On March 30th the new AVANTASIA album, The Mystery Of Time, will hit stores. In April, Avantasia will set off on their European leg of the Mystery World Tour. Management has been informed that the first show in Switzerland, on April 13th, is sold out. Swiss Avantasia fans can still get tickets for the second night in Pratteln. Check the official Avantasia site here for details.

The Mystery World Tour 2013 European leg:

April

13 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
14 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
16 - Milan, Italy - Alcatraz
18 - Ludwigsburg, Germany - MPH Arena
19 - Kaufbeuren, Germany - All - Karthalle
20 - Fulda, Germany - Esperanto Halle
22 - Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
23 - Hamburg, Germany - tba
25 - Oberhausen, Germany - Turbinenhalle
26 - Lichtenfels, Germany - Stadthalle

BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai recently attended a listening session for The March Of Time and spoke with Avantasia founder/frontman Tobias Sammet. An excerpt from the story is avialable below:

As a rock opera, The Mystery Of Time earns its stripes right out of the gate with 'Spectres' (featuring Joe Lynn Turner). It's very easy to imagine the song as a theatre piece, essentially welcoming people to the show and setting the stage for everything that follows.

"I would love to say that I was thinking that way, in terms of theatre, but to be honest, no, it didn't enter my mind. I wrote 'Spectres' and I just knew it should be the opening track; I never said 'Now I'm going to write the opening track.' I just thought 'This is the way an album should start.'"

And if we follow this theatre thread, 'The Great Mystery' (featuring Byford, Turner and MAGNUM's Bob Catley) is the right amount of over-the-top MEAT LOAF-flavoured bombast to close the album...

"That's definitely on purpose," says Sammet. "It's a funny thing because Amanda (Somerville/vocals) and everybody were doing the choirs and we sing 'End of chapter one..! One!' at the end of the song. It was so Monty Python that we laughed ourselves to death."

The Mystery Of Time sees the return of ex-HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske ('Where Clock Hands Freeze', 'Dweller In A Dream'), who has been a part of the Avantasia roster since The Metal Opera release in 2001. Sammet can take equal credit with GAMMA RAY frontman Kai Hansen for continually bringing Kiske back to the realms of metal even though he was quite vocal upon leaving Helloween in 1993 about just how much he disliked the personalities and associated baggage within the metal scene.

"The fan in me was thanking the manager in me for bringing Kiske in," Sammet laughs. "When I was on stage singing with him on the last Avantasia tour, I was just a witness to just how great a singer he truly is. He's a cool guy, we're good friends, and I'm happy that he's so happy right now. He's found peace with the scene, I think, and he understands that not everything about metal is satanic and bad. Michael still dislikes the satanic aspects of the scene, but I think he was taken by how warm the welcome was when he came out on tour."

Click here for the complete story.