Kiske is a God. Stop.

Written by R Lewis on 04.04.2013 at 19:52

Kiske is a God. Stop.

I think the other guys pull out some very fine performances too. Joe Lynn Turner surprised me in "The Watchmaker's Dream". I've heard some stuff he did with Rainbow ages ago and even though the last Sunstorm album was good, I didn't know he had that in him. Eric Martin's heartbroken delivery in "What's Left Of Me" is another highlight. Also, I love how Ronnie Atkins pulls out both the roughness ala Jørn Lande and the pure clean singing ala Roy Khan. That was totally awesome.

Written by Patrick. on 05.04.2013 at 21:27

I love how Ronnie Atkins pulls out both the roughness ala Jørn Lande and the pure clean singing ala Roy Khan. That was totally awesome.

I can't help but feeling a bit disappointed about Jørn's absence. In some songs, I'found myself thinking "If just Jørn sang this...". This is, imho, the only blemish for this album. This said, Ronnie delivers some great vocals, as I expected (also Pretty Maids themselves are flourishing again these years)

Written by R Lewis on 05.04.2013 at 23:20

I can't help but feeling a bit disappointed about Jørn's absence. In some songs, I'found myself thinking "If just Jørn sang this...". This is, imho, the only blemish for this album. This said, Ronnie delivers some great vocals, as I expected (also Pretty Maids themselves are flourishing again these years)

I agree, Jørn definetely brings with him quite a bit of power to the table. It would have been great with his presence as well. I don't know if it's true, but I read somewhere that Sammet actually asked Jørn if he'd like to perform on Invoke The Machine but apparently he had to turn it down due to being occupied with his Jorn band or something. I don't know, but either way it's not hard to picture that he'd also be great for that spot.

I have yet to give Motherland a proper listen, but it really does sound great.

EDIT: After listening some more, I think Motherland a great album and maybe even better than Pandemonium.

More in heavy metal vibes, not much bombastic metal opera type. Both ten minute songs - Savior in the clockwork and The great mystery is great.

I agree Jorn is need to bring back, he is free after all... SO do with Rob Rock.

I have to say, sitting back and listening to the Scarecrow Trilogy recently, there were several tracks which I felt could have been left out of the trilogy either because they seem to just be taking up valuable time ("Symphony of Life" is a noticeable offender here) or because they just don't go anywhere ("Blowing Out The Flame", which I will concede is a nice ballad, is not especially memorable and could have been easily cut, since the basic idea of the song was much better conveyed in "Alone I Remember"). That said, I enjoyed those albums (although the fact they helped me to develop my taste in metal does mean that there is a little nostalgia value in them: I spent most of the summer of 2011 listening to all three of them while I was still getting into metal), so I was interested to see what direction this album took, especially since I caught up with the Metal Operas over the last summer (which I found highly overrated, but that's another discussion entirely...).

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. It seems that Tobi has decided to try to combine the two styles, although the Scarecrow Trilogy clearly is the more predominant style in the music, which results in a very interesting album to listen to. You can hear the power metal in the songs fighting to burst out of the music at you, but the hard rock influence holds that in check, which can be a deal breaker if you like power metal a la Keepers era Helloween, but is a winner for me because of the nostalgic feel it gives me from the Scarecrow Trilogy. However, I have to admit that this album does still have some issues which are carried over from the duo of albums that closed the trilogy: if you were to take out my four favourite songs from the album "Where Clock Hands Freeze", "Sleepwalking" (I know it's not metal, but I like it and I'm not so elitist as to claim that it's bad because it's not metal), "Invoke The Machine" and "Dweller In A Dream", there'd be nothing on here I'd particularly want to listen to (although the fact I've only been able to listen to it for about a week does mean there is some growing potential in the other songs). The guests are great on the album (I particularly enjoyed hearing Kiske on "Clock Hands" and Ronnie Atkins, just from "Invoke The Machine", has made me want to give Pretty Maids a listen just because of how good a job he did on the song: Biff didn't impress me that much, but I've been a bit skeptical about Saxon since I first heard them, so chalk that one up to me not particularly liking his voice). I think my only real issue that I want to point out is that the decision to have two songs over the ten minute mark will make it hard for those who aren't overly fond of longer tracks (like me) to particularly enjoy this album in it's entirety. I'll admit, they are good tracks if you don't have to focus on them too much (I found this out while playing TimeSplitters to it), but, when I focus on them, my interest rapidly starts to fade (although, again, only had this album for about a week).

