Edguy
Tinnitus Sanctus

March 2009
Released: 2008, Nuclear Blast
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Hanntu

After having spun this record over and over again, I’ve come to the conclusion that I like it. However, I doubt that there will be any replay value, as in I doubt in five years’ time when I’m digging through my ITunes looking for some Edguy, I will look at TINNITUS SANCTUS and go ‘I’ll have some of that’.



Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good album and certainly more coherent than ROCKET RIDE which was a shambles. Edguy have finally thrown off all pretensions of being anything other than a good hard rock band, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. The tunes on TINNITUS SANCTUS are well-crafted and catchy as hell; the choruses still bear that hallmark Edguy singalong quality. I had the opening track ‘Ministry of Saints’ stuck in my head for weeks!



More importantly, the band sounds like they’re having fun, and many of these tracks sound like they would translate well on stage. You know when you hear a song and you can immediately picture what it would be like performed live? I can see at least 60-70% of these songs played live, and at least two or three become concert staples in years to come.



It’s also admirable that Tobi and gang are willing to change their sound to suit what they want to play. It’s hardly a commercial move even though power metal has been in the doldrums for more than a couple of years now.



However, I still crave the Edguy of old: the bombastic speed metal attack of VAIN GLORY OPERA or the epic moroseness of MANDRAKE. These albums are what I associate with Edguy, and the songs on TINNITUS SANCTUS seem simplistic and unsatisfying in comparison. I had hopes that since Avantasia released the (comparatively) disappointing SCARECROW, that Edguy would return to the epic metal stylings of their roots. Enjoy TINNITUS SANCTUS for what it is, a good rock record, but at the end of the day, I’ll still be sticking MANDRAKE on repeat.