Avantasia never stops composing.
Tobias Sammet (vocals/bass/keyboards, Edguy) launched the project in 2000, released two albums in 2001 and 2002, then nothing more. In 2006, he joined forces with Sascha Paeth (guitar/keyboards, Sascha Paeth’s Masters of Ceremony, ex-Luca Turilli) and Miro Rodenberg (keyboards, ex-Luca Turilli) and revives the band, which releases A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society, its ninth album, on Nuclear Blast in 2022.
As usual, the band called upon many vocalists: Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Floor Jansen (Nightwish, ex-After Forever), Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic), Jørn Lande (Jorn, ex-Masterplan), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), Bob Catley, Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and Geoff Tate (ex-Queensrÿche).
The album starts with Welcome To The Shadows, a melancholic track which slowly gets darker with intense vocal parts, then the sound becomes extremely catchy and heady. Very theatrical, the track lets us sail in this impressive and majestic contrast, then The Wicked Rule The Night presents heavy tones before making intense vocal parts enter this Power/Speed Metal oriented rhythmic. Aggressive riffs perfectly combine with orchestrations, just like on Kill The Pain Away which offers some softness with bewitching female vocals, while remaining intense. The two voices answer each other and then mix to offer us a very complementary duet before The Inmost Light goes back to raw efficiency to let the Heavy influences join the Power basis. The energetic riffs drive us with rage to Misplaced Among The Angels, a power-ballad which lets the vocalist show us the range of his talent before being joined by an equally intense female voice. The melodic leads coupled with keyboards give us a majestic sound before energy returns on I Tame the Storm and its catchy groove. The rhythmic basis remains quite simple but motivating, and the addition of the vocal parts only strengthens the sound, which will calm down again for Paper Plane, a very heady track. Choruses are more intense, leaving quietness to the verses, and then The Moonflower Society introduces catchy tones, partly due to the dancing keyboards. Once again, the contrast between the solid rhythm and softer elements works wonderfully to create accessible sounds, while Rhyme And Reason quickly returns to speed and hypnotic harmonics. Motivating drums will let the rhythmic steadily explode, and then wild leads join the mix before Scars returns to more ominous tones. The energetic roots soon join the composition, which cheerfully draws from both sides of its universe to build a catchy sound before Arabesque closes the album with a ten-minute composition. Expect impressive orchestrations to complement a martial and energetic basis, but also an impressive vocal duet coupled with haunting choirs.
If you’re expecting a motivational album from Avantasia, you’ll get it. If you want ballads, you’ll get them. But reducing A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society to a single universe would be pure madness as this album is so rich.
85/100