All told, if you don't mind the two long songs, you're in for a great ride. If you have issues with them, there is enough to still enjoy the album, but not enough to make you love it. Definitely my favourite power metal album of 2013 so far and, as things currently stand, that's not massively likely to change (Masterplan looks set to disappoint, if the trailer for that album and what I've heard about the new vocalist is any indication, and the trailers for Matt Barlow's new band haven't exactly given me any high hopes either...).

Sorry for the long post: even I didn't think I'd ramble on as long as I did!

Written by Nemo Atkins on 12.04.2013 at 11:56

I have to say, sitting back and listening to the Scarecrow Trilogy recently, there were several tracks which I felt could have been left out of the trilogy either because they seem to just be taking up valuable time ("Symphony of Life" is a noticeable offender here) or because they just don't go anywhere ("Blowing Out The Flame", which I will concede is a nice ballad, is not especially memorable and could have been easily cut, since the basic idea of the song was much better conveyed in "Alone I Remember"). That said, I enjoyed those albums (although the fact they helped me to develop my taste in metal does mean that there is a little nostalgia value in them: I spent most of the summer of 2011 listening to all three of them while I was still getting into metal), so I was interested to see what direction this album took, especially since I caught up with the Metal Operas over the last summer (which I found highly overrated, but that's another discussion entirely...).

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. It seems that Tobi has decided to try to combine the two styles, although the Scarecrow Trilogy clearly is the more predominant style in the music, which results in a very interesting album to listen to. You can hear the power metal in the songs fighting to burst out of the music at you, but the hard rock influence holds that in check, which can be a deal breaker if you like power metal a la Keepers era Helloween, but is a winner for me because of the nostalgic feel it gives me from the Scarecrow Trilogy. However, I have to admit that this album does still have some issues which are carried over from the duo of albums that closed the trilogy: if you were to take out my four favourite songs from the album "Where Clock Hands Freeze", "Sleepwalking" (I know it's not metal, but I like it and I'm not so elitist as to claim that it's bad because it's not metal), "Invoke The Machine" and "Dweller In A Dream", there'd be nothing on here I'd particularly want to listen to (although the fact I've only been able to listen to it for about a week does mean there is some growing potential in the other songs). The guests are great on the album (I particularly enjoyed hearing Kiske on "Clock Hands" and Ronnie Atkins, just from "Invoke The Machine", has made me want to give Pretty Maids a listen just because of how good a job he did on the song: Biff didn't impress me that much, but I've been a bit skeptical about Saxon since I first heard them, so chalk that one up to me not particularly liking his voice). I think my only real issue that I want to point out is that the decision to have two songs over the ten minute mark will make it hard for those who aren't overly fond of longer tracks (like me) to particularly enjoy this album in it's entirety. I'll admit, they are good tracks if you don't have to focus on them too much (I found this out while playing TimeSplitters to it), but, when I focus on them, my interest rapidly starts to fade (although, again, only had this album for about a week).

All told, if you don't mind the two long songs, you're in for a great ride. If you have issues with them, there is enough to still enjoy the album, but not enough to make you love it. Definitely my favourite power metal album of 2013 so far and, as things currently stand, that's not massively likely to change (Masterplan looks set to disappoint, if the trailer for that album and what I've heard about the new vocalist is any indication, and the trailers for Matt Barlow's new band haven't exactly given me any high hopes either...).

Sorry for the long post: even I didn't think I'd ramble on as long as I did!

Helloween and Stratovarius new albums are better than this one...

Written by Mountain King on 13.04.2013 at 20:17

Written by Nemo Atkins on 12.04.2013 at 11:56

I have to say, sitting back and listening to the Scarecrow Trilogy recently, there were several tracks which I felt could have been left out of the trilogy either because they seem to just be taking up valuable time ("Symphony of Life" is a noticeable offender here) or because they just don't go anywhere ("Blowing Out The Flame", which I will concede is a nice ballad, is not especially memorable and could have been easily cut, since the basic idea of the song was much better conveyed in "Alone I Remember"). That said, I enjoyed those albums (although the fact they helped me to develop my taste in metal does mean that there is a little nostalgia value in them: I spent most of the summer of 2011 listening to all three of them while I was still getting into metal), so I was interested to see what direction this album took, especially since I caught up with the Metal Operas over the last summer (which I found highly overrated, but that's another discussion entirely...).

