I first heard Edguy in the album Vain Glory Opera, and I just listen to that album once; to me they were juts another power metal band playing the same way as the other 10 000 power metal bands around the world during the explosion of the genre in the late 90’s. After that I never really expected this band to get “big” but for some reason, playing by the rules worked fine for this Germans until Hellfire Club was released, and that album really caught my attention, a new approach to an already over populated and overplayed genre…nice.

So what’s the deal with Rocket Ride, well the first thing you come across when you speak about this album is the goofy cover, some hate it, some love it; apparently for some, power metal has to have dragons, and horses, and damsels in distress in order to work, why? Fuck I don’t know, maybe those same fans like to dress up like the guys from Stratovarius (I know, I know they are geniuses an all, but they still look gay as hell wearing those puffy shirts, and moving carefully their hair from one side of their face to the other). Any way, Edguy seems to be looking for a new way of playing their power metal; this time around they have bet on humor, fun and catchy rhythms to present us with their newest material.

The first two songs of the album are great, catchy full of melodies and featuring a more hard rock vocal side of Tobias Sammet, I like it; his look was going in that direction way before his vocals so it was sort of expected. The guitars are simple but they have that amazing simplicity and beauty that only great musicians can lay over keyboards, epic sounds and mix it with the mood of the song perfectly. There are segments in the first song Sacrifice, mostly in Sammet’s vocals that remind me of the Spanish band Avalanch. Rocket Ride, the second track is great, catchy and fast, now this is hard rock and power metal well planned and greatly executed; this track got stuck in my head for like a day and a half.

The album continues its course with Wasted Time, not bad, but sounds poorly after two catchy songs like the previous I just mention. Matrix has some electronic sounds placed along side the guitars, they sound pretty nice, but for some reason the album lacks of strength, and that’s one of its biggest problems, yes the melodies are nice and catchy but the rocket never really uses its power, it sort of glides through the songs and Sammet holds back for…how knows what? But it will have been cool if they got just a little angry at least in one song. Return To The Tribe could be a brief look at a more straight forward power metal, mainly because the drums don’t stop hitting you and the chorus is very…well very power metal, you know what I mean! This is definitely a good album, and it does have some great songs, the problem is that there are segments in some songs that should have been better removed from the final mix, like the intro in The Asylum, a totally unnecessary slow intro with soft vocals, why removed? Because the song is powerful and memorable, and yes like pretty much all the songs in the record with some catchy chorus, it didn’t need that lame intro.

This album places Edguy in a new direction, a direction that may contradict what many of its fans want, but hey who the fuck cares when you own a band and look so…cool…queer eye for the straight guy looking cool! Ohh yeah I hated the tracks Save Me and Trinidad, stay away from those songs if you want to like this album! Buy this album if you like a mix of power metal and hard rock, if you do, then this is the record for you.