Preamble

I’m always excited whenever a new album by Tobias Sammet is out whether it be Avantasia or Edguy. Obviously Age of the Joker was no exception, the album became a must have for me the moment I first heard the announcement. Age of the Joker is a follow up to 2008’s Tinnitus Sanctus which got pretty mediocre reviews from fans and press. Not one to get bummed out with public opinion, Tobias set out to work on the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters to “The Wicked Trilogy.” After having outdone himself with his work on Avantasia, Tobias set out to record another Edguy album, will he have another hit on his hands?

Review

Right off the bat you can hear the clear difference between Age of the Joker and Tinnitus Sanctus. Where the latter felt dark and moody, the former is a lot more cheerful and lively. It feels like Edguy mixed elements of Rocket Ride with Tinnitus Sanctus to create a catchy album that’s fun to sing along to.

On the subject of sound, it really does feel like Tobias is repeating himself a bit. Some melodies and riffs sound strikingly similar to Avantasia. If you listen to Two Out Of Seven you can be instantly reminded of Crestfallen. Even Fire On The Downline sounds a bit like Edguy’s 1997 epic The Kingdom.

However all of that could be overlooked after falling in love with the album. Songs like Robin Hood and The Arcane Guild remind you of the classic Edguy sound with their simple and catchy choruses. Then there’s the strange songs like Pandora’s Box, which sounds like it might be a tale about travelling the seas when it’s actually about sex. As far as humour goes, you still have fantastic lyrics like “What the fuck? Suck my cock” and “when Robin Hood can’t find no one who would caress his little John.”

As far as my favourites go, The Arcane Guild is definitely up there. The song is fast paced and has a catchy chorus. Another great song is the ballad Every Night Without You which starts off with a beautiful lullaby-like melody and contains amazing backing vocals especially in the final chorus.

Other Content

As expected, I bought the whole limited edition box set which contained many goodies:

-          2CD Digibook (containing 3 “new” songs, a cover, and 2 edited singles.) It feels very high quality, with a nice embossed jester on the front
-          A nice magenta 2LP vinyl, a 3^rd picture vinyl with the same bonus tracks that are on the 2^nd CD
-          3 posters
-          A bunch of photos of the band
-          A certificate with the number of your box set (limited 750 units)

The bonus songs are ranging in quality. God Fallen Silent is great but Aleister Crowley Memorial Boogie is kind of weak. Cum On Feel The Noize is great, and it sounds better than ever before. It’s a shame that Tobias never released his cover of Don’t Stop Believing from Avantasia. And finally there’s the long lost Standing in the Rain, which in my opinion is a huge disappointment. The song sounds like it’s one off of the really early Edguy albums. Finally there are the radio edits, which are a neat thing to have, however the radio edit of Two Out Of Seven is also a censored version which is sounds stupid, I don’t understand why they didn’t just fade the song out earlier.

The special fan edition is nice, but the CD case was loose in the box. It would be nice if there was something to keep the CD case in place as I’ve seen in previous box sets. Also I’m kind of disappointed that the certificates aren’t numbered in series. Nuclear Blast seemed like they just jumbled these up and getting the legendary 1/750 would be more luck than die hard fandom.

The Bottom Line

Age Of The Joker lives up to everything expected of Edguy. It is a large improvement over Tinnitus Sanctus and is a competitor to my favourite Edguy album of all time. The songs are cheerful and fun and I can’t wait to hear these songs live in concert. While there are some moments of the album which are reminiscent of past Tobias Sammet songs, it doesn’t really hurt my enjoyment of the album. No, it’s not a perfect album but it is pretty close to it. The bonus CD is nice but I would have liked to see a bonus DVD as well. Overall, this album reaffirmed my faith in Edguy and I’ll be waiting impatiently for the next one.