Review: AVANTASIA - The Scarecrow (2008)
Country: Germany
Release Year: 2008
Label: Nuclear Blast
Format: CD, LP
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Side bands are -in my opinion- in the majority, unnecessary projects
that manage to release 1 or 2 albums and fade away with time, living no
significant legacy behind. This is not the case here; this is the exact
opposite in fact. Avantasia is a project by Tobias Sammet and it is considered
by many as a better and more successful group than his original band Edguy. He
is the only steady member of the group and he composes all the songs, records
everything (except the drums) and he gathers many artists as guest
participants.
‘The Scarecrow’ is the successor of his previous 2 masterpieces ‘The
Metal Operas’. Sammet had the impossible task of writing something that would
be as good as the first 2 albums or at least something that would not
disappoint the fans and that was very hard since he set up the bar very high. The first track ‘Twisted Minds’ is enough to
make you forget all this. The whole album is yet again another very solid
release by Avantasia and even though it does not reach the previous releases,
it still is a great album to listen to. In this album Sammet ‘slows down’ the
speed with more heavy-hard rock influences and approaches, with help from Roy
Khan, Jorn Lande, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Amanda Sommerville, Oliver
Hartmann and Alice Cooper in vocals and Henjo Richter, Kai Hansen and Rudolf
Schenker helping with guitar parts in certain songs.
It is one of the few albums that I cannot really decide which song
is my favourite. Each one is unique and gets stuck inside your head very
easily. If I had to choose, I guess I would have to say ‘The Scarecrow’. Jorn
Lande’s voice blends beautifully together with Sammet’s creating a magic
melody. I should however mention that this is a concept album concerning an
isolated creature, striving to find his emotions and inner peace. The story
continues in the following two albums ‘The Angel of Babylon’ and ‘The Wicked
Symphony’.
It is really a shame that Avantasia don’t get to do many live shows
due to many difficulties concerning the big number of different performers
needed but as long as they release great albums, we don’t mind!
Alexandros ‘Noullis’ Vacanas
April
2012