Edguy

Edguy
Edguy at the Gods of Metal Festival 2006
General information
origin	Fulda , Germany
Genre (s)	Power metal
founding	1992
Website	www.edguy.net
Current occupation
singing	Tobias Sammet
guitar	Jens Ludwig
guitar	Dirk Sauer
bass	Tobias Exxel (since 1998)
Drums	Felix Bohnke (since 1999)
former members
Drums	Dominik Storch (until 1999)

Edguy is a German power metal - band from Fulda .

history

Edguy was founded in February 1992 by the then 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet , Jens Ludwig, Dirk Sauer and Dominik Storch. The name is an allusion to one of their teachers (Edgar). At first they played cover versions of AC / DC and Kiss, but soon began to write their own songs. Since they didn't have a bassist at first, Sammet played the bass (initially on the keyboard, from December 1992 on the guitar).

The first demo Evil Minded was recorded in February 1994, the second demo Children of Steel in July 1994. After the two cassettes, the recordings for a CD followed in June 1995, which was also financed by the musicians themselves and not marketed commercially ( Savage Poetry ). Through this they finally received in April 1996 a recording contract with AFM Records . Her official debut work Kingdom of Madness (1997) was only moderately successful. There were also personnel changes this year: in September Felix Bohnke took over the drums from Storch, a month later Tobias "Eggi" Exxel became the fifth member of the band. Since the recordings for the second album had already been completed, Sammet continues to play bass for Vain Glory Opera (1998) and Frank Lindenthal plays drums as a guest musician. For the first time Edguy played as a headliner in Sweden and at Wacken Open Air .

With their third album, Theater of Salvation , they finally made it into the charts. Since Tobias Sammet was already busy with his solo project Avantasia at this time and wrote many songs, Edguy decided to re-record and release their demo album Savage Poetry due to the great demand of the fans ( The Savage Poetry ). After the fifth studio album "Mandrake" and the accompanying live album Burning Down the Opera , they switched to the German label Nuclear Blast in October 2003 .

The new label's sales and promotion opportunities resulted in further chart successes. The single King of Fools and the album Hellfire Club achieved high rankings, and a few TV appearances followed. The follow-up album Rocket Ride and the accompanying single Superheroes were also able to build on the success. At the latest with the album Tinnitus Sanctus , Edguy then took a clear step towards hard rock, which was not always positively received by the fans. That's why they wanted to set an example with Age of the Joker . The cover should deliberately remind of "Mandrake". To promote the album Age of the Joker , the music video Robin Hood was created under the direction of Oliver Sommer , in which the comedian Bernhard Hoëcker plays Lady Marian and Brother Tuck.

In 2007 they opened for Aerosmith and the Scorpions . Also in 2010 they played as support act for 12 Scorpions German shows. Edguy also had some appearances at big festivals like the Progpower Festival (USA), Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Gods of Metal (Italy), Downland Festival (Great Britain), Masters of Rock (Czech Republic), Bang Your Head, Sweden Rock Festival and Wacken Open Air (6 performances in total).

At the end of 2012 they were the opening act for the Deep Purple tour in Germany . They also played in the opening act for Slash and Motörhead . There were no appearances in 2013 as Sammet was on tour with Avantasia.

The latest album of the band Space Police - Defenders of the Crown was released on April 18, 2014 and recorded Edguy's highest chart success in Germany at number 2.

style

With their catchy melodies and Sammet's high voice, Edguy are typical representatives of European Power Metal . Her texts often deal in a metaphorical way with metaphysical or social issues, such as conformism and ingratiation to the masses, paternalism of people by the church and the dangers of modern civilization. According to their own statements, Edguy do not advocate any particular worldview. Some songs are meant purely as a joke.

At Hellfire Club , Edguy incorporated an orchestra into the production. However, this had no significant impact on the style of the band. With Rocket Ride , however, the band turned away from classic power metal and instead oriented itself more towards 80s rock / metal, only to return to a somewhat harder pace with the album Tinnitus Sanctus that followed two years later .

Discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
1997	Kingdom of Madness AFM Records	-	-	-	-	First published: February 8, 1997
1998	Vain Glory Opera AFM Records	-	-	-	-	First published: January 15, 1998
1999	Theater of Salvation AFM Records	DE66 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: February 1, 1999
2000	The Savage Poetry AFM Records	DE79 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	First published: July 25, 2000
2001	Mandrake AFM Records	DE19 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: September 24, 2001
2004	Hellfire Club Nuclear Blast	DE26 (5 weeks) DE	AT68 (1 week) AT	CH81 (1 week) CH	-	First published: March 15, 2004
2006	Rocket Ride Nuclear Blast	DE8 (5 weeks) DE	AT50 (2 weeks) AT	CH50 (2 weeks) CH	-	First published: January 20, 2006
2008	Tinnitus Sanctus Nuclear Blast	DE19 (3 weeks) DE	AT50 (2 weeks) AT	CH41 (2 weeks) CH	-	First published: November 14, 2008
2011	Age of the Joker Nuclear Blast	DE3 (6 weeks) DE	AT30 (2 weeks) AT	CH13 (3 weeks) CH	-	First published: August 26, 2011
2014	Space Police - Defenders of the Crown Nuclear Blast	DE2 (5 weeks) DE	AT27 (2 weeks) AT	CH13 (3 weeks) CH	UK82 (1 week) UK	First published: April 18, 2014

Live albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
2003	Burning Down the Opera AFM Records	DE57 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	First published: June 2003
2009	Fucking with F *** - Live Nuclear Blast	DE35 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: May 2009

Compilations

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
2017	Monuments Nuclear Blast	DE6 (6 weeks) DE	AT20 (1 week) AT	CH16 (3 weeks) CH	-	First published: July 14, 2017

More compilations

• 2004: Hall of Flames
• 2008: The Singles

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK
2004	King of Fools Hellfire Club	DE39 (7 weeks) DE	AT67 (2 weeks) AT	CH98 (2 weeks) CH	-	First published: February 10, 2004
	Lavatory Love Machine Hellfire Club	DE74 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	First published: June 14, 2004
2005	Superheroes Rocket Ride	DE25 (9 weeks) DE	-	CH52 (9 weeks) CH	-	First published: September 5, 2005

More singles

• 2001: Painting on the Wall
• 2011: Robin Hood
• 2014: Saber & Torch
• 2014: Love Tyger
• 2017: Ravenblack
• 2017: Wrestle the Devil

Music videos

• 2014: Love Tyger (first published April 10, 2014)

Web links

Commons : Edguy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Edguy on Nuclear Blast
• Edguy at laut.de
• Edguy at The Metal Critic
• Edguy at Discogs (English)

swell

1. ^ Edguy - Space Police (Limited Digibook Edition), April 18, 2014
2. ↑ EDGUYS ROBIN HOOD - THE MOVIE ...
3. ↑ http://powermetal.de/news/news-EDGUY__Live-Support_von_DEEP_PURPLE_im_Nov__2012,29156.html
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK