Avantasia
“The Scarecrow”
(Nuclear Blast)

This is the 3rd release by Edguy’s Tobias Sammet in his side project which began about 8 years ago with “Metal Opera”, although it was hardly operatic but more of a concerto made up of melodic metal at its core but featuring orchestral and harmonial elements which greatly enhanced its cool, positive and sophisticated sound. With a name amalgamating the 2 words ‘avalon’ and ‘fantasia’ (i.e. fantasy) to describe - in Tobias’s words - “...a world beyond human imagination...’, this is his personal quest to tread the path of a 19th century composer slowly going insane i.e. a Faust story! “The Scarecrow” itself is an album about the tragic story of a lonesome creature striving for inner peace whilst confronting temptation at the depths of the human soul, which I suspect may reflect upon Mr Sammet’s own life. Either way what impresses most about Avantasia as a side project is the wealth of talented contributions he has managed to obtain from his guest musicians, which include Bob Catley, Alice Cooper, Rudolph Schenker, Kai Hansen and Amanda Somerville amongst others, who clearly share Tobias’s vision to create musical concerto of epic proportions. Magnifico.

-Shan Siva