Album Review: The Grandmaster - Skywards

Edguy was the first metal band I really loved. I remember exactly where I was when I heard "The Headless Game", and that song sent me down the road that has led to where I am now. I loved Edguy as a power metal band, and I loved Edguy when they became more of a hard rock band. I'm one of the few people who says "Tinnitus Sanctus" is their best album. So let's just say their inactivity as Tobi focuses on Avantasia leaves me disappointed. Not that I don't love Avantasia too, but sometimes a more straight-forward good time is what I want to have, and that's what Edguy always delivered.

So you would think that would make me excited about  The Grandmaster, the new band that finds Edguy guitarist Jens Ludwig returning to the scene for the first time in years. You might think that, but there's a detail in here that dampens what could have been exciting. That would be the implication from the description I received of the album that Jens didn't actually write any of these songs. I'm sorry, but just hearing him play someone else's songs isn't interesting to me. I want to hear what he can do on his own, what he could have brought to Edguy if he was given more of a role in the songwriting. Having him be a hired gun on this album who might have contributed some original solos is boring.

But that's the story of the album. What about the songs themselves? There's more positive to say there. The album is filled with songs that are part power metal, and part melodic rock. So in a way, it does sort of travel the same road later Edguy did, although the two don't sound very much alike at all. Jens' solos of course sound like him, but the songs themselves are without the little quirks of classic Edguy. This album is far more serious in tone and execution, which is fine.

Part of that is the writing, and part of that is Nando Fernandes' voice. His deeper register and echoing tone makes everything he sings carry a very stern note. He can carry the melody, for sure, but his voice doesn't allow the songs to have the feel-good spirit I often associate with power metal. Without that, albums like this can drag a little bit.

We also happened to hear Nando earlier this year on the Brother Against Brother album, which had the same hands involved in the songwriting, so this feels as much like a continuation of that project as it does a unique band of its own. While many of these songs are enjoyable, it's the same thing again and again, and at a certain point I've become a bit numb to hearing the same structures and melodies over and over. This album would be better if I haven't heard several nearly identical ones this year.

Just being able to hear Jens play some solos again isn't enough to elevate this record above all the others Frontiers has been putting out. They're all solid albums, and I enjoy listening to them, but none of them stand apart from the others, since they're so similar. When everything is the same, nothing stands out. That's the fate this album is destined to. It's probably better than that, but it's hard for me to see this one tree in the forest.