Tinnitus Sanctus

Tinnitus Sanctus is Edguy's new studio album and the follow-up to Rocket Ride. While the latter was a departure from the usual bombastic in-your-face power metal that made Edguy famous, it was a great 80's inspired album with lots of great songs and a good dose of humor as usual and most importantly some Power Metal elements in it still. I would lie to you if I didn't tell you that I hoped that Tinnitus Sanctus would be more in the vein of Hellfire Club than Rocket Ride (especially considering both the title and vaguely made me think of Vain Glory Opera). Unfortunately its not really the case, the new offering from Edguy is definitely the logical continuation of Rocket Ride, and while there still are some (few) semi-bombastic moments here and there, overall Edguy is much slower and mellow than the band who delivered us such bombastic deflagrations in the likes of Vain Glory Opera, Theater of Salvation, Hellfire Club and heck even Mandrake, an album which I didn't like as much as I should have at the time but which grew on me since (I would quote it 93 if I was to review it today). Its clear to me that Tobias wants to touch more people and maybe even go for a more commercial sound. There is still power metal here... even if just faintly, and there is talent (no doubt about that), great catchy songs, awesome musicianship... but what made Edguy pure Bombast as been heavily watered down to be more, way more accessible. Vocally Tobias is still amazing, and there's no doubt that he gets better with each albums, being able to add much more singing styles to his repertoire. Musically is where I have to admit I'm a bit sad with the direction the band definitely seems to be taking. Most songs are mid-tempos, the choirs, while still present on many songs are not as powerful as the soul lifting ones from say Theater of Salvation (or Avantasia part I & II), instead its just songs that have nice hooks, quite catchy and that are probably more complex song-writing wise but that lost tremendously in raw power, to a point that I wouldn't be surprised if this is Edguy's last album that can still be considered part Power Metal. I know Toby wants to do this and its his right, I totally respect the fact that by evolving he feels he must write what makes him tic, its just that I can't help but feel sad as what I've listened here is not as strong as what was made before, not by a longshot (even though there are some moments where you feel that the spark is still there, its just not exploited, not even a little)... and while after 5 listens I thought this would be a killer album, I then decided to re-listen Edguy's entire collection on a night where I could not find any sleep. Just to see how this new offering compared. The conclusion I got is that Edguy's trademark sound is dying with every new album. The last Avantasia, while great for what it was (not an Avantasia album but a good Hard & Heavy Tobias solo effort with guests), scared me a bit and made me wary about the upcoming album, and with good reason. The 2-3 bombastic titles in The Scarecrow actually have three times more power than anything presented here ! Even though here there isn't a long list of slower songs on the album (and no pop either), just one ballad fortunately. But if you expect another Scarlet Rose, well, don't hold your breath... instead you'll get a (pretty commercial) ballad that reminds me of Winger with some Bon Jovi mixed-in. Now don't get me wrong, this is not a bad album by any means, but if you were hoping for an album more in the vein of Hellfire Club like I did, then you'll be sadly disappointed "and that's a fact" (read that last one with some Meat Loaf spirit :) ). But the songs are pretty much always catchy, the humor is here, but the bombast is almost gone. In the end if you take it for what it is, a good Melodic Heavy Metal bordelining into Hard-Rock territory with a vengeance, then you will be able to enjoy it deeply, just like the last "Avantasia" album. And I guess that's all well and good, and while I could make the distinction on the last Avantasia, if you remember I expressed my concerns about the new Edguy studio album hoping that The Scarecrow was enough of a distraction to jump back into the Power Metal band-wagon after it, unfortunately its not the case. Now on the songs that I like the most on this album, there is Wake Up Dreaming Black for the punchy chorus, Dragonfly for the original and softly epic chorus and song structure, though I could have done without the naked guitar riffs a la Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen. The Pride Of Creation, for being one of the fastest beat on the album (except maybe for the very catchy Hard-Rock chorus, but I like those so I'm fine with that). Ministry of Saints isn't bad at all either, a good catchy song on which I especially appreciate the chorus' vocal melody and square though simple riffing of the verses. Sex Fire Religion is okay I guess, but reminds me too much of Winger (Pull album). while 9-2-9 is still not powerful enough, its overall feel-good mood and joyful melody makes it a track that stands out a little. But this song is the perfect example of what is, in my humble opinion, lacking in the new sound of Edguy : the verses are very poor and mellow (in almost every song), gone are the mad riffing and powerful double bass. And the only punch is to be found into bridges and choruses and even then its held back. And this particular (9-2-9) song illustrates this very well. Speedhover has some interesting punch here and there (like its chorus or powerful intro), but the overuse of the organ is holding it back from grace and so is the let's-bring-the-beat-down-below break that lasts a bit too much and almost buries the song to a complete stop (to a point where when the song re-starts, you get the feeling a new song just started or that you accidentally pressed the back button on your remote). The song clocks at 7'42 and is the longest one on the album, but we're light years from other long epics Edguy tracks like say The Piper Never Dies, Theater of Salvation or Pharaoh to name only a few If this had been a Bon Jovi album I would probably have given it 90 / 100, but its not Bon Jovi (though Toby's new look reminded me of Jon's on more than one occasion lately) nor is it what I was excepting. Its not to say that its a bad album, and I don't doubt that the more accessible sound could propel the band into the charts and start selling more albums worldwide (and maybe that's what its all about), but I long for the Power And Majesty (I mean "we are power ... and majesty !) that Edguy once was, instead its "Fun but Restrained". To conclude, Tinnitus Sanctus is a rather lacking Power Metal release but a pretty great Hard-Rock / barely Heavy record. That's a sad day for one of the precursors (my personal favorite too) of the True / Power Metal resurrection of the end of the nineties (with Rhapsody & Hammerfall, another two bands that lost some of their magic too, especially HF, but that still play true to their original sound roots ).  Though Tinnitus Sanctus is still great music at the end of the day, its still fun, and never boring (except the joke song Aren't You A Little Pervert Too that is neither very funny nor interesting musically), but Edguy chose a path that will not please their day-1 fans (starting with me), that's for sure. If you loved Rocket Ride and don't mind the band going even softer then you'll enjoy this album greatly and probably much more than I do, but if you were hoping for more Power and Majesty, well I guess you'll be partly disappointed.  `