Aina - Days of Rising Doom (2003)

The early part of this century introduced a new trend in music - the Metal Opera. Avantasia were one of the first, but Aina came hot on their heels. Aina is the brainchild of Sascha Paeth, a German producer who produces such bands as Kamelot, Rhapsody and Epica, whilst also performing in Heaven's Gate. He called in some of his band mates and friends - Miro (keyboards/arrangements), Robrt Hunecke-Rizzo (drums, guitars, arrangements) and then contacted vocal coach and amazing voice, Amanda Somerville, to come up with a plot, lyrics and along the way she also invented her own language. Somerville is an American, but the "love of her life" is German, so she divides her time between both countries and coaches non-English vocalists. Teaching a new language phonetically to her choir was all in a days work for her, really. Not an epic undertaking, no, not at all. Not only did she come up with the plot, create the world, invent a language but also write a story in songs. What a woman!

Various guests were called in to play the various roles - including Michael Kiske and Tobias Sammet in the roles of Narrators (although they do sing, not talk). There's some good names in here - Simone Simons, Andre Matos, Glen Hughes and a goodly handful of ones I haven't heard of previously and also guest musicians - to play keyboards, guitars, bass or organ on particular tracks.  This undertaking took a mere 18 months of production and is a metal masterpiece.

The packaging is splendid. I have the limited edition version, which is a lovely hard back book the size and shape of a CD, with full colour illustrations, an outline of the world and introduction to the plot, the lyrics, photos of all the participants and the story of how it all came together. There are three card slots for the three cds, which does make extraction of them a little difficult, unfortunately. Still, as far as design goes, it's glorious.

"Aina Overture" is a stirring piece of classical inspiration, rising in power and force and taking on the distinctive "aina" rhythms before surging into the roar of guitars and other, more typical, metal instruments. Many of the rhythms here are repeated in later songs, making it tie together as a coherant whole.

"Revelations" is a slower song with choral accompaniment. It begins with light strumming and the Narrator, Michael Kiske, adds his lower and huskier voice to the mix. He should sing like this more often - it's rather sexy. The choir sing in the Ainian tongue. Then the prophets come swooping in, all drama and cautions:

"The Holy Voice calls down its warning, Don't turn your back on what he's warning!"

Alas, King Taetus (Damian Wilson) refuses to heed their words, and denies that the peaceful land of Aina is fated to change. He has a very fine, deep voice, well suited to his kingly role.

Now we are introduced to the beautiful Oria, in "Silver Maiden". The Storyteller bespokes her beauty and loveliness, waxing lyrical about her innocence whilst accompanied by flute and other classical arrangements, along with the Angelic Choir. Then the Narrator adds his own opinions in his sweet and longing voice. There is no question about it, she is perfection above all and everyone loves her.

Okay, so the plot is a bit cheesy. But it's an album, not a novel.

Now we rage into "Flight of Torek", a rabid contrast to the soothing, slow piece of its predecessing track. Pure power metal, rampaging drums, a hint of keyboards and Tobias Sammet's somewhat aggressive edged screaming. Two brothers, Torek (Thomas Rettke) and Talon (Glenn Hughes), both are in love with Oria (but who isn't, she's perfection, clearly) and when Talon announces his betrothal to her, Torek flies into a violent rage and storms off, putting himself into exile and plotting the destruction of Aina.

Heavy tribal beats, laden with menace usher us into "Naschtok is Born". Torek finds himself a barren wasteland and a vicious people (called Krakhon) that he can take control of and twist to his savage desires for vegencence, creating the kingdom of Naschtok. And all over one woman whose voice we haven't even heard yet. Aggressive and pounding, filled with rage and anger.

Seriously, I think I've heard this story before.

