The Scarecrow by Tobias Sammet, and a new life for my twisted mind...
"Another star has fallen without a sound
Another spark has burned out in the cold
Another door to the barren standing open
And who is there to tell me not to give in, not to go"
And another Avantasia album has been released by Tobias Sammet. I've received the album yesterday, I managed to get one of the 500 limited edition boxes (n°269 ^ ^), but that's not all that important. Because it's all about the music... and so I listened to the Scarecrow tonight.
Once again, Tobias has proved to be one of the two most important persons influencing my life - along with Domoto Tsuyoshi - and with Hansi Kursh coming probably on third position.
How long has it been since the last Avantasia? I'm not even sure. Five, six years? Probably more... Of course, there was some wonderful Edguy's albums in between but it's not the same. Because Avantasia is unique of its own right... You can love both sides of Tobias' creation but you can't mix them up...
Music and lyrics here are just... perfect? It sounds like such a trite word... it's not even close of what I want to say...
I love the maturation process that can be felt here, as he decided to go for a plot a lot more diffuse than in the last two albums and still it's so understandable and easy to relate to, maybe even more than before... As always, he manages to use these words that touch me so deep inside that it almost hurts, all these ideas that seem to have been taken off my soul... what more to say?
I don't even want to try and write a review for it, it's far above anything I could expand on. And the guests he chose... Jorn Lande has got fantastic vocals here... I love the originality of Amanda Somerville who for once hasn't been kept just as a back-vocalist. She's got such an original voice, it's great to have had her doing the lead vocals, instead of going back into some Sharon den Adel's vocals or the like. These kind of vocals are wonderful of course, but Amanda's got so much more personality.
And how good it was to find Bob Catley again here. I just love his voice, and when he sings along Tobias they match each other so well. I just regret the fact that he's got lead vocals only in one song. But that's the problem here. There's only one album, instead of two...
Well actually, it's not true, because with the two LPs, it's equivalent to two albums... but still, I feel like there isn't enought there. I guess it's one of the trait of genius creation to make us feel like we can never get enough ot it...
Endli's albums do that to me too...
What else to say? Alice Cooper's performance is just brilliant, and Tobias' vocals are getting stronger and stronger each time he releases something. It's amazing...
And I don't even want to speak about his compositions... he's got a broader range than people making his style of music usually do, I guess it's why some people cannot help themselves but criticize him about I don't know what 'not true metal' bullshit... Gosh, as Tobias said who cares if it's metal or hard rock or whatever when it's got a quality so far above any label...
About the story... well... it's so much more personal than the last plot, or at least a lot more obvious... which is quite surprising considering than the scenes and characters are a lot less defined. There is so much to get from it... this kind of understanding that I always find in his lyrics and that makes me believe that I'm not totally insane or at least that I'm not the only one.
There are so much creativity, originality, so much trace of genial vision in this work that when I think of the incredible number of people who kill their brains by dipping it into American pop or whatever, as usual I don't understand how they can bear it... probably it's kind of conditioning...
I'm also killing my brain on Tobi's existential interrogations, but I found it more rewarding for my personal construction, no matter how painful it is...
Hum... if anyone who ends up reading that has bought the album and not the LPs that's a big mistake... The LPs are as good as the album, actually I found that there are a definite unity between the three, and it would be stupid to get one and not the others. There are incredible songs on the LPs too... The covers are all great... 'Dancing with tears in my eyes', 'In my defense', etc... all of them really are a must-get.
But above all, the original songs written by Tobias that you won't find on the album like 'Scary Eyes', 'Promised Land' or 'The story ain't over' are just fantastic. You can't like Avantasia and not get these ones... I wonder how he chose which one to put on the album and which one to put in the LPs... must have been hard... or maybe it was just like 'whatever', Avantasia fans will buy all anyway...
Every single song would deserve three pages from me... so I won't do it probably, or not now... not because I don't want to, but because right now, I wouldn't find the words and I probably won't find them anyway...
I don't now when Endli-san plans to release his new single, probably sometimes in February, I have to try to be up again to take in some more genial music and lyrics, even if very different from the ones that stole my mind and soul tonight...
I should go to bed now, but I don't feel like turning the music off. I simply cant...
Honestly, Tobias, it's just two little words but there are nothing else I can say... Thank you... and you're so right:
"With each song you'll die a little for me
It won't leave a scar
Cause I've drawn the curtain"
There are so many bits of the lyrics, I'd like to copy here... words and melodies have just shaken my mind more than it's happened in a long while. Thanks for making me feel alive again... I often wonder why this perfection can become so painful... I guess it's because you manage to put words on what is normally impossible to express...
Anyway, I want to listen to it again. I will watch the song by song interview tomorrow... for now, just the music is more than enough...
"There's a voice and a million answers
To the questions I don't ask
A demon - I've got to contain
When I'm walking through the fen
Getting deep into the black
There are whispers that I can't restrain"
"Why don't you cry, cry a little over me
Why don't you lie
Can't you tell me that I am hard to deny"
Why don't you cry... cry just a little...