One can’t help but to be impressed by a guy like Tobias Sammet. Ok, so his former mothership Edguy only releases music and tours sporadically now that Avantasia has turned into his main project but to steer a ship like Avantasia by himself is an immense task. Avantasia is much more than just a band, it’s an ensemble. A big Rock Opera. The guy writes all the songs, arranges them and produces the records and with a production like Avantasia, it’s not only about writing a bunch of songs, press record and then release them, no there’s a story to write with a theme and then he has to cast all the characters. It’s a mastodon job and the fact that record after record has hit pay-dirt is simply astonishing. One wonders how long he can keep on doing this before the slip comes. Hopefully not with this record. Hopefully never.
The album opens slow and low-key with en eerie keyboard and an ominous pipe-organ which creates a spooky ambience with some creepy sounds that draws into Alice Cooper and King Diamond territory. The chorus comes on bigger and more Jim Steinman-esque grandiose with a big classic Avantasia hook. The moody, sedate and subdued verses makes for a return of the low-key beginning of the song which creates a great dynamic throughout the song, a song which Sammet himself takes the lead vocal for. It’s a dramatic and pompous track that draws the listener in to never let go. This is great.
Primal Fear singer Ralf Scheepers takes the mike, duetting with Toby, for the leading single “The Wicked Rule The Night”, a full-on Metal blaster, fast and pounding with a kick-drum going bonkers. The verses rages on heavy and in-your-face with a clear nod to the earliest Power Metal days of Avantasia but the pre-chorus slows things down a notch only to get faster and harder in the chorus, a chorus that has those trademark Sammet-hooks. This is probably one of the heaviest tracks ever on an Avantasia record and even though I think it’s a pretty decent tune, it’s a bit too Power Metal for me, something that becomes very obvious with two high-pitched screamers like Sammet and Scheepers.
Also a single, “Kill The Pain Away” – featuring the lovely voice of Nightwish singer Floor Jansen – starts out with some medieval latin chants. The song takes a mid-paced tempo and at times flirts with late 80’s power-balladry. Jansen’s and Sammet’s very different voices creates a great dynamic between the two and it works splendidly. There’s a held-back pre-chorus that paves way for a huge refrain that enlarges the whole soundscape which gives the song a more bombastic outlook. There’s a dark melancholy involved but the melodies are also quite uplifting with smoother vocal-melodies and a catchy and intense chorus-hook. Very good indeed.
“The Inmost Light” has Michael Kiske (Helloween) on vocals and the two singers takes this fast and pumping Metal number going for a bit of a Helloween vibe with drums hammering away like they’re on the run. It holds melodies that are catchy as Hell throughout with a hard-hitting chorus-hook as the icing on the cake. It has one foot in the Power Metal zone but foremost, this is a melodic Heavy Metal tune with Sammet’s trademarks all over the place. Good one.
Jansen is back for the ballad-single “Misplaced Among The Angels”. The song starts out soft and serene with Jansen’s captivating spellbinding the listener. The chorus on the other hand goes into full power ballad mode as it builds up to be quite massive with an instant melody that gets its hooks in you right on the spot. The duetting between Sammet and Jansen is powerful and quite epic and I can’t help but think about Ozzy and Lita Ford doing their duet back in the day even though the only thing the two songs has in common is that they’re both ballads. This is some phenomenal stuff.
Avantasia veteran Jorn Lande lends his voice to the bouncy, stompy and rhythmic “I Tame The Storm”, a song with its staccato riffage and powerhouse rhythms brings on a chunky live-feel. It’s a metal-laden Hard Rock track, heavy and punchy that holds a more dramatic, again, Jim Steinman influenced arrangement in the chorus – and it is a damn catchy chorus, I might add. Very good. Pretty Maids’ singer Ronnie Atkins makes his (unfortunately) only appearance on this album with “Paper Plane”, a very melodic yet upbeat rocker that brings in some AOR-isms and pop-hooks. It’s a delicate semi-ballad with piano and keyboards, quite soothing and slick but with melodies to die for and a brilliant chorus that catches on right from go. This should be a single. Terrific.
Magnum’s Bob Catley joins Sammet for the sort of title track “The Moonflower Society”. With Catley involved it becomes somewhat Magnum-ish with its grandiose pomp and big keyboards. The verses are on the laid-back side with an inserted darkness and a dramatic and symphonic outlook but the chorus builds the song up with its insanely catchy and poppy melodies that holds a classic Avantasia arrangement. Sammet sure has his personal way to write melodies. There’s an orchestrated mid-break that throws in strings, brass and a glockenspiel which contrasts dynamically. Great stuff.
Eric Martin of Mr Big fame is also only involved in one track on the album, the faster and more hard-rocking number “Rhyme And Reason”. It opens with some attacking guitars on a rowdy note which hits right on the jaw. Even though the verses holds back some it’s still edgy, heavy and direct much to the pounding rhythm section. The chorus comes on strong with some intense melody-hooks – very catchy. A shorter and concise number that hits right where it should. Really good. Ex Queensrÿche man Geoff Tate shows up in the dark and moody “Scars”. The verse holds a somewhat held-back vocal performance yet on a quite stompy beat. The song feels a bit more plain than most songs but still holds a strong main-melody and a bigger chorus. Good tune.
The album closes with another one those long, epic tracks that Sammet is so good at writing, the 10-minute “Arabesque”. With Lande and Kiske joining in, the song starts out with bag-pipes and drums and when the rest of instruments comes in it throws a nod back to “The Scarecrow” rhythmically with some Celtic folk vibes only to go into a heavier structure where Middle Eastern flavours are thrown in. The song is a rock-opera in itself and it changes structure throughout the song. The verses holds calmer and down-beat moments, the theatrical pre-chorus goes for musical-theatre vibe and the chorus is big, dramatic and very memorable. Also, the bagpipes returns later to follow the guitar-lines which sounds really cool. All in all, this is a somewhat mellow yet upbeat, mid-paced number that’s impossible to resist. I love this.
As a whole, this album is maybe not exactly as strong as the two previous records – my favorites by this project – but it’s still an exceptional piece of music and it sounds like Avantasia all the way and as a huge fan of this project, I certainly love that. This might sound weird after my high scores on Avantasia’s records but I’m not a big fan of European Power Metal which in turn makes me not a huge fan of Avantasia’s two first albums and on here there are a couple of tracks that leans back to those days which takes a point off the final score. That said, I gladly listen to this record back to back and there are no songs that are actually bad. Sammet and his guests has again provided us with a great album.
8/10
More Avantasia reviews:
Angel Of Babylon
The Wicked Symphony
The Mystery Of Time
Ghostlights
Moonglow
Tracklist:
1. Welcome To The Shadows
2. The Wicked Rule The Night
3. Kill The Pain Away
4. The Inmost Light
5. Misplaced Among The Angels
6. I Tame The Storm
7. Paper Plane
8. The Moonflower Society
9. Rhyme And Reason
10. Scars
11. Arabesque
CD & Festival reviews 