A lyric video for the hard-rockin’ AVANTASIA track “Invoke The Machine” – featuring Tobias Sammet and guest vocalist Ronnie Atkins of Pretty Maids – is now up on Nuclear Blast’s YouTube channel:
AVANTASIA – The Mystery Of Time
“Invoke The Machine” comes from AVANTASIA’s upcoming The Mystery Of Time album, due out in North America on April 30th.
AVANTASIA’s latest rock opera features artwork by the highly-acclaimed British fantasy artist Rodney Matthews (Thin Lizzy, Asia, Nazareth, Magnum) and includes guest appearances by the following rock & metal heavy weights: Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Rainbow, ex-Deep Purple), Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), Biff Byford (Saxon), Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween, Unisonic), Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, ex-Vengeance), Bruce Kulick (Grand Funk Railroad, ex-KISS, ex-Meat Loaf), Russell Gilbrook (URIAH HEEP), Bob Catley (Magnum), guitarist/producer Sascha Paeth, and the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg.
About Ronnie Atkins‘ guest appearance, AVANTASIA mastermind Tobias Sammet has previously stated:
“I have been a huge Pretty Maids fan since I was a teenager. I already asked Ronnie to be on the Metal Opera in 1999, but he was busy back then. Last year I saw Pretty Maids live and they were a steam train on stage – unbelievable! After the show we met and Ronnie was a great guy. Finally after 13 years, I am really proud to have him on the new AVANTASIA album. And his kick-ass performance leaves no doubt: It was a great decision to ask him!”
The Wicked Symphony and Angel Of Babylon, AVANTASIA’s last two studio albums, were released in 2010. “Dying For An Angel” (featuring SCORPIONS’ Klaus Meine), “Carry Me Over,” and “Lost In Space” videos are available for viewing on YouTube.
Tobias Sammet also fronts the high humor/high energy heavy metal band EDGUY.
NWOBHM living legend Biff Byford of SAXON will be performing guest vocal duties on the latest rock opera by AVANTASIA, The Mystery Of Time. Watch studio footage taken by AVANTASIA frontman/mastermind Tobias Sammet in Brighton, England on AVANTASIA’s official YouTube channel.
Musicians also confirmed to make appearances on The Mystery Of Time – slated for release in 2013 – include drummer Russell Gilbrook (URIAH HEEP), guitarist/producer Sascha Paeth, and guitarist BRUCE KULICK (ex-KISS/GRAND FUNK RAILROAD).
AVANTASIA’s last two albums, The Wicked Symphony and Angel Of Babylon, were released in 2010 and included guest appearances by Klaus Meine (SCORPIONS), Michael Kiske (HELLOWEEN), Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ex-ICED EARTH), Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X), and Jon Oliva (JON OLIVA’S PAIN, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, SAVATAGE) among others.
Watch Tobi’s first studio report from Germany here.
German metallers EDGUY have issued the following update:
“Edguy have just finished rehearsals for the forthcoming tour dates in Central and South America and the subsequent European dates with DEEP PURPLE and the two festivals with MOTÖRHEAD. While the Brazilian shows will be special guest shows to former GUNS N” ROSES guitarist SLASH and his solo band, in Mexico and Argentina Edguy will play full fledged headlining shows on their own! As some of you may have heard, Rocktober Festival in England unfortunately has been canceled due to organizational problems, the band is really sorry about that and promises to come back to the UK as soon as possible on their own again. Nevertheless Edguy are looking forward to heading to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina now!”
The Tuska Open Air Festival is definitely a real metal festival institution amongst all other metal festivals in Europe. This current area, Sivulahti, almost located in the heart of Helsinki, only a few kilometers away from the downtown, is a new home for Tuska for the second time. Suvilahti is more like an industrial environment with the burning and hot asphalt underfoot. When raining, at least the area won’t turn to one hell of a big mud fest.
