Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia new record Here Be Dragons (Napalm Records) continues their bombastic brand of Meatloaf Metal. It is the German metal outfit’s tenth album and it is typically intense and grand in scale.

Here Be Dragons is a whirlwind of melodramatic hooks, rising crescendos, and soaring guitar solos. ‘Creepshow’ is amongst the catchiest songs they have done and is a taster for the bombast to come. The nonstop “The Moorlands At Twilight’s” is a barrage of excitable metal and mystical, otherworldly lyrics that is very silly but you cannot help but get swept along for the ride. A whirlwind is whipped up in “Phantasmagoria,” a full-throttle number of nightmarish visions and pounding rhythms featuring Ronnie Atkins. 

Everything bigger than everything else is the name of the game. The most ambitious moment here is “Avalon” – its symphonic flourishes, cinematic scale, and Adrienne Cowan‘s vocals help it shine. The title track is a prog epic with Geoff Tate (ex Queensryche) on vocals, it goes big and Tates vocals lend it weight but it is overlong and too lyrically dense. 

Tobias does not shy away from cheese and the top cheddar on offer is the 1980s, Jim Steinman does AOR stylings of “Bring On The Night,” with vocals provided by Magnum‘s Bob Catley – all that is missing is a music video full of shoulder pads and power grabs. The tenth and final track “Everybody’s Here Till The End” cranks it up a notch, and is slightly overripe schmaltzy ballad done in a suitably huge fashion. 

Subtlety is not a word in Tobias’s vocabulary. Avantasia’s tenth album is a typically huge collection of melodramatic metal, with plenty of fire and fury to sink your teeth into. 

Buy it here:
https://napalmrecordsamerica.com/avantasia

7 / 10
THOMAS THROWER