Avantasia, the metal opera project launched by Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet, spoke to Metal Blast about Ghostlights and being in Eurovision.

An excerpt below:

Speaking about things that don’t make sense. How did you end up in the Eurovision contest?!

Tobi: “We’ve just been asked to take part in the preliminary for the Eurovision song contest. It’s a very big thing and a lot of people thought ‘What the fuck are you doing!? Why are you doing it? How can you make a commercial show like that?!’ I have one life, I have one career, and I haven’t done anything like that before. If I can expose my music to so many people doing what I do… I mean, I don’t have to play music that I hate, I can play the music I want, the music I believe in, do exactly what I want, and expose it to people who’ve never heard about me (some may have). Why not do it?  I’m excited about it, let me do it, give me that stage. It’s just a normal stage, there’s nothing wrong with it. There are a couple of TV cameras, sure, but, so what? I’ve done TV things before!”

It’s great that suddenly you have the opportunity to have this music there, and that you’ll be able to expose it to more people, instead of just not going because it’s not “true”. On the contrary, trying to bring more people to enjoy this kind of music is the greatest thing that you can do!

Tobi: “Absolutely; I see myself not on a mission for my country, like some people go there with their flags and all that. The heavy metal and the hard rock world are a secret society anyway, so… well, first and foremost, I’m on a mission for myself [laughs] I don’t wanna say that it’s a mission for my wallet [laughs]”

Tobias Sammet's Avantasia is internationally one of the most successful German music acts. With his new album, Ghostlights, Tobias enters the German charts directly at number #2. But this is not enough, in the UK the album reached #3 on the national rock charts.

This is the best starting position, when Avantasia compete for the German preliminary decision of the Eurovision Songcontest in Stockholm, taking place on February 25 in Cologne. The giant rock concept doesn't fit in a certain category, mystic, magic, metal and bombast unite with epic melodies and create a spectacular firework. No surprise that many medias consider Avantasia as the most promising candidate for the contest.

"I am more than happy about this huge success of Ghostlights and the acceptance from our fans", Tobias comments.

Sammet discusses the concept behind Ghostlights - "It's scary, it's eerie... but the overall outcome is very positive." Learn more in the video below.

The new opus features guest appearances of Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Geoff Tate (Queensryche, Operation: Mindcrime), Marco Hietala (Nightwish), Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation), Michael Kiske (Unisonic, Helloween), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), Bob Catley (Magnum), Jorn Lande, Bruce Kulick (KISS), Robert Mason (Warrant), Herbie Langhans, Oliver Hartmann and Sascha Paeth.

The record contains twelve songs and was produced by Tobias and Sascha Paeth in Gatestudio Wolfsburg, Germany. Paeth is responsible for engineering and mixing Ghostlights, too. Mastering was done by Michael Rodenberg.

The instrumentalists on Ghostlights are the following:

Sascha Paeth - rhythm guitars, lead guitars, bass, additional keys
Michael Rodenberg - orchestration, keys
Tobias Sammet - additional keys and bass
Bruce Kulick - lead guitars
Oliver Hartmann - lead guitars
Felix Bohnke – drums

Tracklistings:

CD
“Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose”
“Let The Storm Descend Upon You”
“The Haunting”
“Seduction Of Decay”
“Ghostlights”
“Draconian Love”
“Master Of The Pendulum”
“Isle Of Evermore”
“Babylon Vampyres”
“Lucifer”
“Unchain The Light”
“A Restless Heart And Obsidian Skies”

2CD Digibook:
“Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose”
“Let The Storm Descend Upon You”
“The Haunting”
“Seduction Of Decay”
“Ghostlights”
“Draconian Love”
“Master Of The Pendulum”
“Isle Of Evermore”
“Babylon Vampyres”
“Lucifer”
“Unchain The Light”
“A Restless Heart And Obsidian Skies”
“Wake Up To The Moon” (bonus track)

CD2 (Avantasia live)
“Spectres”
“Invoke The Machine”
“The Story Ain’t Over”
“Prelude”
“Reach Out For The Light”
“Avantasia”
“What’s Left Of Me”
“Dying For An Angel”
“Twisted Mind”
“The Watchmaker’s Dream”
“Another Angel Down”

3CD Deluxe Edition Book (includes 68 page photo book plus karaoke version of CD1 with bonus track).

Check out the new BraveWords Avantasia feature here.