Finally, evil consumes Torek and he releases "The Beast Within" becoming Sorvahr. Given the references to "the night" and the illustration, some sort of beserker werewolf. Pounding rhythms again, powerful vocals - low (but not sexy-low) rising into shrill anger. Some pretty nice vocal changes between Torek and Sorvahr (both voiced by Rettke)

Now "The Siege of Aina" begins with slow and steady guitars and a touch of keyboards. The Krakhen army meets with the chants of the Angelic Aina Choir - the guttural grunts overwhelmed by the sweet, and innocent angelic voices. Baktuk (Olaf Hayer) has a surprisingly melodic voice for the character I take to be the leader of the Krakhen. Together he and Sorvahr plot their destruction of Aina, then take on the city.

"Your doom is nigh though you see it not. Our voices ride and your hopes will rot."

 He's a nasty, gloating bastard, don't you think? And all this because his brother stole the girl he fancied!
The keyboards and guitars duel. Talon surrenders almost immediately. What a wuss. Even Sorvhar is unimpressed.
Of course, there's only one thing that Sorvhar really wants...
And Oria (Candice Night) pretty much throws herself at him to save her beloved Talon.

Okay, that's a bit nauseating... Still, completely understandable.

Now we go into "Talon's Last Hope", all proggy and keyboardy. Now, we learn that in the interim, Talon and Oria had a daughter - Oriana. Whilst Talon mourns his lost love and curses himself for giving in so easily (duh), his head of the guard/chief advisor/whatever, Tyran (Andre Matos, our sweet Avantasian elf), reassures him that all is not lost. Talon declares that Oriana must be taken somewhere safe to grow and learn for the day when she is old enough to return and fight by her father's side.

Starting with horrible noises, screams and  keyboard, the "Rape of Oria" leads into a surprisingly soft and haunting piece, where Oria sings reassurance to distract herself from the torment she must be facing.

From this vicious act comes Syrius, the "Son of Sorvahr". Sorvahr sings forth his triumph at fathering a child and his army of vicious brutal monsters add their shouted. The illustrations here are really neat, showing these evil horn-helmeted creatures holding up this tiny wrapped bundle. Whilst induitably heavy and these being the bad guys, the spirited, celebratory nature of the music cannot help you feel some pride for the new father. Even if he raped his brother's wife to beget the child...

 "All beheld, my masterpiece shines!"

For a time, things seem pretty peaceful. Sorvahr's got what he wants. "Serendipity" brings back our beloved Narrator, Kiske. The lyrics are beautifully poetic and somewhat vague:

"Then the Son came to the one who'd made it come all but undone..."

"Lolae Amer" is a largely instrumental and choral piece. Beautiful, haunting. Inspires imagery of a peaceful forest glade and a pond. Where two young lovers come together. It is sweet and romantic, but there is a darker edge to it. Oriana, in her peaceful exile, has found love:

"Perfect, yet so completely strange at the same time. I've never met you, the name Syrius says nothing to me..."

Yes, that's right - Oriana and Syrius fall in love.
Now, not only are the half siblings, but their fathers were brothers, so they're about as close to full siblings as you can get without actually being born to the exact same parents.
Little bit of ick here?

In "Rebellion", Talon resolves to take back Aina and gathers together his army, calling his daughter to his side, unaware that her loyalties are now somewhat twisted and divided... As befits a call to war, this is a raging, pounding song filled with inspirational guitar rifts and keyboards.

So, the battle begins and it is time to face "Oriana's Wrath". Her warriors ride to meet Syrius's, neither realising that they actually know each other. As soon as they recognise each other, they draw to a halt. Needless to say, Sorvahr is not too happy of his son's betrayal. Pretty nifty keyboard solo, and lots of aggressive, pounding guitar. Oriana is voiced by Sass Jordan, whose voice may be strong but is not particularly feminine. She's a true blooded warrior woman even if she is also known to bed strangers in the woods. Given the sorrowful ending of this song, I'm going to hazard a guess that Sorvahr killed his own son after casting him down and renouncing his name, and then in retalliation, Oriana killed Sorvahr, before rushing to cradle the head of her beloved more-than-half brother.

The war is over, but there are many dead and Oriana must have a very muddled heart. Things are at peace again, but it is time for rebuilding, repairing, patching the wounds. Here Kiske and Simone Simmons duet together, their glorious voices weaving a spell of "Restoration".

