I was a bit skeptical on this album, before I got it, 'cause I expected an Edguy album with different musicians. Even though the name of Michael Kiske (or Ernie!...) was tempting, I didn't even want to give it a try.
But things changed: I got the CD and I listened to it once. I thought it was cool. On the second pass, my opinion changed a lot!
But let's take things one by one. First of all, Avantasia is very different from Edguy. I would classify it more as a Heavy Metal album than Power Metal. The songs are mostly mid-tempo with fast tendencies and with heavy riffs by Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray). Tobias' keyboards and orchestrations play a lead role in the album, but they don''t become annoying or too much (like in Rhapsody for e.g.), but keep the melodic/catchy style Tobias has in Edguy.
As you may know, this is a Metal opera and so naturally it has with many roles in it. Tobias plays the main part, of novice Gabriel and there are many other famous singers playing the other roles. But the most important appearence is the one of Michael Kiske (with the nickname Ernie), who after many years sings in a Metal album. His voice remains as magical as ever, without loosing its qualities, and sounding more mature. Other singers who participate are David DeFeis (Virgin Steele), Andre Matos (Angra), Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray), Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation) and Rob Rock (Rob Rock, Warrior).
As a whole, Avantasia is a complete album, and all songs manage to have a very good quality, with Farewell (listen to Kiske at the end of the song) and the title-track, Avantasia, standing out. An excellent work, and a nice surprise for me!
P.S. This is the first part of the Metal opera. The second will follow soon.