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Avantasia: Here Be Dragons
 It's been a few albums since I last listened to Tobias Sammet's Avantasia, but with their brand new release Here Be Dragons, it has made me stop and think that I might have to go back and fill in the gaps of what I've missed from this fun metal project. As always, Tobias likes to gather as much star power as he can to help him along vocally to tell his stories, and that is indeed the case here as well.
Right off the bat, Sammet's engaging vocal drives the upbeat "Creepshow", a bouncy slice of melodic metal complete with '80s pop hooks, not unlike some of the anthems delivered by the likes of Night Flight Orchestra and Cats in Space. Geoff Tate appears for a duet with Tobias for the moody, brooding title track, which provides a great vehicle for the former Queensryche frontman. Elsewhere, Michael Kiske shows up on the fast-paced power metal track "The Moorlands", and Kamelot's Tommy Karevic belts it out with Sammet on the highly memorable "The Witch", a track with a total earworm of a chorus. Speaking of a killer chorus, check out the Pretty Maids' Ronnie Atkins on the rousing "Phantasmagoria", and the great Bob Catley of Magnum lends his unmistakable voice to the soaring "Bring On the Night". For more 'soaring' metal, the grand finale "Everybody's Here Until the End" features Tobias and the great Roy Khan in a duet for another great performance. The great Sascha Paeth provides expert guitar playing throughout the album, and even though the focus is generally on the guest vocalists, musically speaking, the arrangements are extremely well done here.
There are other highlights, but I think you get the picture. As all-star collaborations go, Avantasia sits right alongside Ayreon and Star One as a fun melting pot of power metal, hard rock, pop, and symphonic rock.
Track Listing
1 Creepshow 3:09
2 Here Be Dragons 8:53 (Geoff Tate )
3 The Moorlands at Twilight 5:09 (Michael Kiske)
4 The Witch 4:15 (Tommy Karevik)
5 Phantasmagoria 3:41 (Ronnie Atkins)
6 Bring on the Night 4:08 (Bob Catley)
7 Unleash the Kraken 5:19
8 Avalon 5:35 (Adrienne Cowan)
9 Against the Wind 4:41 (Kenny Leckremo)
10 Everybody's Here Until the End 5:21 (Roy Khan)
Added: March 24th 2025
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score: 
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 202
Language: english
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Avantasia: Here Be Dragons
Posted by Aaron Steelman, SoT Staff Writer on 2025-03-25 15:11:48
My Score: 
Well, Tobias Sammet is back with another Avantasia album, and he’s once again brought a host of guests with him, including Geoff Tate, Michael Kiske, and Bob Catley.
Instead of going through each of the tracks, I’ll just say that this album is fun. It’s what you’d expect from Avantasia: bombastic and almost operatic power metal with some glam thrown in here and there, especially on tracks like “The Witch.” I enjoyed it, but after multiple listens not a lot stuck in my head, which I find fairly typical with albums of this genre.
The album features excellent artwork by Rodney Matthews and comes in a variety of formats, including single-, two-, and three-CD releases. Both the two- and three-disc editions include instrumental versions of the songs and additional art. The three-disc edition also has some live performances from previous tours, demos of songs from Here Be Dragons, and what appears to be one original tune.
I’m giving the album 3.5 stars. If I were more of a fan of this type of metal, I could easily see this being a 4 star recording. Give it a spin.
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