For those who have found the plot somewhat confusing, the second cd is "The Story of Aina". Largely instrumentals and re-recordings of the songs on the album, it ends with a 15 minute telling of the entire storyline, with musical accompaniment,as told by our Storyteller, Sebastian Thomson. He has a fine story telling voice, not too heavily accented but enough for my aural pleasure.
I love this line:

"There had only been an echo of a rumour of a legend..."

The story is richer in detail than the lyrics indicated and casts Sorvahr as a monstrous god-like being who reaches down and crushes the life from his son when he is betrayed.
The rest of this CD is much like what we've already heard, with single and alternate versions of selected songs, including "Rape of Oria" in Ainian (I'm guessing) and "Silver Maiden" with Amanda Somerville singing instead of Kiske.

There is also a DVD, containing a documentary on the making of Aina, which is interesting, but mostly in German with subtitles.

Overall, Aina: "Days of Rising Doom" is quite an achievement. It switches from neo-classical to power metal, to folk and the music is richly composed to heighten the experience. The cast of vocalists is impressive. Beautifully realised and very nicely done, a superb metal opera (even if the plot is cheesy).

10/10

Avantasia - the Metal Opera pt II (2002)

The story of Gabriel Laymann, the Druid Vandruiy and all the others continues in "part two".
The cast is also much the same, except this one also involves Bob Catley of Magnum as the "voice of the tree".

This one has a much more amusing cover - as it features the cast. Although I do rather wish that they had chosen to base the characters off their vocalists, because seeing Michael Kiske as the bearded, helmetted druid would have been hilarious. Maybe I shall have to do that myself. The figure at the back - Gabriel - could look a little like Tobias - from behind. The dwarf could be Kai I suppose. The others are all pointy-eared and therefore probably not part of the main cast (although I'm guessing the fellow at the front is Elderane).

Here's a picture someone did of Vandroiy.

"Seven Angels" opens with the haunting choirs of the Believers (not the band). The three "bad guys" are disbelieving of their failure, whilst the hero - Gabriel Laymann, is whisked away to the beautiful city of Sesidhbana. This song is epic, as we have come to know and love with Avantasia - some slow and mellow bits, monumental builds, great guitaring and sophisticated drumming.
And very long (fourteen minutes).
But you hardly notice, cos it changes styling and vocalist so many times you start wondering if its changed tracks and you've not noticed.

In "No Return" Vandroiy and Gabriel sing in harmony again, celebrating the beauty of the city in which Gabriel now finds himself. To add to the awesome male vocals, we have Matos adding his touch as well. Three of my favourite vocalists in one song... oooh, it's enough to give me chills! Anyhow, Gabriel decides he wishes to laern more about this spiritual world in which he has found himself.

Elderane is prepared to help and sends Gabriel to find the Tree of Knowledge. So, in "The Looking Glass" Gabriel makes the journey to the tree that speaks with Bob Catley's voice, and gets somewhat more confused, because the tree is rather cryptic... (and has somewhat broken grammar too)

"As long as you long for the whole, you can't get a part of at all
How proud would the buildings of Rome look without all single stones"

This is a faster paced, catchy song - rather reminscent of Edguy, actually.

Piano leads us "In Quest For". Here the Tree of Knowledge sings. He still has broken grammar "you're accused for heresy"? Hehe, you're singing a duet with a tree, Gabriel. Anyhow, he looks into the tumultuous waters of a lake and sees someone that resembles his aged mentor, Jakob. no wait, it is Jakob - but as a young man. It's a nicely mellow piece, and a good bit of a calm before the storm that is "The Final Sacrifice", in which we learn more about Jakob's past.Having heard this song an hour ago on the other album, I don't feel I need to say much mroe about it here.

Meanwhile, a bishop, a monk and a priest are lost in "Neverland".

Contains such awesome lines as:

"I know less than all but more than many who know less..."

It sounds a little like Gabriel is taunting them...

