Avantasia: Welcome To The Creepshow
Some of the most awe inspiring musicians in heavy metal are those individuals who take it upon themselves to create something bigger than just a band. Tobias Sammet with his project AVANTASIA has for over twenty years created albums that, even with the scope of symphonic power metal, are among the most ambitious in the genre. With full narratives spanning across multiple releases and a stunning list of music legends lending their voices throughout the years, any AVANTASIA album would be regarded as another band’s once in a career epic.
Heading into the creation of Tobias’ tenth studio album under the AVANTASIA name, he reveals that for Here Be Dragons it was time to drop the narrative approach. Opting instead for something more focused.
“It’s the first album in the history of AVANTASIA where I didn’t rack my brain about a plot because I think sometimes a plot can also be a ball ended chain creatively. I did our two previous albums to get things off my chest and process a couple of things but I needed the freedom this time. I wanted to go whether it takes me. Here Be Dragons was the perfect title for it. It was a term used on an ancient map to indicate uncharted territory and give a potential warning but for me it sounded like an invitation to adventure so I wanted to go off to where there may be dragons.”
Despite the absence of an overarching narrative for the package as a whole, Tobias still wants each song to be as layered as any song from his previous work. “They are all written in a very fantastic, picturesque language but at the same time underneath every song there is something that happens on a different level. For example The Witch at first listen may be a fantastic DIO style story about somebody walking through a forest and realising that something is here that nobody else sees. Something haunts me, and no matter how much you say it’s not there I feel it and it’s The Witch. But that song was truly born from a mild form of autumn blues I’m suffering from.”
One of the key parts of an AVANTASIA album is of course the inclusion of many different guest vocalists all lending their voices to characters within the songs. These include legends such as; Floor Jansen, Hansi Kürsch, Alice Cooper and many more. With seemingly every singer from the world of symphonic power metal more than willing to feature on an AVANTASIA album Tobias reveals how the features on Here Be Dragons came to be. “With this new album I mostly wrote a song and then considered afterwards who’s going to be on it. The only two songs where I knew immediately was Bring On The Night with Bob Catley the title track with Geoff Tate but the other songs unlike previous albums were all written with no one specific in mind. I was going through the material and thinking ‘okay this song has to be sung by Tommy Karevik, or this song was made for Michael Kiske’. So they were all picked after the songs were finished and I had already sung them but they needed another dimension.”
Ahead of the release of the album fans got their first glimpse at the more straight and punchy direction of Here Be Dragons with the single Creepshow. A more straight rock track compared to the grand scopes of previous albums which seemed to split opinion among many of AVANTASIA‘s fans. This however isn’t something Tobias cares to focus on. “Creepshow was written a couple of years ago. Back then I didn’t really know what to think about it. Although I knew it was a great song I thought maybe it’s a bit too tongue and cheek so I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate for an AVANTASIA record. Now with that new approach of letting the songs happen, seeing where they take me and having the confidence in my writing I know there is always going to be the DNA of AVANTASIA in there so I knew it would fall in place. AVANTASIA may be a fantastical universe but there is room for all kinds of things in there. I am the only one who would be able to come up with limitations so if I don’t then there won’t be any to worry about. So okay fuck it it’s an AVANTASIA song. Why? Because I say so. Some fans have this great misconception that I’m doing it for them. I hate to break the bad news but I don’t do this for anyone else except for me.”
As well as the new album UK fans of AVANTASIA have been waiting feverishly for Tobias to bring his spectacle back for a number of years now. With their London show approaching (at the time of this interview) Tobias drops some exciting details of what fans can expect if they have never managed to see the band before. “I’m going to drag the spectator to a different world. We’re going to have fireworks, a burning piano, a huge setting like a gateway to a different world. We’re not bringing a support act because we’re playing for two and a half hours, maybe three, so we’re bringing nine singers. I think The Roundhouse has quite a big stage so I can confidently say it’s going to be the biggest show that we have ever brought to England.”
While Tobias admits he’s unsure whether he will use the new approaches and ideas utilised on Here Be Dragons on a future AVANTASIA album he is more than happy with how it benefited Here Be Dragons as a whole.
“It was essential for me to approach it like this and to come up with a punchy album. It is a very coherent opus but the songs themselves are more in the foreground than ever before. Every song works individually whether it’s nine minutes or if it’s just a three minute rock anthem. It feels like a band album and that’s something I really enjoy about it. That’s why this album means the world to me because I just enjoyed doing it. I don’t know if I’m more passionate about this album than the previous album because I’m sure that that album deserved to be as passionate about it as I am about this one. But personally right now I’m very happy and enthusiastic about what I have come up with. It’s the twentieth album I’ve written now at the age of forty seven, and it’s the best album I have ever done.”
Here Be Dragons is out now via Napalm Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS118 here:
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