Edguy

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Edguy is a power metal band from Fulda, Germany.

1 History
2 Style
3 Discography
4 External links

History

Edguy was founded in 1992 by the 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dirk Sauer, and Dominik Storch. The name "Edguy" was a derogatory epithet for one of their teachers at the time. Until 1998, when Tobias Exxel joined the band, they had no bassist; Sammet having played the bass tunes on a keyboard.

After two demos they got a contract with AFM Records in 1995. Their first two albums were not very successful, but with Vain Glory Opera in 1998 they achieved a breakthrough. After another two albums they received a contract with the German label Nuclear Blast, in 2004.

In 2001/2002, Tobias Sammet's project Avantasia was released, a wide-scope metal opera including the participation of many famous musicians, and achieving a fair amount of success.

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Style

With their uncomplicated easygoing melodies and Sammet's high voice, Edguy is representative of typical European power metal. Their lyrics are often metaphorical, alluding to metaphysical or social themes: conformity (The Headless Game, Mysteria, King of Fools), dictation by the church (The Kingdom, Theater of Salvation), and dangers of modern civilization (Navigator, The Devil and the Servant). To express such themes, Edguy sometimes use esoteric and hermetic expressions. Yet some of their songs are light-hearted or comedic (Das Reh, Save Us Now, Lavatory Love Machine). Edguy does not claim to represent any ideology; Tobias Sammet claimed "We are not political and we are not religious; at least there is no key message in our songs telling you what to think in terms of anything". Edguy also employs lengthy and epic sections in almost every album.

Hellfire Club revealed Edguy's interest in experimenting within music by integrating an orchestra into the production. Their latest album, Rocket Ride, features less symphonic and speed metal elements, and is arguably more orientated towards hard rock.

Edguy played a surpise set with metal legends Metallica in 2004 at JB's, Dudley and toured with the well known power metal band Dragonforce in early 2006 after the release of the Inhuman Rampage album.

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