There's a new Metal Opera in town...

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Sounding very promising! Especially that Kiske bit! And I think he added a nod to Stratovarius in the logo now.

On a side note, I guess those flattering new pictures of svelte Tolkki from his website were MySpace angles

 

[Cronopio]

I'm looking forward to this. Didn't even know he had anything in the pipeline.

01. Avalanche Anthem
02. A World Without Us
03. Enshrined In My Memory
04. In The Name Of The Rose
05. We Will Find A Way
06. Shine
07. The Magic Of The Night
08. To The Edge Of The Earth
09. I'll Sing You Home
10. The Land Of New Hope

Source: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=187439

 

[1928]

Wow... the artwork and titles are all badass! This is shaping up to be great! Listening to that YouTube EPK now...

 

[1928]

WOW, that Kiske bit is interesting. Reminds me so much of Aquaria. In The Name of The Rose sounds like it'll be a good tune; Elize has an awesome voice (not bad on the eyes either!).

The part around 2:00 sounds like Tolkki got a lot of inspiration from Luca Turilli's cover of March of Time, haha... but this is really sounding good, I'm surprised! Let's just hope the whole album is good... fingers crossed.

 

[Andiferum]

Oh, it's another Tolkki project? Expectations just plummeted.

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

I wish Symfonia had a second album

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Well that was...tepid.

I don't think Tobi has much to worry about if this is his metal opera competition. I'm sure the other tracks will have much more punch to them but this wasn't Timo exploding triumphantly back onto the scene, this was embarrassingly limp-wristed.

 

[1928]

Oof. Between Tobias Sammet and this song, I'm kind of glad I seem to be dipping out of power metal these days, it's just becoming a joke. Terrible choice for a single, this isn't even good by pop rock/metal standards. Wow. Still hoping there are some blistering, high-energy power metal tunes on here...

 

[Cronopio]

Don't get it. What's the point of trying to reel in mainstream pop fans if the rest of the material's not going to be like that anyway?

 

[Kingface]

I too am very disappointed by that song. More than anything, it's just really boring and basic.

 

[Thematt202]

Wow, that was embarrassingly bad. Whoever directed that video should be fired! Timo looked so uncomfortable (and what's he doing with a strat anyway?).

 

[1928]

http://www.melodicrock.com/showcase/timotolkkiavalon-thelandofnewhope.html

Some of the samples do sound tantalizing...

 

[BodomGaiden]

gotta hear the full thing. it has promise but mostly full of balladic type stuff and lots of early Avantasia rip off (does that surprise anyone though?)

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

So this has been out for a while now. What do people think?

 

[MetalCodd]

I enjoyed it. It could easily have been a Symfonia album IMO (apart from Enshrined in my Memory). The metal opera thing seemed more for publicity's sake than anything else, or an attempt to make it look like more than just another album by Timo Tolkki. The vocal performances are bloody fantastic, though. What did make me laugh was the last song. It was such a blatant attempt to write a 10-minute Helloween epic in the vein of Halloween or Kot7K. It was especially funny because of who was singing on it. If you like melodic/euro power metal you will like this.

 

[BodomGaiden]

Is it me or is the song We Will Find a Way sound incredibly similar to Breaking Away? Some decent songs are on here though not too keen on actually purchasing the whole thing.

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Given this album several spins now and ... urgh. It's just bland and lifeless. I don't doubt the talent of each individual contributor but together this sounded very cookie-cutter, and generic and devoid of epicness. Symphonic power metal at its simplest and metal opera at its most borderline definition. It's not dreadful but it falls way short of expectations. Shame the cover art is the best bit about this album! Big props for Timo to bounce back and at least try but he should take his time at Strato and Symfonia as his legacy and let this become a footnote.

 

[1928]

I think I listened to this album once and didn't even finish it. Dom sums up my thoughts on it, except I do consider it dreadful! Some good ideas and melodies scattered throughout the album but, much like Avantasia's latest album, it's just marred by a bunch of uninspired, bland music...