiske is I learned about Helloween.

Helloween was formed in 1984 under the leadership of Kai Hansen who performed the important roles of lead guitarist and lead singer. After only one album “Walls of Jericho” Hansen decided that performing the duties of both singer and guitarist was too much for him to handle during live performances, so they decided to invest in a lead singer. This is a reoccurring challenge for many musicians; in fact Tobias Sammet himself originally played bass and sang before deciding that was becoming too challenging to do both live all the time. The man they would find to sing for Helloween would be Sammet’s hero Michael Kiske, and yeah, that was a good idea.

Helloween’s second album “The Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1” would be a huge leap forward for the band both in artistic development and commercial success. Kiske’s voice added that certain something that changed Helloween from a decent rock band to the stuff of legends. Also the song writing as a whole advanced a few steps forward from “Walls of Jericho,” so much so that the Keeper’s albums are the landmark of Helloween’s career, nothing that came after would ever be quite as good. The Keeper’s albums would make Helloween one of the largest driving forces of the rock scene in Europe, especially Germany.

The name of the band “Helloween” is clearly a play on words from the holiday “Halloween” this is neither subtle or particularly cleaver, but having said that, “Helloween” is as good a name as any. The point I am attempting to raise here is the men of Helloween did not forget what brought them to the dance, they did not forget the theme of their rock band, the theme of dark, hellish, Halloween. Appropriately the central narrative song from “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1” is a track called “Halloween.”

“In the streets on Halloween
There's something going on
No way to escape the power unknown
In the streets on Halloween
The spirits will arise
Make your choice, it's hell or paradise
Ah--it's Halloween
Ah--it's Halloween”

The title of this song caused some confusion for me when I first discovered it as I thought the chorus might have been saying “Ah—we’re Helloween” which would have been effective I am certain but ultimately is completely incorrect. If you are going to combine hell and Halloween you expect the devil to show up right?

“I'll show you passion and glory
He is the snake
I'll give you power and abundance
He's the corrupter of man

Save me from the evil one
Give me strength to carry on
I will fight for all mankind's
Deliverance and peace of mind”

Not only is this last set of lyrics giving us the much needed references to Satan but there are key expressions here that tie in directly to the next two Helloween songs I want to talk about. “Halloween” is the just the first part of a trilogy you see, a trilogy that defines Helloween in my opinion.

It is such a contrast comparing the video/radio edit of “Halloween” to the studio version, the radio edit is a meager five and a half minutes, where as the full version is thirteen. “Halloween” in its intended form is an operatic metal song about mysticism and devil worship, it sets the stage for the rest of the Trilogy, and it even set the stage for the rest of Helloween’s career. “Halloween” despite appearing shallow in concept is actually the beginning of a grand musical opera; it is the first piece of the Keeper’s Trilogy, but also the first flagship song of the band Helloween.

Keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

Edguy - New Age Messiah

Under the Edguy label Tobias Sammet has released nine studio albums, but nine albums is far too few, to contain the entirety of his work. What I think is really amazing is that my favourite Edguy song is one of many that never made it to an album, and if it was not for the compilation album “Singles” I would not own a legal copy of the song. My favourite Edguy song is “New Age Messiah.”

“New Age Messiah” was originally released on the Edguy LP “King of Fools,” which was released in 2004 just prior to the release “Hellfire Club” Edguy’s sixth studio album. While the title track off “King of Fools,” would appear on “Hellfire Club” the other four tracks including “New Age Messiah” only appeared on a bonus disc released on the Hong Kong version.

“New Age Messiah” is fast, heavy and freaking rocks, and while there are many powerful metal songs by Edguy I feel that “New Age Messiah” is the best example of Edguy at their most “metal.” It should probably be noted that one of the key features that makes “New Age Messiah” such a hard rock song is the fast pace set by drummer Felix Bohnke, who is a very talent, seemingly crazy, pretty cool guy. Felix fills in for Eric Singer (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Kiss) on the Avantasia tours since Singer is frequently busy touring with Kiss. More on topic however, Felix is on fire in “New Age Messiah,” the drums makes this song what it is, and is in my opinion Felix’s best work.

In interviews with Tobias Sammet it becomes very clear that Sammet is very humble and a great sense of humour, as he is constantly knocking fun at himself. I have an mp3 of “Under the Moon” that has commentary by Toby and I love the way he describes “Under the Moon,” “it doesn’t really have a message it just has a dangerous charisma I think,” how honest and very cool. More importantly on the same mp3 he makes a subtle slight at himself; when Toby is challenged to sing at an higher octave when performing “Under the Moon” live he retracts an early challenge to play the song “Under the Moon” a step faster whilst performing live, because after all it already sounds good the way it is.

I appreciate wit.

“New Age Messiah” has great lyrics that are both meaningful and fun, and in spite of being a bad ass metal song it also possesses a witty commentary. How many cult leaders has there ever been? Too many to count, and if you start including every religious leader, which you should, then the number of corrupt spiritual manipulators the human race has had to endured is frighteningly high. Lyrically the structure of “New Age Messiah” is savvy; first verse introduces the dubious messiah; second verse is the spread of lies and tightening of control by the corrupt leader; third verse, indulgence and cruelty followed by revolution and restitution. Before ending with the chorus one last time we are treated to a humorous and vulgar variation of the self aggrandizing chorus.

