Pelata Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet has created quite the power metal extravaganza here. For Avantasia, he has wrangled in some big name musicians and a slew of guest vocalists to deliver The Metal Opera; a nearly hour long drama set to pummeling power metal.

While some attempts at these types of all-star concept pieces fall short, Avantasia deliver with high-quality music, excellent vocals and fluid execution from start to finish. The band, comprised of Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray) and Jens Ludwig (Edguy) on guitars, Markus Grosskopf (Helloween) on bass, and Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody) on drums is impressive enough on its own. However, add in vocalists like Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray), Rob Rock (Impellitteri, Warrior), Andre Matos (Angra), Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation) along with Sammet and you have yourself a record of massive metal proportions. More than a year in the making, The Metal Opera is without a doubt one of the definitive power metal releases of the year.

The story is a spellbinding fantasy tale of deceit, treachery, religion, imprisonment and witchcraft. Highlights include “Reach Out For The Light” with its strong double kick drums and Sammet’s melodic, yet piercing wail. The chorus here will have all power metal fans singing along with fists in the air. On “The Glory Of Rome”, Rob Rock turns in a classic performance full of melody and power. It’s a driving tune that finds him truly at home amidst the speedy double kick drums and feirce guitar riffing. He is joined on this tune by the currently band-less Ralf Zdarstek who will no doubt be snatched up quickly after his top-notch performance.

I could easily go on about each song on this epic release, but suffice it to say that it never lulls and never displays a lack of quality. It’s a release full of big, choral passages, killer power metal riffing, dynamic changes and emotional highs and lows. Fans of the grandiose, melodic, and symphonic side of power metal have a lot to chew on here. Definitely one of the best power metal releases of its kind

adg211288 The Scarecrow is an album that I have to admit that I had to let grow on me. Had I reviewed this after the first couple of listens I expect that I’d have given it a score somewhere in the region of a 2 or a 3. But I stuck with it and now I really love this album. My advice to new listeners would be to bare with it, and not judge The Scarecrow from the choices of single releases (Carry me Over and Lost in Space), which are actually the weakest tracks from the album.

Overall Tobias Sammet has composed some great songs, with special mention to opener Twisted Mind, the title track, Another Angel Down, The Toy Master and Devil in the Belfry. Others could have been better, Carry Me Over in particular because of its receptiveness, but overall it’s a well balanced bunch. What my real problem here is though is the fact that The Scarecrow is supposed to be a concept album, and from that front, The Scarecrow fails drastically. Although there is no law to say that concept albums should have songs that lead into each other, I personally feel that such an approach is what makes a good concept album, and its absence on The Scarecrow makes these eleven tracks feel just like songs instead of both songs and a story. Musically its fine, but nothing about The Scarecrow feels like a concept album to my ears.

The other fault that I find with this album is that I find it difficult to distinguish between some of the guest singers. Sammet himself is easy to know because as frontman he dominates the album, and Jorn Lande, arguably one of the greatest singers of today’s metal scene is instantly recognisable, but for some of the others, I have to check the booklet to see who’s on the song (it doesn’t reveal who sings what lines). I think my problem here is that some of the singers have been under-used, and Bob Catley for one I know doesn’t have vocal lines for his full potential. But overall it’s a decent enough album.

I think that the biggest problem I have with it, and the reason why it took me so many listens to get into is the radical departure in sound from the previous two albums, The Metal Opera Parts I and II. What we've got here isn't so much symphonic power metal but more like borderline power metal mixed with hard rock/heavy metal. For what it is its actually a strong album, just one that may not sit well with those who really liked what came before it. Personally I'd rate it a better album now I fully appreciate it than the second Metal Opera, but each to their own and while all may not agree with this review, I feel a solid 8 is deserved for this album.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)

Metalbaswee One of the 2 new Avantasia albums, this will the first I review. With Tobias Sammet sining, it quickly turns into an Edguy cd, but i try not to compare it.

I have to say, for a side project, that put out 2 cd's in one year, i didn't really expect much from it. But in the end, it was a pretty solid and enjoyable album. Not the most orginal tracks, but is does just fine. Production is rock solid as well

1. The Wicked Symphony (4) 2. Wastelands (3.5) 3. Scales of Justice (4) 4. Dying for an Angel (4) 5. Blizzard On a Broken Mirror (4) 6. Runaway Train (5) 7. Crestfallen (3) 8. Forever is a Long Time (3.5) 9. Black Wings (3.5) 10. States of Matter (4) 11. The Edge (4.5)

= 3.5 stars.

adg211288 Angel of Babylon is the 2nd of two albums released by Avantasia in 2010, and the third and final part of a trilogy of concept albums known as The Wicked Trilogy, following The Scarecrow and The Wicked Symphony.

Like The Wicked Symphony, Angel of Babylon begins with a 9 and half minute track. Like the opener of The Wicked Symphony, Stargazers also features the voices of Sammet, Jorn Lande and Russell Allen but throws Michael Kiske into the mix as well. It starts the album strongly and sets the pace. I especially like the creepy bass interlude just before the guitar solo.

Unfortunately the next two tracks Angel of Babylon and Your Love is Evil pass me by without finding anything really to remark about. They’re not bad by any means but don’t really stand up to any of the songs on The Wicked Symphony.

Death is Just a Feeling however, which features Jon Oliva on guest vocals is a much stronger and more interesting track. It has a creepy evil feeling to it which makes it stand out from the other tracks. Oliva sings most of the vocal here with Sammet only coming in over half way through for a short section. I haven’t really heard anything of this guy’s music before but after enjoying his vocals here I’ll have to check his stuff out. Unfortunately after this track he isn’t heard again because like The Wicked Symphony, it’s mostly a one song per guest singer again. Once again it is Jorn Lande that dominates the guest singers, appearing on no less than 7 of the 11 tracks on the album, with only Michael Kiske appearing on more than one of the others.

