Edguy Biography

Edguy is a power metal band from Fulda, Germany.

Edguy was founded in 1992 by the 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dirk Sauer, and Dominik Storch. The name "Edguy" is 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.
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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.

With their uncomplicated easygoing melodies and Sammet's high voice, Edguy is a typical representative of European power metal. Their lyrics deal very often in a metaphoric way with metaphysical or social themes, for example with conformity ("The Headless Game," "Mysteria," "King of Fools"), dictation by the church ("The Kingdom," "Theater of Salvation"), and the dangers of modern civilization ("Navigator," "The Devil and the Savant"). In dealing with such temes, Edguy sometimes use esoteric and hermetic expressions. Edguy does not claim to represent any ideology ("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" - Tobias Sammet). Indeed, some of their songs are light-hearted or comedic ("Das Reh," "Save Us Now," "Lavatory Love Machine"). Another feature of the band's recordings is the presence of lengthy and epic pieces, with most of their albums having at least one of these.

With their latest album, Hellfire Club, Edguy showed themselves to be keen to experiment, and integrated an orchestra into the production. Concerning the band's style, however, this had no noteworthy consequences.

Edguy played a suprise set with metal legends Metallica in 2004 at JB's Dudley.

EDGUY PICTURES

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EDGUY BIOGRAPHY