Another thing forcing Tuska to make a change was the date. Originally the festival was supposed to be at the beginning of July, but another big more international based festival took over the date and Tuska was postponed until three weeks later. Well at least some people got pissed off at the changed date. Obviously a few band negotiations needed to start all over. Hopefully Tuska will return back to the original date.
The line-up looked once again – amazing. Megadeth and Ministry and of course the Swedish war trad metallers were headliners, but Lamb Of God had to pull out of Tuska because of the arrest of the frontman in Republic Czechia and was replaced by Finntroll and Animals As Leaders had to cancel as the band managed to miss the flight. Of course a few cult metal bands like Saint Vitus, A.R.G. could be witnessed. The festival was an utter success although the event wasn’t sold out. All in all 26,000 people visited Tuska during three days.
Metal-Rules.com was present to check out a lot of bands and enjoy the sun and rain.
Review and pics by Arto Lehtinen and Petri Da Costa
The Finnish Metal Expo has become more an indoor metal festival in the heart of the Finnish nuclear winter. The line-up of the FME 2012 offered a great and wide deal of metal from the extreme to the more AOR based approach. Even though the whole idea of the metal expedition has dried out within these years, instead bands seem to draw more interest. Nearly 4000 metal worshippers have crawled thru the wintery Helsinki to attend the Finnish Metal Expo. Here is the brief article with a lot of great pictures from The Finnish Metal Expo.
Article and pictures by Marko Syrjala and Arto Lehtinen
Waiting in line with a few of my mates was a massive experience, the hundreds of ‘Edguy’ fans waiting for the legendary power metal band hailing from Fulda, Germany.
Each one eagerly waiting for the O2 Academy to finally open their doors. Even in the cold and the snow, their spirits were lightened up by the crazy Scotsman in the wheelchair, flying up and down the crowd, doing his best power metal scream and challenging people to a drinking contest: hold the can with your teeth and lean back and drink whilst air guitaring with both hands and not dropping it. Winner gets four cans. Loved it!!! Watching people spilling drinks down themselves made I chuckle.
The German metallers, Edguy, have developed their sound from traditional German power metal more into the melodic hard rock approach. The band’s latest effort AGE OF THE JOKER is an excellent output and a testimony of the band’s skills and talents to create catchy metal with a hard rock approach. Edguy have always had the good following in Finland, but the five piece haven’t visited that often. Therefore visiting the Finnish Metal Expo was definitely godspeed for both band and above all fans. Before Edguy took to the stage, Metal-Rules.com had an excellent opportunity of talking to the guitarist of the band Jens Ludwig. So here we go.
Interview and pics by Marko Syrjala and Arto Lehtinen
While 70000TONS OF METAL, The World’s Biggest Floating Heavy Metal Festival is steaming at full speed course West through the Mediterranean Sea, they received news from their European Scouting Party. After passing through Frankfurt am Main, where they made friends with some new hopefuls that go by the name of SAPIENCY, they continued further East to the city of Fulda to meet the EDGUY! Having a feeling that there is still more in store for them, the Scouting Party continues moving East…
Make no mistake, 70000TONS OF METAL is not your grandma’s cruise. It’s also not one of the cruises that share the ship with normal cruise guests. This is an all heavy metal cruise! Can you imagine that? A whole luxury cruise ship full of metalheads? And since there is no backstage area you will have the opportunity to mingle side-by-side with the artists in this incredibly fan-friendly scenario that has no comparison. It’s like everyone has a backstage pass!
So far 37 out of a total of 40 bands on board are known:
ALESTORM
AMORPHIS
ANNIHILATOR
ATHEIST
CANNIBAL CORPSE
CHANNEL ZERO
CHILDREN OF BODOM
CORONER
CROWBAR
DARK FUNERAL
EDGUY
ELUVEITIE
EXCITER
GOD DETHRONED
GRAVE DIGGER
HAMMERFALL
IN EXTREMO
KAMELOT
KATAKLYSM
MOONSORROW
MY DYING BRIDE
NIGHTWISH
ORPHANED LAND
OVERKILL
PESTILENCE
PRETTY MAIDS
RIOT
SAMAEL
SAPIENCY
STRATOVARIUS
SUFFOCATION
TANKARD
THERION
TRISTANIA
VENOM
VIRGIN STEELE
WHIPLASH
70000TONS OF METAL will sail Monday, January 23, 2012 aboard the Royal Caribbean “Majesty of the Seas” from Miami FL to George Town, Cayman Islands and will not return you to the real world for four days until Friday, January 27, 2012.
