Being used to the z7 concert hall near Basel, I never had a hard time finding places for different artists that I saw for some years, but here, the arrival of Avantasia 'scheduled with 2 dates in April 2019 already showed since more than one month the mention 'ausverkauft' (sold out) for the 2 dates, something we are not used to seeing in this beautiful room in Pratteln in Switzerland. Fortunately for me, a third concert was added after the first 2 because, after a 'Ghostlights' that had made a lot of noise in the metal sphere 3 years ago, 'Tobias Sammet' has again hit hard with his new album 'Moonglow' and if we read the comments on the past 3 years, we think that for an artist who had no taste for music, it has been largely arranged since ! As usual, it is a host of prestigious guests who participate in this album in which Tobias tells his own life and this constant pressure not to meet the expectations of the public. We are reassured for this pressure because, from the first title, 'Ghost in the Moon' embarks us in an epic fresco of almost 10 minutes with beautiful melodic lines and many changes of atmosphere where something is always happening and proves once again that 'Tobias Sammet' is an outstanding composer who always offers us great richness in vocal and instrumental arrangements. For short, despite a duration of an hour and ten minutes, all titles follow without any weariness and each brings its own personality and the various guest singers participate greatly because Tobias always has this talent of choose the right voices according to the type of composition, for example in the beautiful eponymous title of the album where, 'Candice Night' that we usually hear in another style (see the last album from 'Blackmore's Night' here), brings her beautiful aerial voice. Also noteworthy in this diversity of genres, the 'Maniac' cover of the 'Flashdance' musical comedy of the '80s, which has been slightly metalised and where 'Eric Martin' of the band 'Mr. Big' (see their latest album here) performs a great vocal performance. In summary, this new 'Avantasia' which is already the 8th (if we count one for the two parts of 'The Metal Opera'), is still a very nice surprise for the beginning of 2019 and shows all the talent of 'Tobias Sammet' to compose a clever mix of metal styles that go from power to melodic through speed, progressive and symphonic, all this to make something unique... | |
