Avantasia

Avantasia is a German supergroup, in the style of a Rock/Metal opera, created by Tobias Sammet, singer and creator of the band Edguy. It is considered an Opera precisely because it is full of participations of famous singers and musicians from the world of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal and is structured as a concept album. The project can be roughly divided into four periods of activity. The first, 1999-2002, sees the release of the single of the same name and the two related albums The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera Part II and is characterized by a purely Power metal sound. The second, 2006–2011, includes the EPs Lost in Space Part I & Lost in Space Part II and "The Wicked Trilogy", composed of the albums The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon; these productions begin to distance themselves from power metal and are strongly contaminated by other musical influences such as AOR, Symphonic metal and Hard rock.

The third, 2013-2016, includes the albums The Mystery of Time and Ghostlights; here the rock and AOR vein still prevails, compared to the power metal of the first period. The fourth period began with the release of the album Moonglow in 2019 and includes a bit of all the genres touched by the Avantasia project from the beginning until now.

A partial list of guest singers present in the Avantasia project includes: Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic) (who together with the creator Tobias Sammet is the only one present in all the albums), Bob Catley, (Magnum) Jørn Lande, (Jorn) Ronnie Atkins, (Pretty Maids) Geoff Tate, (Queensrÿche, Operation-Mindcrime) and Eric Martin (Mr. Big) among the most frequently recurring guests as well as the most present in the live lineup, followed by real special guests such as:

The band's sound has changed a lot over the years, both due to the stylistic research of the founder, and author of all the songs, Tobias Sammet, and due to the style and voices of the musicians involved. As already mentioned, the first albums were purely Power metal with clear Symphonic metal references, but over time the hard rock and AOR veins of the songs have become stronger and stronger, without ever completely renouncing the Heavy metal matrix nor the symphonic and operatic themes so dear to its creator.

In the spring of 1999, during Edguy's Theater of Salvation-tour, Tobias Sammet began to outline some ideas for an operatic concept album with several guest musicians. At the end of the tour, he began to collaborate with some of the greatest singers in the metal world such as: Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic), Andre Matos (Angra, Shaman), Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray, Helloween), Rob Rock Axel Rudi Pell, M.A.R.S.) David Defeis (Virgin Steele),

Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Bob Catley (Magnum) and Oliver Hartmann (At Vance), and involved them in recording the first album. At this stage the musical lineup consisted of four members: Tobias Sammet on keyboards, Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray) on guitar, Markus Grosskopf (Helloween) on bass and Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody of Fire) on drums. It goes without saying that the proposed genre is strongly characterized by a Power metal sound, and this is also evident considering the bands the musicians involved belong to.

A good 4 years later, at the end of 2006, Tobias Sammet confirmed the rumors about a third Avantasia album, to be released in 2008. Two EPs titled Lost in Space Part I and Lost in Space Part II were released on November 19, 2007, while the full album, The Scarecrow, was released on January 25, 2008. The Scarecrow marks the first chapter of the concept "The Wicked Trilogy" and also marks the beginning of the collaboration (which lasts to this day)

with Sascha Paeth in the role of guitarist and producer. The album features drummer Eric Singer (Kiss), guitarists Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray) and Rudolf Schenker (Scorpions) and singers Jørn Lande (Masterplan, Ark, Jorn), Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic), Bob Catley (Magnum), Andrè Matos (Angra Shaman, Viper), Alice Cooper, Roy Khan (Kamelot), Amanda Somerville (Aina, Trillium, Kiske-Somerville) and Oliver Hartmann (At Vance). After the release of The Scarecrow, Tobias Sammet was invited to headline Wacken Open Air,

an offer that producer/guitarist Sascha Paeth convinced him to accept. This resulted in the scheduling of a tour with 13 performances between July 5 and August 13. The shows at Masters of Rock and Wacken Open Air are filmed and released on the live DVD The Flying Opera in March 2011. The lineup for the short tour consists of: Tobias Sammet, Andre Matos, Jørn Lande, Kai Hansen, Bob Catley, Amanda Somerville, Cloudy Yang on vocals, Sascha Paeth and Oliver Hartmann on guitars, Robert Hunecke-Rizzo on bass, Miro on keyboards and Felix Bohnke (Edguy) on drums.

