BravePicks 2016 - AVANTASIA's Ghostlights #31
December 1, 2016, 8 years ago
Another gruelling year of heavy metal mastery is almost over! And all the votes are in and the compiling is complete! It's time to celebrate the winners and call out the not-so winners! So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2016 throughout December! And once again our devout scribes put their collective metal minds together to build the ultimate lists including individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments, Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2017? and Metal Predictions For 2017. All will be showcased come the New Year!
'Tis the season to commence the good, bad and ugly of 2016! Let’s rock!
BravePicks 2016
31) AVANTASIA – Ghostlights (Nuclear Blast)
In February, Ghostlights, entered the official charts in 17 countries on three different continents! Aside from mastermind Tobias Sammet, Ghostlights featured an incredible featured 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.
BraveWords Carl Begai spoke to Sammet earlier this. He writes:
Legend has it that The Metal Opera was meant to be a one-off, but 15 years and a loyal international fanbase later Avantasia have unleashed their seventh official studio album, Ghostlights. To say Sammet is excited is an understatement, and he has every right to be when riding the high of an album that's as Meatloaf / Savatage theatrical as it is trademark Tobias Sammet metal.
"Yes, absolutely, but it wasn't meant to be like that," Sammet insists. "There was no masterplan. A lot of journalists have asked if I intended to make this such a big-sounding theatrical record, and the answer is no, I didn't intend anything. I didn't even know where this would bring us, I didn't even push the music in a certain direction. The music was dragging us in a certain direction and that's probably the most innnocent and best approach you can have when writing music. Just do it, enjoy it, feel great while doing it, and see what comes out in the end."
Read the entire feature here.
In his 9/10 review, scribe Nick Balazs wrote:
Ghostlights is the best Avantasia album since the Metal Operas first sent a ripple in the power metal world 15 (!) years ago. Listening to Tobias’ weekly radio show, you reach a better understanding of where the guy comes from. The dude loves ‘80s melodic hard rock, glam metal, AOR, Helloween (obviously), and…Meat Loaf. What we get with Ghostlights is a varied album that’s not different just for the sake it, and if any doubters thought Tobi no longer had the ability to put the “pow” in power metal, rest easy friends because he reminds why people hold the Metal Operas near and dear to their heart.
Read more here.
BravePicks 2016 Top 30
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31) AVANTASIA – Ghostlights (Nuclear Blast)
