Search - Avantasia :: The Scarecrow

If you buy one album in 2008, buy this one.

Mr. Richard Vogt | NY, NY USA | 02/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tobias Sammet is the Verdi of our age. He has the broadest brush of any composer today. I don't say composer lightly. He is more than a song writer. His arrangements, chord progressions, and lyricism are unmatched by anyone. The musical complexity and variety leave you spell bound, open mouthed and filled with awe. This crazy guy has two bands: EdGuy and Avantasia and there are rumors of a third. Music pours out of him. At his live performance with EdGuy at BB Kings in New York last fall, you could hardly watch him. He was more electrified than the lead guitar, dancing on the speakers, racing from one side of the stage to the other, screaming out one hit after another. Did I say he does all the vocals in a male range rivaling Celine or Mariah. He could probably match note for note all the whining guitar rifts he writes.



So how does this album stack up. His best to date. There isn't a bad cut on the entire album. The other reviewers have mentioned all the best songs, but I encourage a listen to all of them in the order he listed them and pay special attention to "The Toy Master" where Alice Cooper (yes that Alice Cooper) sings the lead vocals. This song should be released by Alice as a come back single. It so rocks and it is so Alice on steroids.



Sammet is a god in Europe and if the USA music world werent so fixated on rap crap instead of Rock, we would all be the better for it. But hey it doesnt matter so much anymore with the music labels so out of touch with their audience. You can get this great rock music anyway. Please pay for it and support Avantasia and Sammet."

It's no Metal Opera, but it may be Sammet's best solo effort

Joseph P. Hodgson | 02/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tobias Sammet's Avantasia Parts 1 and 2 are considered to be two of the best power metal releases to ever be. The over-the-top cast and story combined with superb musicianship and Sammett's own humor are endearing and to some overshadow Sammett's work with Edguy. The fans of both releases are fiercely loyal and most would have been content with a Metal Opera Part III. Instead, Tobi decided to do something different but still under the Avantasia banner. The third album does indeed tell a story and utilizes many talented vocalists but is decidedly different. Some would say Avantasia is weakened in this form, but I will attempt to argue it is just as good and perhaps better.



I must first say I love the two previous Avantasia albums. The first album's closer "The Tower" and the second's opener "The Seven Angels" are two of the best power metal songs I've ever heard. Still, I felt there was nothing left to really explore there. Sure a third Avantasia that simply continued the story established in the first two would have probably entertained me but I imagine it would have been unable to achieve the same impact as the first two.



This new album is a more varied take. The first two contained their share of power ballads, but this one definitely has a slower tempo throughout. There are some hard-hitting and fast songs such as "Another Angel Down" and "The Devil in the Belfry" (and rest assured, both are spectacular) but the album is generally slower.



I'm actually going to stop here with the comparisons as this incarnation of Avantasia is just different and not intended to sound like the previous ones. Ultimately, this album has a lot of personality and is arranged masterfully to create a wonderful ride for the listener.



The opener is a hard-sounding rock song. Surprisingly, the first lines of the album are not song by Tobi Sammet but by Roy Khan of Kamelot. I will say both he and Jorn Lande do a great job of stealing Tobi's spotlight on some parts of this album as the two have great performances here (Lande appearing on the album more than any other singer not named Sammet). The song is a great intro for the album and sets up the general theme for it.



The album's "epic" and title track "The Scarecrow" follows. I agree with another reviewer here in that it stumbles a bit in that it sounds like Tobi forced this song to be the album's epic. It could have easily been shorter and drags a bit at times. That being said, I still get into the song as Tobi and Lande go back and forth at a rapid pace.



"Shelter From the Rain" includes Avantasia vet and ex-Helloween frontman Michael Kiske and will likely be one of the favorites of Avantasia fans. It is one of the few tracks (along with "Another Angel Down" and "Devil in the Belfry") that could be called typical Avantasia.



"Carry Me Over" sounds like an early 90's alternative ballad and is very similar to Edguy's "Save Me". It's kind of the album's guilty pleasure. As simplistic as it sounds it gets the job done. I prefer it to the track that follows, the slow piano-driven ballad "What Kind of Love." The song is basically a duet between Tobi and Amanda Somerville. I don't find it very engaging and it's definitely the album's low point. It isn't a bad song, it just doesn't do anything to make me want to come back.



"Another Angel Down" was released on the Lost in Space single so most have heard it already. It was the best song on that disc, and it may be the best song on this one as well. Just great power metal. "The Toy Master" is a song that just oozes personality as Alice Cooper takes center stage. I've got to believe Tobi wrote this song with Cooper in mind as the role is just perfect for him. Alice plays the role of The Toy Master, an evil industrialist preying on the misfortunes of the lower class, tempting them to purchase his goods in a failed attempt to find happiness. Sammet actually appears in very little of this song, just the chorus. The lyrics for this song are probably my favorite on the album as they just fit well and really bring the song to life, "Out in the cold/ I see water frozen in their eyes/ what a sorry sight/ I am willing to believe/ they would pay for a smile."



As previously mentioned, "Devil in the Belfry" is one the faster tracks. It contains some great guitar licks from Sascha Paeth. I especially love the little sweep in the middle of the chorus as the song just explodes from the speakers. "Cry A Little Over Me" is a more traditional ballad that features some nice vocal work from Sammet and Bob Catley.



