The Metal Opera

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The Metal Opera
Avantasia studio album

Publication
(s)

2001

Label (s) AFM Records , Century Media Records

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

Power metal , symphonic metal

Title (number)

13

occupation

production

Tobias Sammet , Norman Meiritz

chronology
- The Metal Opera The Metal Opera Part II

The Metal Opera is the first music album of the German metal project Avantasia and was released in 2001. It was initiated by Tobias Sammet , the singer of the power metal band Edguy . He also wrote all the songs and lyrics.

action

The main character of the story is the young Gabriel Laymann, novice of the Dominican order in the Mainz monastery. It is the year 1602, and with the order Gabriel also takes part in the omnipresent witch hunt. However, he gets into a serious conflict of conscience when he suddenly comes across his own stepsister Anna Held, who has been accused of being a witch and is waiting for her trial. Gabriel begins to doubt and sneaks into the library, where he is reading a forbidden book. But his mentor, brother Jakob, finds out and has him thrown into dungeon.

There Gabriel meets an old man, Lugaid Vandroiy, who introduces himself as a druid. This tells him about another dimension, the fantasy world Avantasia, which is in danger. He offers Gabriel to help with Anna's liberation if Gabriel saves Avantasia for it. The two are able to escape from the prison and Vandroiy leads the novice to an old stone circle in which a dimensional gate is hidden. He uses it to send Gabriel to Avantasia.

In the meantime, the Mainz Bishop Johann Adam von Bicken, accompanied by Brother Jakobs and Vogts Falk von Kronberg, is on his way to Rome to meet Pope Clement VIII. With them they keep the book that Gabriel had read - according to the old documents it is the last of seven parts of a seal that is supposed to help the owner to perfect wisdom when he brings it to the tower in the center of Avantasia.

Upon his arrival, Gabriel is greeted by two residents of Avantasia, the elf Elderane and the dwarf Regrin. The two tell him about a war against the forces of evil, about the Pope's plan and its consequences. Should the clerics actually use the seal, the connection between Avantasia and the human world would be broken - with dire consequences for both. Gabriel has to prevent that. He reaches the tower just in time, and while the Pope is talking in a mysterious voice from inside, he manages to steal the seal and bring back general chaos to the city of the elves.

Religion in The Metal Opera

The Christianity and the Catholic Church plays an important role in the plot. Churchmen like Clement VIII (in 1602 a man of that name was actually Pope) are characterized as people who believe that they have the sole right to the truth and must keep the "common people" ignorant for their own good, but themselves not knowing the truth out of delusion. Such criticism appears again and again in Sammet's works; Edguy titles like The Kingdom (1996) and Theater of Salvation (1999) speak a similar language.

In some places Sammet uses terms and images from Christianity or the church in his texts:

  • The blood of the lamb ( Sign of the Cross ): " Lamb (of God) " is a name for Jesus Christ who, according to Christian belief, "washed humanity clean with his blood" through his death on the cross. Here the term appears with negative connotations.
  • Horeb ( Sign of the Cross ): The mountain on which Moses received the Ten Commandments ( Ex 31.18  EU ).
  • Mammon ( Sign of the Cross ): A negative term for money, also: the personified greed for wealth.
  • The seven eyes ( Sign of the Cross ): In the Old Testament symbol for the omniscience of God. The number seven has a special meaning in Christian number mysticism , see also the following entries.
  • The seven parts of the seal ( Glory of Rome / The Tower ): In the Apocalypse a book appears with seven seals , which are opened one after the other (by a lamb with seven eyes) ( Rev 5,1  EU ).
  • Gnosis : enlightenment, mystical knowledge
  • Malleus Maleficarum : A book about the witch hunt (German title: Hexenhammer ).

Songs

  1. "Prelude" - 1:11
  2. "Reach Out for the Light" - 6:33
  3. "Serpents in Paradise" - 6:16
  4. "Malleus Maleficarum" - 1:43
  5. "Breaking Away" - 4:35
  6. "Farewell" - 6:33
  7. "The Glory of Rome" - 5:29
  8. "In Nomine Patris" - 1:04
  9. "Avantasia" - 5:32
  10. "A New Dimension" - 1:39
  11. "Inside" - 2:24
  12. "Sign of the Cross" - 6:26
  13. "The Tower" - 9:43
  14. "Avantasia" - 4:08 (Edit Version) (only in Japan)
  15. "The Final Sacrifice" - 5:00 (Japan only)

-All songs were written by Tobias Sammet .

occupation

Tape:

Guest musicians:

  • Jens Ludwig - guitar in songs 12 and 13
  • Norman Meiritz - guitar in song 6
  • Frank Tischer - piano at Lied 11

Review and success

Rezensator.de wrote: "Of course you have heard music like this before. However, it is presented perfectly, the instrumental performances and vocal parts sound excellent. The songs are well done. They do not sound too commercial, but also not too complex."

metal1.info called it the "best metal album 2001" and wrote: "[...] every song is a masterpiece in itself that no other composition has to hide. All of them are equipped with epic hymns and melodies, strong ones Riffs, a terrific drumming, gripping and rousing vocals throughout and, last but not least, a flawless production. "

The album reached number 35 in the German album charts. and sold over 200,000 times across Europe.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Booklet of the Metal Opera albums
  2. ↑ http://www.rezensator.de/avantasia_metalopera1.htm , last accessed on May 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ metal1.info ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metal1.info
  4. ↑ Chart tracking The Metal Opera on officialcharts.de
  5. ↑ The Metal Opera - Impala Diamond (200,000)