Ticket prices start at US$666 plus US$289 taxes and fees per person and include all on-board entertainment, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages, all meals at the dining rooms, most on-board restaurants and even 24 room service!
What are you waiting for? You might even need a vacation from this vacation when all is said and done! Check out http://www.70000tons.com/ for more information and book your cabin NOW!
Edguy launched their European tour at Kulturbolaget in Malmoe Sweden. I was there and saw the world premier of the new tour and it was amazing. Along with Edguy were special guests Kottak and the support act Fullforce. Read below and see what happened during the show.
In Tobias Sammet’s new interview with MSN Entertainment, EDGUY’s dynamic frontman shares how he juggles two bands, relives AVANTASIA’s headlining performance at Wacken Open Air to an audience of over 100,000 people, discusses the writing process for the new album The Age Of The Joker, and reveals why the band chose to write a song about Robin Hood.
States Sammet in the following excerpt from the interview:
“If you look at the topics that are used in heavy metal songs, you come to those historical figures, like Attila the Hun or Alexander the Great, or Odin, or Thor, Humpty Dumpty, Cinderella. [laughs] Elves and dwarves and dragons, whatever is ridiculous, heavy metal bands surely have sung about it. But Robin Hood is so ridiculous, that heavy metal bands have never sung about him as far as I know. So I thought we should dedicate a song to the real true master of all swashbucklers in tights. We had a serious song, and it didn’t have a title or a topic, it was just a great song. And I thought, I’m going to make this Robin Hood. As soon as there was this shadow of Robin Hood over the song, there were so many more ideas. All of a sudden, we didn’t have to take that song so seriously anymore. It’s seriously a great song with a lot of musicianship and a great melody, but all of a sudden we were allowed to play with clichés that are used in heavy metal, that make rock ‘n’ roll and heavy metal what it is. That song is a tribute to Iron Maiden, to Rainbow, to Uriah Heep, and probably a tribute to Spinal Tap. It doesn’t really make sense, but a lot of things in heavy metal don’t make sense. That’s what’s cool. [laughs] It embraces everything that is tongue in cheek about heavy metal.”
Read the entire interview here. Watch the hilarious video for “Robin Hood” here.
The Age Of The Joker, EDGUY’s tenth studio album, will be released in North America on September 13th. Fans can pre-order it for $10 from Nuclear Blast USA’s webshop.
Members of the Hellfire Club at EDGUY.net will have the opportunity to view new promotional band photos and listen to a worldwide exclusive of excerpts from seven new songs off Age Of The Joker. If you’re not already a member, register here with a valid e-mail address.
The hilarious new video by EDGUY for the song “Robin Hood” is available for viewing here. The track comes off their forthcoming album Age Of The Joker, set for release in Europe on August 26th and in North America on September 13th.
EDGUY members and video director Oliver Sommer (Avantasia, Helloween) satirized Errol Flynn’s classic Hollywood film “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” and features bows & arrows, sword fighting, electric guitars and Marshall amps! German television actor & comedian Bernhard Hoecker stars as Friar Tuck and Maid Marian.
About the video shoot, EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet has previously stated:
“When you decide to do things like that, of course you have to be aware that you will most likely make a fool out of yourself. We had to wear tights and looked a bit like four idiots and one transvestite. But we have come to a point we don’t care so much anymore. The shooting was one of the funniest days in our career, and that means something. It was hard work: the rain, the mud, soaking wet tights, angry horses, a carriage, a lot of travesty, sword fighting, and hurting smile muscles. You gotta check it out!”