"I Don't Believe in Your Love" is pretty much a straight-up rock song that has a bit of an early 90's vibe to it. I enjoy the song's imagery and the main riff is undeniably catchy. The closing track "Lost in Space" has probably been heard by most already and it hasn't changed from the single releases. I will say I enjoy the song more as a closing track than an opening one and it does a good job of finishing off the album.



So basically I just gave a track-by-track rundown of the album. That's not necessarily my preferred way of reviewing an album but I am assuming a lot of Avantasia fans who haven't heard the album yet want to know what sounds like the Avantasia they're used to, and what doesn't. Like Edguy's latest release "Rocket Ride," this new Avantasia album tones down the power metal in favor of more variety. The album is more versatile than previous efforts and its biggest strength is the arrangement. All of the tracks are in the right place and the way it starts and finishes makes me want to listen to it again. It has a lot of great hooks that should give the album a long lifespan and keep it interesting for multiple play-throughs. It definitely is one of those albums that needs to be listened to multiple times to be completely digested but once done I think most will come to appreciate it. I give it 5 stars, not because it's perfect (which it isn't, "What Kind of Love" is a bit of a dud and the title track doesn't quite accomplish what it intends to) but because it really is as good as it can be. Power metal junkies may scoff at it, but I think most rock/metal fans will find something to love in Avantasia's "The Scarecrow."

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A strong step away from the Metal Opera

J. Koo | San Diego, CA | 03/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is not the Metal Opera. Sammet says it himself in very clear terms in the booklet: "But this time I have tried to do things a bit differently: I wanted to come up with something that was more abstract and not your typical good-vs-evil fantasy stuff." I loved the Metal Opera. Both parts of it. For a guy who "can't even read scores," he did a pretty damn good job setting it up. However, I quite agree with Sammet when he says "I didn't want to keep it within the limitations of a once-upon-a-time fairy tale, and I didn't want to squeeze the story into the tight corset of pedantry." Despite the love I have for Chalices of Agony and evil power-hungry Popes and Vandroiys, I believe that the Scarecrow is the best step that Tobias Sammet could have taken for Avantasia after his two-part-clichéd-epic.



Most people who fell in love with the Metal Opera will be looking for a plot early on. Unfortunately for those who like overused fantasy cheese and fortunately for the rest of us, the "story" is nothing clear-cut or all that easy to define. Rather than Gabriel Laymann attempting to save his stepsister Anna Held, we are treated to "something metaphoric," as Sammet says, something that "wouldn't unveil and ruin the mystery of the story." As his "personal Faust-story," he is careful to keep a blend of fact and fiction and personal experience that is impossible to determine and differentiate. I like it; there is a lot of meaning to find in his strong lyrics.



The sounds in the Scarecrow are a good deal more varied when compared to the Metal Opera, which was quite strictly similar-sounding power metal (with the exception of the well-placed symphonic interludes). Mix the eastern-sounding intro to "The Scarecrow" to the unsettling Alice Cooper vocals in "The Toy Master" to the bombastic energy of the chorus of "Another Angel Down" and the variety is clear. It is quite welcome as well, especially after the Metal Opera's consistent high-pitched fantasy creatures and over-the-top epic choruses. Overall, it's a much shorter album with different aims. If this isn't clear after the first listen, the depth of the Scarecrow is not for you.



The "romantic edge" of Sammet is more than present on this album. His "romantic edge" isn't your soft, ballad-rich valley of crooning vocals and passion-dripping lyrics (though he fits a couple in), but powerful and edgy (or edguy, see what I did there?). He brings up an antecedentless "She" more than a few times over four or so songs and as only "What Kind of Love" and "Cry a Little" could be given the power ballad label, the remainder is a mixed bag of anger, denial, and at times, radio-friendly alternative metal. It's something you'll have to listen to in order to understand, but to be certain, it is an essential part of Sammet's elusive story.



Yes, if Sammet was trying to step into the mainstream, he would certainly do it with this album. "Carry Me Over" and "Lost in Space" would fare decently on the radio. His inner Hans Zimmer breaks out in "What Kind of Love." The mild chaotic insanities in the Metal Opera that were songs like "Reach Out For the Light" and "Sign of the Cross" are never attained again in this album, and considering the break from the Metal Opera, this is a good thing. The highest energy song would be easily "Another Angel Down," which, along with a few others, doesn't even try to reach for the stratosphere like in The Metal Opera.



As usual, the guest line-up is as exquisite as Sammet's own talent. Jorn Lande and Roy Khan are especially good paired up with Sammet in my opinion, and Alice Cooper essentially makes "The Toy Master." I only wish that Amanda Somerville had been given a bit more spin time, as she gives a strong performance on "What Kind of Love" but is only heard in backing vocals in the rest of the album and I believe that with Sammet's themes of love and rejection, more of the female vocal touch might be appropriate.



The Scarecrow is a great step away from the overblown Metal Opera that, while great, did indeed impose a few limitations on Sammet's clear musical and compositional talents. A simple but incredibly vague plot along with a mixed bag of somewhat unfocused sounds of music make this album what it is. It is a strong album and though it does somewhat bear the mark of the dreaded sophomore release, it is definitely a keeper and though it may dispossess many members of the Avantasia following, it will certainly open up a new audience for Sammet's next endeavor (which will hopefully be sooner than three years, but no rushing though).



9/10

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