An all-star aggregation similar in conception to Ayreon, Avantasia's The Metal Opera naturally spotlights its creator, Tobias Sammet, who wrote all the music and the involved fantasy storyline over the course of a year as a side project from his main gig with the German power metal band Edguy…
Eagerly anticipated by power metal audiences who embraced Tobias Sammet's first Avantasia project, the aptly titled The Metal Opera, Pt. 2 essentially offers more of the same, in sound, style, and personnel. Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween) gets credit for his appearance this time out, following his mystery cameo as "Ernie" on the first record, and a number of the featured vocalists from Pt. 1 reprise their characters on the second installment; new faces include Bob Catley (Magnum) and Oliver Hartmann (At Vance). The music is not a great leap forward; it's simply more state-of-the-art power metal, with the same catchy riffs, larger than life melodies, and complex, orchestration-heavy arrangements. Some might find it a bit less thrashy than its predecessor, but overall the differences are negligible…
AVANTASIA, the all-star rock opera spaceship piloted by EDGUY singer, songwriter and producer Tobias Sammet, release their eighth full-length album, 'Moonglow', via Nuclear Blast Records on February 1st 2019. Since its beginning in 1999, past AVANTASIA releases have featured such galactic heavyweights as Alice Cooper, Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker (SCORPIONS), Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer (KISS), Eric Martin (MR BIG), SAXON’s Biff Byford, ex-TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider and many more.
Elected is the first EP by progressive metal project Ayreon, owned by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. It features the guest performance of German singer Tobias Sammet, from Avantasia and Edguy. The EP contains an Alice Cooper cover, an acoustic guitar and voice version of "E=MC²" and the track "Ride the Comet", both from the album 01011001. There is also a piano version of The Human Equation's "Day Six: Childhood". Some reviewers and also the CD-Text information on the CD itself call the EP The Universal Ayreonaut. The album entered at #69 at the France Singles Top 100 and stayed in that position for three weeks.