NightK

Pois é descobri esta verdadeira obra de arte através de um grande fã de Edguy que conheci, ele mostrou-me que tinha na posse dele o Single Raro "Avantasia" de Tobias Sammet(Vocalista dos Edguy), que foi lançado em 2000.

Em 1999, na Tour Theatre of Salvation, Tobias Sammet começou a compor e escrever umas ideias para um concerto de Opera "Metal", tendo um álbum temático com Músicos convidados como objectivo. Assim que acabou a Tour, ele começou a tratar do projecto pessoal Chamado "Avantasia - The Metal Opera", falou com muitos artistas com categoria e outros com fama no mundo do metal que vieram a participar no projecto, em 2000 é lançado o Single "Avantasia - The Metal Opera", sendo o álbum lançado em 2001 "The Metal Opera Part I" e a conclusão do projecto em 2002 com o ultimo álbum dos "Avantasia" chamado "The Metal Opera Part II".

E então o que é Opera Metal?
É opera porque Avantasia tem vários vocalistas e cada um tem o seu papel na musica e na historia, mas obviamente que não é opera na sua definição clássica. Ambos os álbuns têm um enredo que é explicado num livro que cada álbum trás.
Depois da base em Opera temos o metal, Power e symphonic metal, em todo o trabalho de Avantasia temos muito power, muitas passagens de orquestra e muitas partes cantadas em coro por todos os vocalistas.

E o enredo?
Ora esse é muito complexo para por aqui todo mas encontrei um resumo que vou colocar aqui:

The main character of the story is the young Gabriel Laymann, novice of the Dominican order in the abbey of Mainz. It's in the year 1602, and together with the rest of the order, Gabriel takes part in the witch hunts. But when he is unexpectedly reunited with stepsister Anna Held, while she is waiting to be tried as a witch, Gabriel begins to doubt. He sneaks into the library, where he reads a forbidden book. His mentor Bruder Jakob notices him, and Gabriel is thrown into the dungeon. There he meets an old man, Lugaid Vandroiy, who introduces himself as a druid (Reach Out For The Light). He tells Gabriel about another dimension, the world Avantasia, which is in great danger. He offers to help rescue Anna if Gabriel agrees to help Avantasia. They manage to escape (Breaking Away), and Vandroiy takes Gabriel to an old stone pit, which hides a portal between the two dimensions, and uses it to send Gabriel to Avantasia. In the meantime, Johann Adam von Bicken, the bishop of Mainz, Bruder Jakob and the bailiff Falk von Kronberg are on their way towards Rome to meet the pope Clement VIII (Glory of Rome). With them they have the book Gabriel read. Old documents tell that the book is the last of seven parts of a seal, which will help its owner to absolute wisdom if he brings it to the tower in the center of Avantasia. When Gabriel arrives in Avantasia (Avantasia) he is welcomed by two inhabitants, the elf Elderane and the dwarf Regrin (Inside). They tell him about a war against the forces of evil, of the pope's plan and its consequences (Sign Of The Cross). If the pope uses the seal, the link between Avantasia and the human world will break down with grievous consequences for both worlds. Gabriel arrives just in time at the tower, and while the pope talks to a mysterious voice from the inside, Gabriel manages to steal the seal and, in the chaos he causes, to bring it back into the elvish city (The Tower), which marks the end of the first part. But Gabriel isn't satisfied yet. He wants to find out more about Avantasia, and so Elderane sends him to the tree of knowledge. There Gabriel has a vision of Bruder Jakob who endures great pain in a lake of flames (The Final Sacrifice). Elderane tells him about a great golden chalice in the catacombs in Rome, in which a numberless amount of tortured souls are trapped, and warns him of a beast that guards the chalice. In spite of the elf trying to discourage them, Gabriel and Regrin go back into the human world. They find the chalice and knock it over, so that many souls can escape (Chalice of Agony). The beast awakes and attacks both of them; the dwarf is killed but Gabriel manages to flee. Afterwards, Gabriel comes back to Vandroiy, who has been waiting for him. The druid now fulfills his part and sneaks into the prison by night to free Anna. There he finds a "refined" Bruder Jakob who plans to do the same. Falk von Kronberg, who has been having doubts of his own (Memory), catches them and approaches in order to arrest them. It comes to a fight in which Kronberg kills Vandroiy and then is slain by Bruder Jakob. Anna then escapes and is reunited with Gabriel, and they go together into their unknown future (Into The Unknown).

Falou-se em artistas famosos, mas afinal quem foram os "Avantasia"?
A equipa do Projecto-Avantasia:

Guitarras
Henjo Richter (Gamma Ray)
Jens Ludwig (Edguy)
Norman Meiritz
Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius)

Baixo
Markus Grosskopf (Helloween)

Baterias
Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody)
Eric Singer (Kiss)

Teclado
Tobias Sammet (Edguy)

Piano
Frank Tischer

Cantores
Gabriel Laymann - Tobias Sammet (Edguy)
Lugaid Vandroiy - Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween)
Bruder Jakob - David DeFeis (Virgin Steele)
Bailiff Falk von Kronberg - Ralf Zdiarstek
Anna Held - Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation)
Bishop Johann von Bicken - Rob Rock (Warrior)
Pope Clement VIII - Oliver Hartmann (At Vance)
Elderane the Elf - André Matos (Shaaman, ex-Angra)
Regrin the Dwarf - Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray)
Mysterious Voice of the Tower - Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius)
Tree of Knowledge - Bob Catley(Magnum)

A Obra(Tracklist):

1. "Avantasia" (demo)
2. "Reach Out for the Light"
3. "The Final Sacrifice"
4. "Avantasia" (album version)