Edguy

The power metal band Edguy formed in Fulda, Germany, in 1992. At the time, the band's founding members — Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch, and Dirk Saue — were young teenagers who'd met as classmates. They released two demo recordings, Evil Minded and Children of Steel, in 1994, followed by another demo, The Savage Poetry, in 1995. Following 1997's Kingdom of Madness and 1998's Vain Glory Opera, Edguy reached the German charts for the first time with Theater of Salvation, which peaked at number 66 in Germany and number 55 in Sweden upon its release in 1999. Savage Poetry was rearranged, re-recorded, and reissued in 2000, reaching 79 in Germany. With 2001's Mandrake, Edguy entered a new era of commercial success in Germany, where the album climbed to number 19. Hellfire Club, the band's first album to be released by Nuclear Blast Records, featured symphonic arrangements from the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg orchestra, resulting in a powerful sound that reached the Top 100 in six European countries. Rocket Ride climbed to number 8 in 2006, giving the band its first Top 10 entry. Edguy returned to the Top 10 with 2011's Age of the Joker (number 3) and 2014's Space Police: Defenders of the Crown (number 2). Five new songs appeared on the band's 2017 compilation Monuments, which charted at number 6 in Germany, and Edguy toured intermittently before announcing a hiatus in 2020.