The video version of the song “Robin Hood”was cut down to five minutes, but the album version has a running time of more than eight minutes. Buy the MP3 single (available on August 9th) on Amazon.com!
Members of the Hellfire Club at EDGUY.net will have the opportunity to view new promotional band photos and listen to a worldwide exclusive of excerpts from seven new songs off Age Of The Joker. If you’re not already a member, register here with a valid e-mail address.
EDGUY have just returned from the video shoot for ‘Robin Hood’, the opening track from the band’s forthcoming new album, Age Of The Joker.
Video director Oliver Sommer (AVANTASIA, NENA, HELLOWEEN) and the band decided to satirize the Errol Flynn version, The Adventures Of Robin Hood. The miniature epic was shot in the forest with a large number of additional actors, starring German TV-comedian Bernhard Hoecker in two different leading roles.
Tobias Sammet says: “When you decide to do things like that of course you have to be aware that you will most likely make a fool out of yourself. We had to wear tights and looked a bit like four idiots and one transvestite. But we have come to a point we don’t care so much anymore. We feel like being in a luxury position where the record label gives us a lot of money to waste for really silly things like sneaking through the forest and looking like idiots. The shooting was one of the funniest days in our career, and that means something. Although It was hard work – the rain, the mud, soaking wet tights, angry horses, carriage, a lot of travesty, sword fighting and hurting smile muscles. You gotta check it out!”
The single, ‘Robin Hood’ will be out on August 5th and will be available as download and on green vinyl. The video version of the song was cut down to 5 minutes, but the album version has a running time of more than 8 minutes.
Check out the single artwork below:
On August 26th, Edguy will release their brand new studio effort, Age Of The Joker. The album will be released as a normal CD and as a limited edition double album featuring six additional songs. In addition, it will also be available as a double LP. Various journalists already consider the album the heavy metal highlight of the year and one of the strongest Edguy albums of all time.
In the Hellfire Club section at edguy.net fans can listen to the worldwide exclusive release of excerpts from seven new songs in total. Three songs have been added to the playlist since the stream became active on July 4th. All you have to do is register with a valid email address or simply login if you’re already a member.
The album will feature 11 songs with a total running time of over one hour. The limited edition digipack will contain a bonus disc with six additional songs.
The album tracklist reads as follows:
‘Robin Hood’
‘Nobody’s Hero’
‘Rock Of Cashel’
‘Pandora’s Box’
‘Breathe’
‘Two Out Of Seven’
‘Faces In The Darkness’
‘The Arcane Guild’
‘Fire On The Downline’
‘Behind The Gates To Midnight World’
‘Every Night Without You’
Tracklist for the limited edition bonus disc:
‘God Fallen Silent’
‘Aleister Crowley Memorial Boogie’
‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ (SLADE cover…or to many of us Quiet Riot who covered Slade!)
‘Standing In The Rain’
‘Robin Hood’ (single version)
‘Two Out Of Seven’ (single version)
German melodic metallers EDGUY will release their new album, “Age Of The Joker”, in Europe on August 29 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Peppermint Park studio (SCORPIONS, PHIL COLLINS) in Hannover, which was previously described by the group as “a recording temple with a tremendously great-sounding room.”
According to the French edition of Rock Hard magazine, which attended a media listening session of the album on May 28 at Peppermint Park, “Age Of The Joker” will feature the following track listing:
01. Robin Hood
02. Nobody’s Hero
03. Rock Of Cashel
04. Pandora’s Box
05. Breathe
06. Two Out Of Seven
07. Fire On The Downline
08. Behind The Gates To Midnight World
Regarding the band’s forthcoming album, EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet recently said, “The new songs sound great, we have thirteen of them, and we’ll pick maybe ten and put them on the album. We have anthemic melodies, although it’s not kitsch.
“When you record anthemic music, you tend to be dangerously close to kitsch, it’s a fine line and I think we balance on that fine line pretty well.
