Time for a another blast from the past in a series of "In case you missed 'em" releases.

Avantasia is a group I had never heard of until I got the cd "The Scarecrow" to review a few years back. It is the brainchild of EDGUY singer Tobias Sammet. On this 2008 release Tobias handles vocals and bass guitar, Sascha Paeth handles guitars and Eric Singer of KISS rocks the drums. The release also features a host of guests such as Rudolf Schenker, Alice Cooper, Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske (both ex-Helloween), Jorn Lande, (ex-Ark, Masterplan) plus a weath of others. I had heard of (but never listened to) EDGUY and knew they were a power-metal based band so that's what I was expecting with this, which is a correct assumption, but there is so much more. There are many elements of other genres such as a bit of metal-techno/samplers on the opener "Twisted Mind", hard rock/pop on "Carry Me Over" and "Lost in Space", ballads like "Cry Just a Little" and "What Kind of Love", Celtic-folk on the intro to "The Scarecrow" and then tons of the aforementioned power metal on the rest. It may sound from the description like a jumbled mess, but all the different styles and guest stars keep things fresh and make for a very enjoyable listening experience (ok, I could do without the ballads, but that's just me...). All in all a very tasty treat...go pick it up!

Johnny Lokke
www.johnnylokkeband.com

If you like this type of music, I think you will like my new release "Promises and Lies" as well. Go to www.johnnylokkeband.com/promisesmog.html to check it out!

PS - johnnylokke.com is not me, it's someone using my name. DON'T BE FOOLED!