In November 2009, Tobias Sammet announced that he was working on two new albums, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon, to be released on April 3, 2010. The concept narrated, here is a continuation of the story of The Scarecrow and these three albums together are in fact referred to as "The Wicked Trilogy". The guests present here increase in number and in fact we see 3 drummers alternating:

Eric Singer, Alex Holzwarth (German Wiki) and Felix Bohnke, while the guitars alternate: Bruce Kulick, Oliver Hartmann and Sasha Paeth. There is also room for keyboardist Jens Johansson, while the singers are: Jørn Lande, Russell Allen, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Klaus Meine, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Jon Oliva, Andre Matos, Cloudy Yang and Ralf Zdiarstek (Kane). The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon achieve excellent placement in various international music charts.

A 12-show tour of Europe, South America and Asia took place in December 2010, with the exception of a concert at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2011. The shows lasted almost three hours and many sold out several days before the event. The ensemble was almost the same as that of The Scarecrow Tour in 2008, with only two changes. Andre Matos was replaced by Michael Kiske and Cloudy Yang was not part of the lineup. Both tours were carefully documented by Amanda Somerville on her YouTube channel. The videos show various interesting backstage moments such as rehearsals, plane and train flights; in short, a real behind the scenes on the road.

In August 2012 Tobias Sammet stated:

"I didn't foresee how much I needed Avantasia when I decided to close this chapter of my life in 2011. After the worldwide success of the last albums, a world tour in arenas that was practically sold out everywhere and collaborations with my childhood heroes, I felt like I had said everything I could say under the name Avantasia. But that's not the engine that drives Avantasia. I want to create fantastic music, I want to introduce even more fantastic worlds - the bigger and more epic, the better! And listening to the material I've created for this next chapter of the Avantasia story, I know I'll make it no matter what! I have the feeling and the certainty, that this is absolutely meant to happen and be."

In December 2012, it was revealed on Avantasia's website that the new album would be titled The Mystery of Time and would be released on March 30, 2013.

The Mystery of Time marked the beginning of a new concept and was the first time a real orchestra was involved: the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg. The album featured drummer Russell Gilbrook (Uriah Heep), guitarists Bruce Kulick, Oliver Hartmann and Arjen Anthony Lucassen, while vocals were provided by Joe Lynn Turner, Biff Byford, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin, Bob Catley and Cloudy Yang. The Mystery Of Time achieved good success on the world music charts and even allowed Avantasia to enter the US Billboard charts for the first time.

Avantasia's second world tour took place between April and August 2013. The tour included 30 concerts, including 7 major European festival appearances, a Canadian festival performance and three-hour shows in South America, Japan, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands.

The lineup for the tour was as follows: Tobias Sammet, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Eric Martin, Bob Catley, Thomas Rettke (Heaven's Gate), Amanda Somerville on vocals and Sascha Paeth, Oliver Hartmann, Miro, Andre Neygenfind and Felix Bohnke on the musical side. This is a statement from Tobias at the time:

"I want to put on the biggest show ever, I want to bring more singers, do longer shows and make it a giant Rock Opera. I love headlining festivals, you have to give your best in 90 minutes in front of all those people, but I also love our indoor tour because we can make it much bigger and more suitable for us, playing almost three hours... It's going to be huge."

With two shows left of the tour, Tonias Sammet holds a press conference in which he announces that Avantasia will headline the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2014 and that this will be a farewell performance, and that there will be no further tours or concerts for the foreseeable future:

"There will be no more Avantasia shows, it will be just a single show. Maybe I will come back with a new idea and I might try again in the distant future, this time I won't say goodbye forever, but I have no idea when and where and who might join us and what might happen, and if we ever do it again in a couple of years. So, get your tickets for Wacken 2014 because it will be your last chance to see us, if not forever then at least for a few years. See you, T"

In a May 2014 interview regarding Edguy's Space Police - Defenders of the Crown album, Tobias confesses that The Mystery of Time left the door open to a possible sequel.