“Countless pointing fingers
A nameless crowd too swollen to analyse
Takes a rise out of the stranger
Don't know where he's come from
Bumfuck raises birds of paradise
They surmise - very wise

One night they witnessed
How he lit his backdoor winds
Fire turned the night into day
And they prayed, fell on their knees
And turned their glances off his face,
They know they've been chosen to obey

Pardon me
Raise a graven image
I'm the new messiah for the world
You can't see the splendor of my nimbus
But I'm the new messiah for the world
For the blind

The word shall spread like wildfire
You got a new messiah holding sway
Delightful game
Don't you give away: I'm no redeemer
But bring me grapes and diamonds right away
And a maid to lay...

One day oblivion will swallow up my fame
The common run of mankind will forget my name
Forget my name
Like a phoenix rising someone else is going to reign
Until then you know that you are to obey, me

Pardon me
Raise a graven image
I'm the new messiah for the world
You can't see the splendor of my nimbus
But I'm the new messiah for the world
I’m the new messiah for the world.

Gluttony and ecstasy, there's velvet on my dais
Lions, ladies, rotaries they never spare with praise
A million pointing fingers
Have turned to clapping hands
Now I'm off to Betty Ford,
See you in hell my friends

Pardon fucking me, who the fucking fuck is Jesus
Motherfucking new messiah
For the fucking world ;)

Pardon me
Raise a graven image
I'm the new messiah for the world
You can't see the splendor of my nimbus
But I'm the new messiah for the world
I’m the new messiah for the blind
For the blind.”

Of course we cannot see the splendor of his heavenly glory, we made the whole damn thing up; it’s funny because it’s true.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly

Edguy - Scarlet Rose

“The scarlet rose has died, lost inside the night.
Left in my mind, like a dream all full of pride.
The scarlet rose has died.”

It feels like I am working backwards when it comes to discovering the German metal/rock scene. The single best thing that happened to music in the past ten years is Avantasia, The Scarecrow Trilogy was possible the three best albums I bought in the past ten years. I really, really like Avanatasia. Through Avantasia I learned about Edguy which came first.

Tobias Sammet is the genius song writer responsible for Avantasia. He brought many of the European metal stars together to form this super group and became a huge success everywhere but here, where I live.

I have at times compared Tobias Sammet to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At first thought, it may seem like I am proposing a zealous compliment to my main man Toby, or perhaps you might suspect I am drawing an unrealistic comparison based on weak links, like both are German, but no, I am quite sincere in this comparison.

Mozart lived fast and died young. He was a prodigy at writing music and in roughly twenty years managed to write a massive amount of music. While Mozart had skill as a technical musician, most notably as a pianist, his greatest skill was that he was a natural song writer.

Tobias Sammet decided at an early age that he wanted to be a singer and he formed his rock band Edguy. After about twenty years Sammet has written ALOT of music, and while he is talented singer and capable guitarist and bass player his true skill is that of a song writer.

Mozart wrote his first his opera “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots” (The Obligation of the First and Foremost Commandment) at age eleven; Sammet started Edguy at age fifteen and released their first demo “Evil Minded” two years later.

After roughly two decades Mozart had written twenty-three operas, and a huge catalogue of concertos, symphonies, and sonatas that in my ignorance I am not even sure how to quantify; Sammet after roughly two decades has released nine studio albums with Edguy, five studio albums with Avanatasia, and so many demo tracks and singles that he could easily release two more full albums of Edguy material and at least one more for Avantasia. In fact the album “Avantasia Lost in Space 1 & 2” is exactly what I am describing.

Obviously comparing anyone to Mozart sounds like blasphemy, but you can probably see my point. Both men have a knack for written great music at insane speeds, and Sammet in this regard could be considered a modern rock and roll version of Mozart.

Edguy really found their footing in 1998 with their release of their second album “Vain Glory Opera.” Sammet would have been twenty one at the time.

“Vain Glory Opera,” is a great album. It was a bold move by a young man in a young band to release a operatic endeavour so early on in his career, but it worked, and if I had known about it back in 1998 I would have been able to see the seeds of style and ability that could grow into works of art like the “Scarecrow Trilogy.” Compared to the other eight albums, or at least compared to the other four albums I own, by Edguy, “Vain Glory Opera” is what it calls itself, an opera. The songs flow from one to another organically, there is a feeling of an overarching narrative, the ebbs and flows of the songs carry us through climaxes and powerful moments and all in all it feels like a one solid piece of music, not just a collection of songs. No other Edguy album has that, but all five Avantasia albums do. Since I am working backwards discovering bands like Edguy it makes sense that “Vain Glory Opera,” would be the first Edguy album I would fall in love with, it is the most like an Avantasia album.

While I do love the entire album “Vain Glory Opera” if I was pressed to pick a favourite track it would have to be “Scarlet Rose,” an operatic song as a rock song can be. “Scarlet Rose” is an emotional song about love and loss with a touch of mysticism in to make it all the more dramatic. The way Tobias sings “Scarlet Rose” and knowing his love of fantastic themed story telling it feels to me that the scarlet rose dying is not just a lost love one but a loss of a great symbol of love. Almost like love itself has passed away. It is a softer metal song to be sure but a very poetic and powerful one.

Until later this month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- Colin Kelly