Following tracks Rat Race and Down in the Dark and both pretty good and favourites of mine from the album, both with Jorn Lande singing with Sammet. Although Angel of Babylon feels no different in terms of sounding like a concept album than its two predecessors one fact that I can garner from it is that Jorn’s character must be important. He does after all appear on all three albums and dominate the other guest singer, but other than that, there is no real change with Angel of Babylon feeling like a concept album.

Blowing Out the Flame is a ballad, something which was absent on The Wicked Symphony. It’s not bad, but like Angel of Babylon and Your Evil is Evil I don’t find anything special to remark about.

Symphony of Life features female vocals, the first song to do is in The Wicked Trilogy since The Scarecrow’s Lost in Space. It’s a much better track than some that Angel of Babylon offers which a pretty interesting intro and some good vocals from Cloudy Yang. This is also the only song in the trilogy to not feature Tobias Sammet's vocals or to be written by him.

Alone I Remember features some finger picking guitar before launching into a classic rock style riffs. Much less a metal style here, with vocals from Sammet and Lande again. It’s pretty good if it does sound somewhat out of place after what the group has made us get used to.

Finally with Promised Land do I hear some vocal hints that this is indeed a concept album with some lyric references from The Scarecrow. Not a bad song, but not the best either, but not as unremarkable as some of the ones mentioned in previous paragraphs.

The album ends on a high though with the epic Journey to Acadia. Some great vocals all round from Sammet, Lande and the underused Bob Catley. Like the previous track there’s lyric references to other songs from the albums in this track, and you really get the feeling that the story is coming to a close. It’s as if Tobias suddenly got it right in terms of a concept album at the end but as I’ve said before in regard to The Wicked Trilogy, it’s just good songs, so the concept doesn’t really matter. Angel of Babylon however is not quite as good as The Wicked Symphony or The Scarecrow (though it comes close to being on par with it), even though it may sit better with fans of The Metal Operas due to being closer in sound to The Wicked Symphony than The Scarecrow. Easily the weakest of the trilogy.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)

adg211288 Avantasia’s continuation of 2008's The Scarecrow can be seen as going two ways before hearing it. The first would be for it to have the same sound as The Scarecrow, seeing that it is a continuation of the story, or the second way would be something different. Many fans seemed to want something closer in sound to the project's first two releases, The Metal Opera Parts I & II. What The Wicked Symphony and its partner Angel of Babylon come across as however is something in between, closer to the Metal Opera’s than The Scarecrow was, but with some elements of that album thrown into the mix for good measure. It’s a pretty good result, and Tobias Sammet has some great vocalists with him on this album.

Opening with the 9 and a half minute title track that Sammet described this as an epic vocal battle between himself, Jorn Lande and Russell Allen, the album is off to a strong start. The results are exactly what Sammet promised. These are three of the best voices in metal and if I may be so blunt, is a much better union of the voices of Allen and Lande than any of the Allen/Lande albums to date managed.

The album does not lose its quality as we continue through, with the much shorter track Wastelands coming after the title track and will probably become a fan favourite due to the presence of Michael Kiske, an Avantasia regular, and then a personal favourite from the album, Scales of Justice, which is the only track to feature the voice of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens. His voice and Sammet’s compliment each other’s very well. The song feels much faster and heavier than much Avantasia material, it really feels as if it was written with Owens in mind. As such it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an Owens era Iced Earth album. These one song per guest singer songs are much more common on The Wicked Symphony than on previous albums, with only Jorn Lande, Russell Allen and Michael Kiske singing on more than one song. Lande is the most common guest singer on the album, singing on four tracks, The Wicked Symphony, Runaway Train, Crestfallen and Forever is a Long Time.

Lead single Dying for an Angel follows. It’s one of the more commercially inclined songs from The Wicked Symphony but not to the scale of Carry Me Over or Lost in Space from The Scarecrow.

Runaway Train is another long song. There are several longer songs between the two 2010 Avantasia albums, though nothing as long as The Seven Angels from The Metal Opera Part II or even The Scarecrow from the album of the same name. This is The Wicked Symphony’s second and final long song. Piano led with some excellent vocals from Lande it soon gets heavier. To be honest the chorus section isn’t too special but another piano section, this time with the vocals of Bob Catley, followed by an excellent guitar solo makes up for it. Crestfallen, at about half Runaway Train’s length is a much better track and another favourite of mine. It features some of Sammet’s best vocals on the album and the presence of Jorn lande is another bonus. The line “And you’ll fall away from heaven” comes across as extremely epic. I’m not entirely sure what to make of Sammet’s contribution to the chorus, it sounds as if he is attempting some growl vocals, coming across more as a shriek. Maybe this is for story affect, I can’t tell, because unfortunately, like its predecessor The Wicked Symphony doesn’t come across as a concept piece in a musical sense. It’s just good songs. This certainly isn’t a problem, since many find concept albums hard to digest. With The Wicked Symphony it’s very easy to take tracks at random and enjoy it.

Nearing to the end of the album is another favourite of mine, Black Wings, which features someone who is probably the most unknown vocalist on the album, though Avantasia fans should remember him from The Metal Operas, Ralf Zdiarstek.

If anything though The Wicked Symphony is somewhat anticlimactic. I’m not fond of closing track The Edge at all. All in all a pretty good symphonic power metal album though.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)