Ghostlights Avantasia 2016 Nuclear Blast Records Avantasia is the Metal Opera side project of Edguy’s Tobias Sammet, who uses his downtime from Edguy to create the Metal Opera that is Avantasia. Avantasia features many different guest musicians, from vocalists, through guitarists and drummers with each album telling a story through each song. Ghostlights is the 7th studio album from Avantasia and concludes the story started with 2013’s The Mystery of Time in which we find the protagonist Aaron searching for the truth through a series of philosophical questions posed by important figures in his life, from scientists to spirits. The production of Ghostlights was conducted by Sammet himself along with long standing studio partner Sascha Paeth and between them, Ghostlights sounds not just epic, but soars from dizzying heights to melancholic lows. The production on Ghostlights feels much warmer and grandiose than it did on The Mystery of Time, because of this Ghostlights is a massive improvement on the previous album, the guests are better suited to the music and the overall quality of the songs are much better. The lead single from Ghostlights was Mystery of a Blood Red Rose and was also a contender for the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. For Mystery of a Blood Red Rose, Sammet originally wrote the song with Meat Loaf in mind as the guest. However, this didn't come into fruition with Sammet opting to sing the song himself. Mystery of a Blood Red Rose is an extremely catchy song that will have you hooked and you get the feeling that with Ghostlights, Sammet has outdone himself. A host of stellar musicians have been recruited for Ghostlights; a welcome return to the Avantasia fold for Jorn Lande who sadly didn't appear on The Mystery of Time. Lande's powerful voice only serves to add to the theatrical and dark themes that run through Ghostlights, with Lande playing the part of Temptation in Let the Storm Descend Upon You , the roaring Lucifer and the epic title track sung with the instantly recognisable voice of the ex-Helloween man, Michael Kiske. Two vocalists who make their Avantasia debut with Ghostlights are Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and ex-Queensryche and current Operation: Mindcrime vocalist, Geoff Tate. Dee Snider guests as Nightmare on The Haunting and at first listen, Snider's voice is a million miles away from his work with Twisted Sister. Snider's voice is creepy, dark and fits perfectly with his role of Nightmare, although at times you would never recognise it to be Snider. Geoff Tate plays the role of the second Scientist on the superb Seduction of Decay. Seduction of Decay is a Rage for Order sounding song that showcases Tate's voice perfectly with a voice that has not sounded this good in 20 years. Bob Catley from Magnum reprises his role as the Spirit for A Restless Heart and Obsidian Skies, Catley's voice adds an element of familiarity, warmth and a worn in sound as once more Catley delivers a beautiful vocal and an Avantasia album wouldn't be right without an appearance by him. After the title track, the next song, Draconian Love features Herbie Langhans on the vocals who sings his parts in a low tone giving Draconian Love at times a late 90's-early 2000's, Paradise Lost feel with Sammet himself singing in a higher tone, effortlessly pushing his voice into overdrive. Sammet and Paeth have excelled themselves, Ghostlights is a fantastic album of extremely well crafted, melodic songs which are full of hooks complimented with a sleek finished production. All the guests on Ghostlights step up to the plate of what Sammet expects from them with a professional and stellar performance. Ghostlights is a long album clocking in at just under 75 minutes, however, Ghostlights doesn't feel long as each song will have you utterly engrossed. 9/10 Adam Mystery of a Blood Red Rose (Sammet)
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