Reviews list for Avantasia - Ghostlights (2016)

The Ghostlights saga consisting of this album and the previous one The Mystery of Time mark the best balance between complexity and simplicity that I enjoyed when I was listening to Avantasia 10 years before this review. And I still love it! This also makes up for when founder Tobias Sammet transfered pretty much all the power metal from his then-main band Edguy to Avantasia, turning Edguy into more of a hard rock/metal band. Ghostlights can very much brush aside the mistakes from Edguy's last few albums, and it still holds the reign as the best album by Avantasia and any project by Tobias Sammet! There is more lively punch, and the guest vocalists (a typical aspect for the project) add to the theatrical vibe. Sure there might be some simplicity, but it's all balanced out by the large emotion.

Some of the f***ing best writing by Tobi occurs in this offering. There's a lot more of the symphonic power metal you would expect from Avantasia with only slight touches of old-school hard rock/glam metal, making tunes of metallic variation. Besides Tobi and co., a few songs have guitarwork by Bruce Kulick and Oliver Hartmann, totally crushing it with their riffs and leads. And there's some great guitar by Sascha Paeth too. Everything sounds so catchy and powerful, giving the songs more life. If you're listening at home via speakers, it would be like watching a movie, or at least hearing a movie.

Opening track "Mystery of a Blood Red Rose" is filled with soulful majesty in the strings and a catchy chorus. This more hard rock-ish sound is almost like Meat Loaf (RIP). In fact, they were planning on having Meat Loaf guest appear in that song, but that never came through. So it became just a solo song for Tobi. "Let the Storm Descend Upon You" follows, and it's a massive 12-minute epic! There's killer riffing and synths alongside vocals that includes the album's first guest vocalists; Jorn Lande (ex-Masterplan), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), and Robert Mason (Warrant). Things starts off brooding before building up gradually to the great climax, all while staying upbeat. So glorious! As part of the band's more ambitious motives, they include a couple slow songs such as "The Haunting", perhaps the best song in that category, sounding theatrical and including guest vocals by Dee Snider (Twisted Sister). Then "Seduction of Decay" is more progressive, even more so with the vocal work by Geoff Tate (ex-Queensryche).

The speed then comes back up with another grand highlight, the title track. It has some of the best melody, and the singing by Michael Kiske (Helloween) rules as he alternates with Lande. Another one of my favorites with nothing weak about it! Next up, "Draconian Love" has some haunting hypnotic verses sung by Herbie Langhans. Those vocals by Herbie remind me of Type O Negative, although he has a greater, more varied vocal range, proven when he later joined Firewind. The chorus explodes into great dynamics. "Master of the Pendulum" is another kick-A track featuring the talented Marco Hietala, formerly of Nightwish. On top of that, both the song and its title have total Nightwish vibes, with the title similar to one of Nightwish's epics, "The Poet and the Pendulum". The next song, "Isle of Evermore" is a strong ballad, better than many of their previous ballads. Within Temptation vocalist Sharon den Adel can sing greatly, but I often wonder why she only sings in the ballads, like in The Metal Opera albums. I just hope in a later album, she can sing in a heavier upbeat track. Such as "Babylon Vampyres", a rifftastic highlight with some more vocals by Mason.

"Lucifer" starts off sounding like a piano ballad with Lande's vocals then rises into great blazing speed in the guitar. Then "Unchain the Light" has an out-of-this-world chorus sung by Atkins and Kiske. "A Restless Heart and Obsidian Skies" closes the main album, sounding quite melodic with vocals by Bob Catley (Magnum) and a great chorus. As f***ing strong as the start of the album! "Wake Up to the Moon" is a bonus track that's more melodic and rock-ish with splendid vocals by many of the vocalists.

Ghostlights is a brilliant masterpiece album with all the emotion it has to offer. If you're up for a metal opera album with various guest vocalists, this is it. This is THE SH*T. I'm still shocked to have forgotten this gem for so long. A gem of ghostly melodic wonders!

Favorites: "Let the Storm Descend Upon You", "The Haunting", "Ghostlights", "Master of the Pendulum", "Babylon Vampyres", "A Restless Heart and Obsidian Skies", "Wake Up to the Moon"