{"id":28877,"date":"2013-04-14T06:40:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-14T11:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=28877"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:35:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:35:09","slug":"avantasia-the-mystery-of-time-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/avantasia-the-mystery-of-time-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Avantasia | The Mystery of Time<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nikiforos Skoumas<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"AvantasiaIt has been almost three years since Tobias Sammet released his arguably most ambitious creation in rock, the simultaneously marketed \u2018twin\u2019 albums The Wicked Symphony<\/em> and Angel of Babylon<\/em> by Avantasia. Despite the outstanding all-star rock\/metal cast and the mammoth arena tour that followed, Tobias could not have any more down to earth at the time. Not only did he feel that staging another full-cast Avantasia world tour was nearly impossible, but also the recording future of Avantasia would be very much in doubt. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, within the first quarter of 2013, we are guided into another chapter of Avantasia, titled The Mystery of Time<\/em>, and a subsequent world tour already is confirmed. The Mystery of Time<\/em>, being a single-CD release of 10 songs is bound to fall a bit short compared to its epic 22-track predecessor. Still, The Mystery of Time<\/em> is supported by a physical full-piece orchestra score, unlike previous Avantasia albums, and the novelties, by no means, stop there. <\/p>\n

The vocal spectrum of The Mystery of Time clearly leans toward AOR and hard rock, featuring such legends as Joe Lynn Turner, Eric Martin, Bob Catley and Ronnie Atkins, as well as Michael Kiske and Biff Byford. And the remarkable female vocals of Cloudy Yang, an indispensable musical factor to the appeal of the new Avantasia album, is a counter-balance to the overall rock testosterone.<\/p>\n

The album opens on the up-tempo symphonic rockers \u201cSpectres\u201d and \u201cThe Watchmaker\u2019s Dream\u201d in the definitive, post-2005 Avantasia style. Yet the adult-oriented rock tracks that follow, \u201cBlack Orchid\u201d and \u201cSleepwalking\u201d are the ones that clearly define the musical orientation of The Mystery of Time<\/em>. Equally important is the 10-minute melodic hard rocker \u201cSavior in the Clockwork,\u201d which features an opening riff that carries the sweet scent of Whitesnake\u2019s \u201cBad Boys.\u201d The following track \u201cInvoke the Machine\u201d opens on a technical metal riff, but it also turns AOR in the process, followed by the emotionally charged \u201cWhat is Left of Me,\u201d which is led by Eric Martin. <\/p>\n

Credit is due to Tobias for the odds he is placed against. The task clearly is to draw as many fans of AOR, hard rock, power metal and symphonic metal onto a single album, given no more than 10 songs. Because of this, Tobias very much delivers the goods in the best possible manner. Finally, to the die-hard fans of the first two Avantasia albums who wonder whatever happened to the METAL OPERA<\/em>, Tobias honestly answers that question on the cover of the new album The Mystery of Time – A ROCK EPIC<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Genre: Symphonic metal, melodic hard rock, AOR<\/p>\n

Line Up:
\nTobias Sammet \u2013 Vocals & Bass
\nSascha Paeth \u2013 Guitar
\nMiro Rodenberg \u2013 Keyboards
\nRussell Gilbrook \u2013 Drums
\nJoe Lynn Turner \u2013 Vocals
\nBiff Byford \u2013 Vocals
\nMichael Kiske \u2013 Vocals
\nCloudy Yang – Vocals
\nRonnie Atkins \u2013 Vocals
\nEric Martin – Vocals
\nBob Catley \u2013 Vocals
\nArjen Lucassen \u2013 Guitar
\nBruce Kulick \u2013 Guitar
\nOliver Hartmann \u2013 Guitar<\/p>\n

Track list:
\n01. Spectres
\n02. The Watchmakers’ Dream
\n03. Black Orchid
\n04. Where Clock Hands Freeze
\n05. Sleepwalking
\n06. Savior In The Clockwork
\n07. Invoke The Machine
\n08. What’s Left Of Me
\n09. Dweller In A Dream
\n10. The Great Mystery<\/p>\n

Label: Nuclear Blast Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nikiforos Skoumas – Columnist — It has been almost three years since Tobias Sammet released his arguably most ambitious creation in rock, the simultaneously marketed \u2018twin\u2019 albums The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,1940,109,2847,961,3161,334,1100],"class_list":{"0":"post-28877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd","9":"tag-eric-martin","10":"tag-joe-lynn-turner","11":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","12":"tag-michael-kiske","13":"tag-nuclear-blast-records","14":"tag-review","15":"tag-symphonic-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}