More piano leads us into the gentle "Anywhere" in which Gabriel finds himself thinking about Anna again, and also about how he wishes to free the part of Jakob's soul that was caught in the lake.Sammet is pretty good with the ballads, his voice isn't quite as sweet and pure as Kiske's, but it is definitely powerful and emotive. He doesn't share this song with anyone.

Taking his new goals to Elderane, he learns how to free Jakob's soul from being rtapped under Rome - where it is kept captive in "The Chalice of Agony" and guarded by a fearsome beast. Gabriel and Regrin set about this mission using the seals to open the gate. They release the souls and usher them in to Avantasia. The beast comes awake and ravages at them, Gabriel escapes but Regrin perishes.
(Poor Kai - why is it always the dwarf that is considered less important to the plot?).
As far as songs go, it's pretty catchy - nicely melodic and fast paced.

At this point, Gabriel is sent back to the real world. He's been away a while - I hope Vandroiy has been watching his body well. In "Memory", Vandroiy convinces Gabriel to head to safety, whilst he will rescue Anna. He hires some men and goes there to find that Jakob (soul restored) is waiting there to help him. Together they rescue Anna, but in the process Vandroiy is killed.
(And now Kiske - why are you killing your metal idols? Or their characters, anyway).
It's heavy and fast, and kinda dramatic in parts.

And Anna mourns Vandroiy in the next song - "Into the Unknown". She finally gets to sing again!
Now we get a lovely duet/ballad between Gabriel and Anna and a melodious conclusion to a magnificiant project and an epic album.

Brilliantly conceived and well organised. Sure, the plot is a bit crazy, but it's many steps better than Skylark's confusing concept album, and so masterfully cast that who cares if its a little bit cheesy.

I'm gonna give this 10/10 too, and then maybe listen to the first track again.

I think I feel some fanart coming on...

Avantasia - The Metal Opera (2001)

Tobias Sammet's Avantasia would have to be one of the most awesome projects this century. His idea - to get together a group of guest musicians - with many superstars of  the European Metal scene and produce an album. And oh, what an album it is!

I remember when I first heard about it. I don't think I have ever ordered a CD so fast, nor been so impatient waiting for it to arrive. Oh, the ripping off of the plastic, the laying it in the cd player (I'm not sure I even had a computer then), hearing it for the first time...

This album is, in one word, EPIC.

Here's the Cast:
Tobias Sammet (from Edguy) as Gabriel Laymann
"Ernie" as druid Lugaid Vandroiy*
Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) as Regrin the Dwarf (a dwarf! Ha, go Kai!)
David DeFeis (Virgin Steele) as Jakob the Monk
Andre Matos (Angra) as Elderane the Elf (perfect, he does have the voice I would associate with the elven-kind)
Oliver Hartmann (At Vance) as Pop Clemes IIX
Sharon Del Adel (Within Temtpation) as Anna Held
Bob Rock as bishop Johann Adam von Bicken
Ralf Zdiarstek as bailiff Falk von Kronberg
Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius) as the Voice in the Tower
And playing the instruments:
Henjo Richter - rhythm and lead guitars
Markus Grosskopf (Helloween) - bass guitar
Alex Holzworth - drums
Frank Tischer - piano on one track
Norman Meiritz - acoustic guitars on one track
Tobias Sammet - piano, keyboards and orchaestration - because he's THAT awesome
Jens Ludwif - lead guitars on a couple of tracks

Wow, quite a star-studded line-up! From what I understand, Markus and Kiske got on okay, despite Kiske's earlier "divorce" from Helloween. And he and Kai still get on well, and have banded together once more.

The cover is pretty awesome. There's witches and jesters and spooky woods and a very cool emblem in the centre. Very High Fantasy. Inside are the lyrics and a rather lengthy synopsis of the album's plot, which I should really read some day. Like Right Now would be good.

Okay - before the Metal Opera begins, Gabriel is working as an inquisitor with Friar Jakob. He has been commended for getting confessions and so forth, and has been summoned to see the latest suspect - which turns out to be his stepsister, Anna, who was more like a real sister to him.

