Ranking The Edguy Albums

After nearly a decade of silence, we recently got word that Edguy is returning, at least to the stage. They will be playing in their hometown next year in what sounds like a goodbye performance. What isn't clear is if it is a one-off show, the beginning of a small farewell run, or if there will be some amount of new music to coincide with the event. Edguy is the band that started me down the road of all the European rock and metal I've covered over the years on these pages, so it's bittersweet to think they could be done before I am.

With them on my mind, today seems as good a time as any to look back at their catalog and try to assess how they fit together. I'm surprised I never got around to doing this before, so let's see just how divergent from the consensus opinion my rankings are going to be.

1. Tinnitus Sanctus

This one is an easy choice, and a controversial one. The fans were not kind to this record when it came out, and I fully understand why. This was Edguy taking a heavier and darker turn, perhaps trying to keep pace with how power metal was starting to evolve, and it didn't work for everyone. I think it was brilliant, as the tones played well off Tobi's penchant for absurdist humor, to the point where you hardly notice one song is about God creating the aardvark. I'm not sure if the poor reception led to Edguy being shelved in favor of Avantasia, but this is the record I keep coming back to. 

2. Theater Of Salvation

The first Edguy album I heard might be their magnum opus. This was when they had mastered the art of traditional power metal, but were about to grow restless with the conventions of the genre. "The Headless Game" was a signal of the more straightforward groove some of "Mandrake" would take, while the title track pointed toward Tobi's desire to make something bigger than the standard. You can't have Edguy without "Babylon", and you can't find a better example of where Edguy started, and why they needed to evolve.

3. Rocket Ride

Another controversial choice, I realize. This album was when Tobi laid bare any pretense of Edguy being serious, instead filling the album with lyrics and performances that felt more like a parody than an artistic statement. The comedy doesn't all land, but it's wrapped up in a set of songs that revealed Tobi's mastery of the craft. He delivers a diverse set that is unrelenting in their infectious melodies. Even as ridiculous as "Trinidad" or "Fucking With Fire" are, the melodic writing was a step above all Edguy's peers.

4. Mandrake

This could have been Edguy's best album, if Tobi had restrained himself. The quasi title track is a metal anthem for sure, while "The Pharaoh" is Tobi's best epic, and "All The Clowns" is the prototypical song that works even when it shouldn't. The problem is that Tobi shrieks his way through "Nailed To The Wheel" in a way that becomes painful, and "Save Us Now" takes the cringe to a level I can't tolerate as he writes about his drummer being an alien. The good is as good as Edguy ever was, and I prefer to focus on that.

5. Age Of The Joker

This album goes under the radar, because it doesn't have any true highlights of Edguy's catalog. It also doesn't have any of those moments that make you turn away in horror, which makes it the most... boring of their albums? Perhaps so, but it is a consistently enjoyable trip that delivers plenty of songs that got overlooked among their earlier classics. I'll challenge most any power metal band to write a better song than "Fire On The Downline". For that to be Edguy's middle ground proves their worth.

6. Savage Poetry

I'm counting the re-recorded version of the album, which is one of the few times a band actually made an album better by doing it over again. This record is power metal to the core, but it showed Edguy understood melodic writing in a way many others didn't. Despite being so early in their career, they were writing the best ballads in the genre, and even the epic swing hits harder than it should. If any Edguy album has been rising in esteem for me, it's this one.

7. Vain Glory Opera

The three song run of "Scarlet Rose", "Out Of Control", and "Vain Glory Opera" might be the best in the entire catalog. Those three songs are amazing, and only highlight how the rest of the album can't match that level. The rest is good, but not quite as good, and the buzzy guitar tones makes the album sound dated in a way their others don't. Things are also hurt by the ending of the record, where we get a weak ballad and an Ultravox cover, which doesn't leave the best taste in my mouth.

8. Hellfire Club

I loved this album when it came out, but it hasn't aged very well. "The Piper Never Dies" is still one of Tobi's best songs, and "King Of Fools" still crushes, but some of the traditional power metal feels too trite, and the song written about 'morning wood' is a joke taken too far. I let a lot slide because of my fondness for Edguy, but that one isn't a good enough song to abide by the inanity. What's worse is there was an EP that came out at the same time, and it had a few songs that absolutely should have been on the album instead. I still remember that disappointment.

9. Space Police... Defenders Of The Crown

The last Edguy album showed the band running out of gas. It had a few great songs like "Do Me Like A Caveman" and "Realms Of Babayaga", but it also had a few weak attempts to write standard power metal, and a god-awful cover of "Rock Me Amadeus". That is the absolute nadir of their career, I do not apologize for saying. But I'm still glad the album came out, because the closing "The Eternal Wayfarer" would have made a fitting end to the Edguy story, as it is one of my favorite Tobi songs. Unfortunately, it stands alone on this album.

10. Kingdom Of Madness

But the worst Edguy album was always going to be this one. Their first released album, this came too early for Edguy to have found themselves. The writing was not yet developed, and the band was so young the guitars and vocals hardly even sound like themselves. I can understand that it's a rough draft of the band Edguy would become as they figured themselves out, but that doesn't mean I ever want to listen to it again.