Avantasia – Angel Of Babylon (2010)

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Being the second release of Avantasia this 2010 (by one day of separation) “Angel Of Babylon” is much less bombastic and impressive than “The Wicked Symphony”, putting this release closer to “Scarecrow” because of it’s bigger hard rock influences. All the core musicians remain the same as on “The Wicked Symphony”, and the guest musicians/vocalists list is much shorter and a bit different than for the previously mentioned album.

The first thing that came to our minds was that it was a great move that Avantasia left all these ‘weaker’ tracks in a separate release instead of putting a dent into the greatness of “The Wicked Symphony”. Having a greater Rock influence in these songs, the band looses a bit of its sonic power and goes slower than the first release, but this does not mean that the songs are bad at all; they are just ‘slower’.

The guest appearance by Jon Oliva on the song “Death Is Just a Felling” is one of the most interesting ones on this album since at the beginning he sounds a bit like an insane asylum patient, fitting the song perfectly. Exploding into a brilliant chorus, this song is probably our favorite of this release, and one of the ‘heaviest’ songs in this album.

We can’t really rave as much for “Angel Of Babylon” as we did for “The Wicked Symphony” since there is a huge different between the two albums and if you just had your Power Metal high with “The Wicked Symphony”, you will quickly loose it when you start listening to this release. We are not saying it’s bad at all, but it should not be listened to back to back.

So if you like the Hard Rock Avantasia from “Scarecrow”, we think you will appreciate this release more than us. For everybody that has just listened to “The Wicked Symphony” we recommend you have a cooling-off period before spinning this album. As and independent release from “The Wicked Symphony”, “Angel of Babylon” works very nicely for the fans of the less bombastic (but still good) side of Avantasia.

Band: Avantasia Album: Angel Of Babylon
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: May 4th, 2010

Official Site myspace
Genre: Symphonic Power Metal

Country: Germany

Rating: 82/100
Year: 

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