Could she really be a witch?

He seeks advice from his mentor, Jakob, and finds Jakob in the library. Jakob is acting a bit suspiciously, and has acquired a new book. A sinister book. Troubled by this, Gabriel later sneaks in and sneaks a peek at it. It is Old. And potentially Evil. And has a message at the back from a druid called Lugaid, addressed to the witch, Else, whom has recently been condemed. Also, a cryptic message about Rome that he doesn't understand. However, after reading the book, Gabriel finds his fingers permanently marked - and it turns out that the Friar had booby-trapped the book. Thus has Gabriel broken his trust and thus is to be arrested.

When they come to take him away, the old Friar says nothing just stares at the floor in silence.
And that is where the story begins:

Like all good Euro metal albums, we have an atmopsheric instrumental "Prelude" to welcome us in.

Then it rips into the inspiring "Reach Out for the Light".  Imprisoned in his dreary cell, Gabriel watches as his cell-mate paces, and together they share their stories. It turns out, his companion is one of the last Celt druids, no less than Lugaid Vandroiy. This is a duet between the two, aka Kiske and Sammet. Together their voices combined are a powerful force - especially with a chorus behind them. Noone has a voice like Kiske - it is quite unmistakable.

In the next track, "Serpents in Paradise", Gabriel begs forgiveness - from Else for her death  and worries about Anna. He pleads Vandroiy for help. This intersects with Jakob taking the stage, himself awash with  guilt over his betrayal of the novice, whom he loved like a son. This is a rather more aggressive song, filled with tortured anxieties.

In "Malleus Maleficarium" things take a turn for the sinister as Gabriel remembers Else's trial - of how she was threatened and killed. The music swells ominous and poisonous around the hiss/snarled vocals.

It splinters and unleashes "Breaking Away", which also brings Lugaid back on stage. Another epic and inspiring song. Realising that the only way to help Anna, and themselves, is to escape, Vandroiy and Gabriel stage a daring escape, the old druid knocking out the guard and the two of them fleeing the castle. However, Vandroiy urges him that they cannot rush straight to Anna's aid, and he must, for the time, bid her "Farewell" in a beautiful, and haunting, combining the three finest vocalists on the album -  Sammet's slightly raw edge lends itself well versus Den Adel's sweet tones, and Lugaid provides back-up vocals, softening Sammet's edges. Sadly, Den Adel is under-used and this is her only track on the album.

Meanwhile, in Rome.

Another heavier and nastier sounding number, "The Glory of Rome" brings the bailiff and the bishop together as they welcome the addition of Jakob and his book. Secret documents have been located - secrets revealed. By bringing seven seals together - the seals of Holy books, then ultimate wisdom, illumination and truth shall be revealed. The racing drums and snarled edge to the vocals suggest that it is not a kindly conversation.

The seals are brought together, and a new door opens, into the creepy and haunting little passage of "In Nomine Patris", over before it really begins.

For, Avantasia is, as you may have guessed, a spiritual world - not really Heaven, because it's a bit more fantasy-esque than that (although I suspect itmay be a kind of Heaven for Tobias) and it can be entered in two ways - spiriutally, by having your spirit transcend through a special place (and probably a ritual too) or physically - which is what happens should all seven seals be put together.

Therefore, many miles away from Rome, Gabriel and Vandroiy are in the forest. They have just been attacked by bandits and left for dead. The only way they can help Anna, Vandroiy declares, is if he sends Gabriel's spirit to Avantasia (a dangerous enough endeavour) and he'll stay behind and make sure nothing happens to Gabriel's body, which will be left in the forest glade.

And thus we enter into the most valiant song on the album - "Avantasia". Combining the master vocals of Kiske and Sammet once more. Yeh, I'm biased. I love Kiske. So what.

A short and haunting passage heralds Gabriel's journey into "A New Dimension".