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. It seems that Tobi has decided to try to combine the two styles, although the Scarecrow Trilogy clearly is the more predominant style in the music, which results in a very interesting album to listen to. You can hear the power metal in the songs fighting to burst out of the music at you, but the hard rock influence holds that in check, which can be a deal breaker if you like power metal a la Keepers era Helloween, but is a winner for me because of the nostalgic feel it gives me from the Scarecrow Trilogy. However, I have to admit that this album does still have some issues which are carried over from the duo of albums that closed the trilogy: if you were to take out my four favourite songs from the album "Where Clock Hands Freeze", "Sleepwalking" (I know it's not metal, but I like it and I'm not so elitist as to claim that it's bad because it's not metal), "Invoke The Machine" and "Dweller In A Dream", there'd be nothing on here I'd particularly want to listen to (although the fact I've only been able to listen to it for about a week does mean there is some growing potential in the other songs). The guests are great on the album (I particularly enjoyed hearing Kiske on "Clock Hands" and Ronnie Atkins, just from "Invoke The Machine", has made me want to give Pretty Maids a listen just because of how good a job he did on the song: Biff didn't impress me that much, but I've been a bit skeptical about Saxon since I first heard them, so chalk that one up to me not particularly liking his voice). I think my only real issue that I want to point out is that the decision to have two songs over the ten minute mark will make it hard for those who aren't overly fond of longer tracks (like me) to particularly enjoy this album in it's entirety. I'll admit, they are good tracks if you don't have to focus on them too much (I found this out while playing TimeSplitters to it), but, when I focus on them, my interest rapidly starts to fade (although, again, only had this album for about a week).

All told, if you don't mind the two long songs, you're in for a great ride. If you have issues with them, there is enough to still enjoy the album, but not enough to make you love it. Definitely my favourite power metal album of 2013 so far and, as things currently stand, that's not massively likely to change (Masterplan looks set to disappoint, if the trailer for that album and what I've heard about the new vocalist is any indication, and the trailers for Matt Barlow's new band haven't exactly given me any high hopes either...).

Sorry for the long post: even I didn't think I'd ramble on as long as I did!

Helloween and Stratovarius new albums are better than this one...

Honestly, I wasn't impressed by either of them. Helloween's album wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I vastly preferred 7 Sinners to it and Stratovarius have never been that interesting to me beyond a few songs, although I will admit I liked Nemesis more than all their other albums I've listened to. I'm surprised (and slightly relieved) that someone read that wall of text: I was tempted to go back and shorten it, since I wrote it all before I had to get a bus to college and felt I went on a bit too long, but didn't have time to cut it down.

IMO, the best album by Tobi since "The Scarecrow"

Maybe not perfect but very great (even when I feel it sometimes a little paused). This one has a great use of the orchestra (not envolving the whole songs but getting in the right moment of the ones).

Love this album

I return to this album after three years considering it worst of Ava and have found I somehow enjoy it now

Great album, lateley I like use adult orientated what so ever , its a bit A there, it has, its metal, not as young fart, but old can create
Biff's guesi vocals was good
fav song Sleepwalking

Pretty nice record, I was suprised at it's release as i've disliked the whole Scarecrow trilogy. This one feels more mature and coherent, everything is not great and there's some fillers but overall a decent record.

I much prefer the symphonic power metal sound here to the Wicked Trilogy and Metal Operas. But I am a fanboy and thus all Avantasia albums are great

Still can´t understand the low rating on this masterpiece, probably the best symphonic metal ever made, from start to end it keeps you connected with the music, the history under the lyrics and times. Have amazing guest and a very diverse type of songs, beautiful and melodic (Sleepwalking and What´s left of me), fast and energic (Where clocks hand freeze, dweller in a dream, invoke the machine) or epic (spectress, saviour in the clockwork, great mystery, the watchmakers dream). Thank you Avantasia!