The new album, thus titled Ghostlights, was released on January 29, 2016 and features the usual guests Bruce Kulick and Oliver Hartmann on guitar, while on vocals we find Jørn Lande, Michael Kiske, Ronnie Atkins, Bob Catley, Sharon den Adel,

and the new entries Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche, Operation: Mindcrime), Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Robert Mason (Warrant) and Herbie Langhans, (Firewind).

Ghostlights reached the highest position of any Avantasia release on the major international music charts and allowed the band to enter the US Billboard charts for the second time.

The "biggest world tour yet" takes place between March and August 2016. According to the official website, it consists of 40 concerts in Europe, North America, South America, Canada, Japan, Russia and Scandinavia. Excluding eight headline shows at major European summer festivals, each concert lasts over three hours. The ensemble is almost the same as the previous tour with the addition of Jørn Lande and Herbie Langhans. As in the past, Tobias Sammet once again announces that the Ghostlights World Tour could be the project's last activity for a long time. After the tour, Avantasia headlined both Wacken Open Air and Barcelona Rockfest during the summer of 2017.

In March 2018, Tobias Sammet posted a photo on his Facebook profile announcing that he had begun the creative process for Avantasia's eighth album. On October 10, Nuclear Blast officially announced that the new album Moonglow would be released on February 15, 2019 and that the vocals would feature, in addition to veterans Jørn Lande, Bob Catley, Eric Martin, Ronnie Atkins, Michael Kiske, Geoff Tate, newcomers Candice Night (Blackmore's Night), Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) and Mille Petrozza (Kreator).

The album's release was followed by the Moonglow World Tour 2019 consisting of 29 concerts in Europe, Australia, the United States and South America between March and June 2019.

The tour lineup still includes Bob Catley, Ronnie Atkins, Geoff Tate, Eric Martin and Jørn Lande, and newcomers Herbie Langhans, Ina Morgan and Adrienne Cowan; completing the lineup are the now inevitable musicians Oliver Hartmann and Sasha Paeth on guitars, Robert Hunecke-Rizzo on bass, Miro on keyboards and Felix Bohnke on drums.

On May 18, 2022, the single, The Wicked Rule The Night was released, which sees the debut in an Avantasia production for Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear); on the same day it was announced that the ninth album would see the light in the autumn of the same year.

During the summer of 2022, while the band performed on the stages of the major European festivals, 2 more singles from the new album were released: The Moonflower Society (with Bob Catley) and Misplaced Among The Angels with Floor Jansen (Nightwish).

On October 19, 2022, a special album was released for the German version of the magazine Metal Hammer, distributed in 666 copies, entitled A Paranormal Evening With The Metal Hammer Society; the mini-album contains 8 songs recorded live during the summer festivals of 2022 and acts as a precursor to the upcoming album of unreleased material.

On October 21, 2022, A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society, the band's ninth album, was released.

On February 28, 2025, Tobias Sammet announced Avantasia's 10th studio album, “Here Be Dragons”, with an accompanying tour. The album was released on February 28, 2025 through Napalm Records, and featured guest vocals by Geoff Tate, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley, Ronnie Atkins, Roy Khan, Tommy Karevik, Kenny Leckremo (H.E.A.T.) and Adrienne Cowan.

The release received mainly positive reviews, with Paul Monkhouse of Metal Planet Music calling it "their finest work yet". Others took a more negative view of the album, with Steel Druhm of Angry Metal Guy calling it "my least favorite Avantasia album thus far." The album is presented both in classic format, consisting of 11 unreleased tracks, and in an extended version with 2 additional discs:

Avantasia

The name

The sound

The Metal Opera (1999-2002)

The Scarecrow (2006-2008)

The Wicked Symphony & Angel of Babylon (2009-2010)

The Metal Opera Comes to Town Tour (2010–2011)

The Mistery of Time (2012-2013)

The Mystery World Tour (2013–2014)

Ghostlights (2014-2016)

Ghostlights World Tour (2016–2018)

Moonglow and A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society (2018–2024)

Here Be Dragons (2025-present)

Albums

Members

Former members