4. Avantasia – “Moonglow”

Twenty years ago, Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet had a vision to create a rock opera. Not opera in terms of orchestration or symphonic styling, but opera in terms of multiple distinct vocalists playing specific parts and telling a story. He recruited Michael Kiske (formally of Helloween), Bob Catley (of Magnum), Sharon Von Atten (of Within Temptation) and the late great Andre Matos; and Avantasia was born. Twenty years later, this side project now over shadows Tobias’ day job and has become a juggernaut headlining arenas and festivals across the world. Every few years, he threatens to put it on hiatus because of the sheer scale of the endeavour and then he changes his mind because he has written material that fits Avantasia better than it does Edguy.

“Moonglow” is business as usual as the regular cast members Catley, Kiske, Geoff Tate (ex-Queensyche) and Eric Martin (Mr. Big) are all present and correct. This time around Tobias has also gone home grown and added the Teutonic trio of Blind Guardian’s Hansia Kursch, the coarse strangulated yelps of Kreator’s Millie Petrozza and the sultry tones of Candice Night (Ritchie Blackmore’s misses). “Moonglow” is big, pompous, overblown and utterly wonderful. It’s like the best musical ever, packed to the gills with massive chorus and luscious arrangements. It is full of skyscraping melodic segments with vast harmonies and sumptuous melodies. It just sounds utterly amazing and you cannot help being staggered by both its ambition and its scale. It may indeed be cheesy, but this is the rich, luxurious cheese that you only get out at Christmas or when the Queen pops over. Sensational, just sensational.