Now that he's "Inside" we have elves. And dwarves. Regrin the dwarf finds Gabriel and takes him to visit with Elderane, prince of the elves and head of Avantasia. Matos has a beautiful clear voice, that rivals Kiske's for clarity and perfection.

Anyhow, something dark is brewing in the beautiful, once-peaceful kingdom of Aina** Avantasia - Ancient Evil forces have mobilised a large army and they are reaping Terror and Destruction. In "The Sign of the Cross", Gabriel is required to join the humans and take back the seal to prevent all the nice creatures from being forgotten and vanishing***. No word on rescuing Anna. I hope she's just been forgotten and isn't being tortured for witchery as we speak. No, wait, all the bad guys are already in Avantasia, so I guess she's safe for now. This is a song with FIVE vocalists - on one hand we have the three "good guys" - Regrin, Elderane and Gabriel, on the other side we have the bishop and the pope. It's a pretty epic song.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Vandroiy is pondering the purpose of "The Tower". If all the seals are taken to the tower, then Avantasia will be forever locked. He also has a mental connection with Gabriel and pushes the young man to follow the path as the Avantasians suggest and not run off after Anna. Gabriel is a bit perplexed about how helping Avantasia can help Anna. So, I think the bad guys (the pope and the bishop) are trying to seal Avantasia forever and the others are fighting to keep it "open".

This is another complicated song, where a great deal is made about "the voice" in the Tower. Is it the voice of God? No, it's Timmo Tolkki but as the main guitarist of Stratvarius, maybe Sammet considers him a god. No wait, it appears the voice in the tower is "their father, they had broken with, because he had wanted to bring chaos to earth." So he's a devil?

Multiple vocalists, epic scale song, complicated structures and ever changing rhythms weave a damned fine symphonic power metal song.

Anyhow, it appears that Gabriel steals the seals off the Pope and runs away, dodging and weaving until he gets snatched up in an elven flying machine and thus Avantasia is saved.

Jakob bemoans:

"How could the stranger steal the seal away? Was it my fault? OR was it noone's fault?"****

...but Anna is still captive, so I guess we'll have to buy part two as well...
Actually, sod it, I'm not going to go straight on to B, I'm going to listen and review it now, because I want to know if they rescue Anna and I can't wait another 20 or so cds to do so. Plus I wanna do Aina next time round. Or Ayreon. Why are all the metal operas starting with "A"?

Then we have "Avantasia" again because it's so awesome that you shouldn't even need to flip tracks to hear it again. It's the edit version - so it's one minute shorter, not sure if there are any other differences. They should have got every vocalist to do a verse.

It is followed up by "The Final Sacrifice". This is an angry duet between Gabriel and Jakob. From the lyrics, it sounds like Gabriel has cast Jakob into Hell. I'm not overly fond of it.

Get ready for the Brimstone, getting blisters on the eyes.
The power of the spirit was their final sacrifice.

Anyhow - a damned fine album, very complex and masterfully composed and arranged by young Tobias. It's kind of funny to psycho-analyse this actually - he has portrayed Kiske and Defeis as sort of "father figures" to his young novice, and Kiske in particular is probably one of the most admired voices of metal - even if he wants to break the ties with metal and become a Rock God instead. So, one cannot help but think that perhaps this was why he created the character of Vandroiy. It was a grandiose project, and one that came to valiant fruition - and he has gone on to create further Avantasia metal operas - not just the sequel to this one but many others. They even toured! I would dearly, dearly love to see Avantasia live (with Kiske, please with Kiske).

I couldn't possibly give this epic masterpiece anything less than 10/10.

* For reasons of his own, Michael Kiske did not wish for his name to appear on this album. Possibly because he did not want to be considered to be getting back into metal. Not that his voice isn't instantly recognisable anywhere.

** Whoops, wrong metal opera, we'll do that one next time.

*** Directly quoted from the booklet. I wish someone could have done that on Earth so that we could still have some of our lost "nice creatures".

**** "...Stranger steal the seal..." wonder how many times he tripped over those words. And how come he didn't recognise his own novice?