Kingcrimsonprog Edguy are a Power Metal band from Germany, headed up by Tobias Samet (also known for Avantasia), and Hellfire Club is their sixth album. The 2004 effort is one of their best in terms of enjoyability and quality, and is interesting in their discography looking back, as it serves as a bridge between their Power Metal early days and their Hard Rock tinged later days, and also sees the band’s silly side come a bit more to the fore.

There are some very fine Power Metal moments on here, and there are some very fine Hard Rock-ifed moments. There are also some tracks that balance them both, in a mature and semi-progressive way similar to their previous album, 2001’s Mandrake, most notably the ten-minute ‘The Piper Never Dies.’ Its sort of a great midpoint between their various different styles and ambitions without being too far in any one direction and therefor it is very originally Edguy without any influences hanging obviously off sleeves.

The production job on the album is very big and radio ready, matching the stadium-focused choruses that have started to find their way in to the music. A huge memorable chorus like that of single ‘Lavatory Love Machine’ (a song about ‘the mile high club’ with a comic lyrical style) sounds gigantic on this record. Its a far cry from the thin and wirey dueling guitars of classics from Theater Of Salvation (a production style perfect in its own right, but for very different music). The band are fleshed out by a guest orchestra which gives things a bit of extra depth and bombast.

Highlights include ‘Down To The Devil’ which has a fiendishly catchy chorus, as well as the foot-to-the-floor ‘We Don’t Need A Hero’ which is one of the better tunes on here and the guitar work is noteworthy. Lastly, the cheesily-titled ‘The Rise Of The Morning Glory’ which I feel is the exact mid point of every thing going on here and the go-to tester track you should listen to if you want to get an idea of whether or not you’d enjoy this.

Overall; this is definitely one of the band’s better albums in terms of sheer song quality, riffs, memorable choruses and big hooks. Its not their most traditionally Power Metal release ever but isn’t so far away from the formula that it would be off-putting either like some of their albums **Cough**Tinnitus Sanctus**Cough** (and what it lacks in that department it makes up for in creativity and fun). The orchestral addition adds a lot, and the production is humongous.

Ps. If you can, try and get the version with bonus tracks so you can hear Kreator’s Mille Petroza join in on ‘Mysteria’ as well as the bonus track ‘Children Of Steel’ which is one of the most traditional Heavy Metal songs the band have written to date.

Stephen "Hellfire Club" is the sixth release of the German power metal band, marketed in the early 2004, and revealed the band's interest in experimenting a change to their musical form. This album showed the riffs heaviness usually found in the old school heavy metal,reduced the classic speed tempo in majority of their songs, and introduced the implementation of orchestra. Although the album has received a mixed reviews, "Hellfire Club" was the highest charting release in their home country until today.

The band welcomed you to the freakshow through a speeding "Mysteria" and continued by a 10-minutes epic similar to what you usually encountered in many Iron Maiden albums. Along came my next favourite track,"We Don't Need A Hero", this is the true power metal the old fans will adore together with "Rise of the morning glory" that reminded us of the glorious days of high-pitch Helloween.

There are some hard rock moments such as "King of Fools" and the hillarious "Lavatory Love Machine" that also pioneered their change toward this style in their next releases. One thing that I always love about this band is how furious they play their music, they're still capable in making stunning and beautiful ballads and "Forever" is the proof of their capacity.

"Hellfire Club" actually doesn't sound as hellish as what many non-power metal fans thought at first, in fact, this is a commercial-yet-raw heavy metal show that offered many great melodic hooks and huge riffs salvo. Awesome album!

Mjöllnir “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to just another Edguy offering...”, but a good one all the same. Building on the success of the punchy “Mandrake”, Hellfire Club straddles the line between the grandiose and the comedic phases of their career.

The album opens with the two best cuts in fine form with the straight ahead but fiery “Mysteria” and the extended number “The Piper Never Dies”. This one follows the template of the last album’s moody “The Pharaoh” closely but manages to avoid the potential dangers of this and crafts a touch of its own character. “Down to the Devil” and “Under the Moon” lead the rest of the pack built around stupendously sharp riffs and a classic heavy metal attitude. The sing along single “King of Fools” does its job adequately and “Lavatory Love Machine” points the way to follow up album “Rocket Ride” with upbeat bounce and outrageously silly lyrics with a perfectly ridiculous delivery from Tobias Sammet. Maybe all that Metal Opera stuff was just getting too serious for him and felt the need to loosen up a bit?

The album does suffer from a dip in quality as it comes to the end, though “Navigator” keeps it from collapsing with its effectively bombastic chorus. The preceding “Rise of the Morning Glory” is passable Helloween worship, but thankfully the earlier cut “We Don’t Need a Hero” is a stronger example of this side to their sound. And don’t ask about the little following interlude - you must listen to understand... The album closes with a sappy and OTT power ballad, which I can forgive as power metal bands are decidedly hit and miss with those. Following this is an equally predictable bonus song and a version of “Mysteria” with guest Mille from Kreator popping up in here and there. Still, Euro power metal bands rarely stick to the Helloween format while managing to inject some personality into this tried (tired?) and true approach, so they are worth a listen for sure.

ydewata I don’t know why but every time I am listening to Edguy’s songs, what in mind is a child happily playing around with his toys. Any reasons? I don’t know. It’s just what I feel. Unexceptionally is this latest effort from this band’s 2004 release “Hellfire Club”. It is a good? Yes, it is. This album rocks as hell. Starts off with an Edguy trade-mark happy metal track “Mysteria” then followed to a darker “The Piper Never Dies”. It will shock you how the first two tracks would be pretty much different. The following tracks (“We Don’t Need A Hero” and “Down To The Devil”) including the first single “King of Fools”. This one is a heavy track, even for an Edguy’s standard though. “Forever” is a ballad but somehow lost its soul. A standard ballad, a filler, nothing memorable.

“Under The Moon” is an Iron Maiden-ish track where Tobias Sammet even sings very similar to Bruce Dickinson’s trade mark. Nice chorus even though it is not a sing-a-long song. No wonder that “Lavatory Love Machine” is the next single off from this album. It is a happy power metal tune with a pop tune. Nice effort, guys! Those crunchy rhythm guitars will surely catch audience’s ears. Unfortunately, the last four closing tracks almost bore me. Tobias probably needs to improve his singing performance. He’s got a good voice but it seems he delivers the ‘same soul’ on each song, which in effect makes the songs taste similarly through out the whole record. “Rise of The Morning Glory” is a good and catchy fast power metal track but it has the same soul as “Navigator”. Thanks to the rhythm guitar section which delivers different soul to both tracks. Even the album close ballad “The Spirit Will Remain” is offering nothing different. Even in comparison with the previous ballad “Forever”.

If you’re lucky enough, you can get the special edition disc with two bonus tracks, “Children of The Steel” and “Mysteria” as additional tracks. “Children of the Steel” is a fast track. It is surprisingly good that Tobias sings with full emotion here. Wish he’d delivered the similar emotion through out the record. While the latter is “Mysteria”, another version very much similar to the studio album version plus Kreator’s singer Mille Petrozza as guest singer.

My conclusion is Hellfire Club is a great album. Even slightly better compared to their previous efforts. But this band needs to take a further journey beyond their creativity otherwise this CD will be stop played after few spins.