After the latest album Here Be Dragons (click here for the full review), I decided to write an Avantasia Worst to Best. This is a difficult one, as Tobias Sammet is one of my heroes, and Avantasia is probably the best project I've listened to, but here we go and let's try to sort this out.
A paranormal evening with the moonflower society (2022)
A Paranormal Evening With the Moonflower Society is the very short title of Avantasia’s 9th album. Despite what Tobias Sammet says on social media (he's a little too over-enthusiastic about his new creature), this is the usual good album of his belowed project. Is it the best one? Definitely not; it's the less inspired for me. The is still good music, but if I had to rank it on this chart, this one would be my least preferred.
Moonglow (2019)
"Moonglow will be a different album because I've been working on it for years without any pressure". Could it be true? Not a chance, the guests are always the same, and the outline remains unchanged. Bob Catley is still there, but this time, the closing song is entrusted to an 80s pop dance cover, and that's better. The music is always of excellent quality, and there is no shortage of good songs, but maybe now is the time to look for something different. Am I too picky? Maybe.
Here Be Dragons (2025)
A shorter album than usual and has lots of guests and quality, a little more power than the last two albums but lots of ideas are already "let's say not new", if you are an old fan like me, and with no more than one singer per song. Also, I find the album overall a little uneven, especially for a concept album, with a pop opener that seems disconnected from the rest, the longest (title) track right after that, and even the finale, again a little different. But we have the usual cool song with Micheal Kiske, a strange one with Geoff Tate, and some good singles.
The wicked Symphony (2010)
Angel of Babylon (2010)
Tobias had promised, as a follow-up to The Scarecrow, two magnificent albums released at the same time, full of orchestrations and fireworks. Did he keep his promise? In half, these two albums are monstrous uselessness: half of each album is excellent, the other half kind of useless. Making an album with the best tracks from both would have been a great album, far superior to The Scarecrow. Instead, here are two albums with magnificent tracks but with sensational fillers and songs from the EPs that preceded the album. Alone I Remember is half a plagiarism of Monkey Business by Skid Row and half a sleazy song from the '80s. Among the guests, we can't complain: in addition to the usual loyalists Kiske, Lande, Matos Paeth, and Catley, we find "Ripper" Owens, Klaus Meine, Jon Oliva, and Russell Allen.
The Scarecrow (2008)
Tobias is becoming a man, and power metal is starting to bore him, so the Avantasia project goes from being a Metal opera to a Rock opera. The problem is that he is better at writing metal than rock. In The Scarecrow, he abandons wizards, little wizards, elves, spells, chestnuts and wine, and many purely power musicians, and begins to talk about his life. Also, unfortunately, he begins to give less space to guests. The result is nothing that will go down in history, but thanks to Jorn Lande, who offers interpretations to listen to again because you don't believe it, the album is pleasant, despite some extremely avoidable ballads. Also worth mentioning is a song by Alice Cooper, which is perfect for the part in The Toy Master.
The Mystery of Time (2013)
After a break, Mr. Sammet puts his kit and puppets back together, once again calling all his friends who can sing (better than him) and gives us another chapter of Avantasia, with an album that is an absolute pleasure to listen to in its entirety. No filler, absolutely none, this time. Jorn Lande is missing, that's true, but Michael Kiske is there, as always, so everything is fine.
The Metal Opera Pt 2 (2002)
After the huge success of the first chapter, here is the second part of the first Metal Opera masterpiece. Not the same level as the first one, but half of the content can be considered a masterpiece of the genre as well. I mention The Seven Angels above all, probably the most loved song by fans (the second half of the song is everything, probably my favourite moment of the entire discography).
Ghostlights (2016)
Tobias arranges another great album with all the possible and imaginable atmospheres. Kiske screaming like a desperate man, guttural songs, guests that we would never have expected (Geoff Tate), and the usual closing song by Bob Catley, as punctual as taxes. Ghostlights is my favourite album of the second era of the band, along with The Mystery of Time. The album cover is also beautiful.
The Metal Opera (2001)
A kid called Tobias Sammet, who released some good stuff with his band Edguy, picks up the phone and calls everyone he knows who can play or sing something. The people who answer are, among others, Kiske (who on this album goes by a pseudonym), Matos, Hansen, Tolkki, DeFeis, Grosskopf, and Rob Rock. The album is one of the best power metal works ever written; in fact, maybe the best, there's no need to be stingy. The plot is too complicated to explain; it's like a complex version of the Lord of the Rings (plus I've never really understood it, but this is another story).
Here's a random Avantasia song. Thanks for reading!
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