“To cut a long story a little insignificantly shorter: I just think it is great, and that’s what counts. Real music, you know?”
“We were always striving for a powerful but natural sound. I guess we had a good sound recently, but I think there is always room to improve.
“The more I listen to what’s going on in the heavy metal world these days, the more I long for drums that sound like drums. I want them to sound powerful without sounding like Atari.”
EDGUY will embark on a European headlining tour in September with support from KOTTAK (the band fronted by SCORPIONS drummer James Kottak).
After a successful world tour with more than 100 concerts all over the globe in support of their latest release “Tinnitus Sanctus” in 2008, Edguy have entered the studio to record a new album. Still under the influence of their arena tour as special guests of “the Scorpions” and the latest “Avantasia” world tour (featuring Tobias Sammet and Felix Bohnke), Edguy feel it’s about time to squeeze their energy on tape in a recording studio again. This time the band has chosen the famous Peppermint-Park in Hannover (Scorpions, Phil Collins), according to the band ” a recording temple with a tremendously great sounding room”.
Tobias comments: “We have chosen the Peppermint Park to record the basics there. I had done a few little bits and pieces for Avantasia there, but it’s so great to record drums and stuff like Hammond B3 with a big bad fat mean Leslie there. The room is big and the sound is mean! We were always striving for a powerful but natural sound. I guess we had a good sound recently, but I think there is always room to improve. The more I listen to what’s going on in the Heavy Metal world these days, the more I long for drums that sound like drums. I want them to sound powerful without sounding like Atari. Sascha and I came to the conclusion that we have to start from scratch and do things the way they have to be done, not the fashionable way. I don’t want a distorted master-copy, just so it is loud enough on an iPhone or on PC-speakers. If you talk to your most fancy producer he will say something like: “Well, it’s the sign of the times, you have to be able to compete in the loudness war…” What the fuck?! If I want it to be loud I turn up the stereo. I want dynamics, room, a real big sound, not that distorted trendy compression. Why don’t we all move back a little and record great sounding music, not loud sounding music? Do a Google search for “loudness war” and you’ll see what I mean. Whatever, the new songs sound great, we have thirteen of them, and we’ll pick maybe ten and put them on the album. We have anthemic melodies, although it’s not kitsch. When you record anthemic music, you tend to be dangerously close to kitsch, it’s a fine line and I think we balance on that fine line pretty well. To cut a long story a little insignificantly shorter: I just think it is great, and that’s what counts. Real music, you know? We’ll keep you informed, if you want it or not!
AVANTASIA – founded by EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet – will release their new double DVD concert film and documentary, called The Flying Opera: Around The World In 20 Days, on March 18th via Nuclear Blast Records. The title will be released in Japan/East-Asia on Avalon-Marquee.
Started only as a studio project, in 2008 Avantasia embarked on a world tour to write heavy metal history. For the first time a giant all-star project like that did not only gather in the studio to record an album, but The Metal Opera went on tour to play to hundreds of thousands of fans all over the globe within just a few weeks.
On March 18th fans will get the chance to relive the experience with the 2DVD package. One DVD will feature a full concert film in stereo and Dolby 5.1, recorded during their shows at Wacken Open Air 2008 and Masters Of Rock Festival 2008, the second DVD contains a documentary, shot by a camera team that followed the giant trek around the globe to give viewers the chance to catch a glimpse of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, interview-material, the start of Avantasia and its history and all the video clips that Avantasia has ever shot.
The limited edition also contains two CDs featuring the concert and many never before seen photos.
Sammet says: “I am so proud of this DVD package and the featured footage, even though it took a little longer to finally complete it. It gives people an idea of what an impact the first appearance of Avantasia on stage had, and you will get an idea of how everything went beyond our expectations and what the roots and the seeds for the current Avantasia tour are. It portrays one year in Avantasia’s history, maybe the most important year in the project’s history because that is when a studio-project became a traveling institution. There are many Metal Operas, but we made it something real, something to take hold of. Something alive…”
