Perhaps the most amusing part of the Ghostlights album is the opening track, "Mystery of a Blood Red Rose". Not only was it apparently written for Meat Loaf to be the vocalist on the track (something that was apparently first agreed to, and then rescinded), it also became a contestant for Germany's entry to the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, and while it made the final qualifying stages it ultimately was not chosen. That's a roller coaster rise for the first track on a new Avantasia album, that's for sure. Tobi eventually was the sole lead vocalist on the track, which while it is fine in all respects, certainly is not anything special - though it does feel as though it would have suited Meat Loaf down to the ground and given it a much more rock opera appeal.
"Let The Storm Descend Upon You" is probably the epic opening track the album needed, before the pushing of the previous song for higher honours began. Incorporating the same theme sound that punctuated the previous album, the song here is spread between the vocal talents of Jorn Lande, Ronnie Atkins and Robert Mason, as well as Tobi as ever, and the harmonising between them is the highlight of the track. At just a tick over 12 minutes in length it needs to be good to hold your attention, and for the most part this song does that.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Dee Snider was making an appearance on the album as one of the guest vocalists, but I must say that I felt a bit let down by the song written for him to perform on. "The Haunting" is certainly not like anything that Dee has sung on before, and in essence that isn't a bad thing. It's good to have a vocalist come in and try and interpret a different style of song from what the listening public knows them for. In the end, I just think "The Haunting" is not one of the better songs the project has produced, and that Dee is somewhat wasted on such a song. "Seduction of Decay" is another moody, sludgy paced song, the type that haven't been seen very often in this project's history. The fact that Geoff Tate is the guest vocalist on it is probably fitting giving the mood of his music over recent decades. In the end, it is up-tempo just enough to raise it above the mediocre, and Tate does a good job within the framework of the track.
The title track "Ghostlights" returns us to a more atypical Avantasia song, where as has been the case in the past, Michael Kiske comes along, with a double kick drum and flying guitars, and dominates the track with his amazing vocals. Oliver Hartmann again provides the perfect riposte with his guitar solo, and Jorn Lande drops in to lend Michael and Tobi a hand on vocals. This track lights the album up after, and let's be blunt, a fairly average start to the opus. "Draconian Love" has a unique sound to it, with thanks to Herbie Langhans who deliberately sings an octave lower than Tobi to give the whole song a different perspective. Intriguing. "Master of the Pendulum" explodes out of the blocks and kicks along at a pleasing pace throughout, with Marco Hietala doing a great job as "The Watchmaker" and singing up a storm. This is followed by Sharon den Adel in the very power balladish "Isle of Evermore", which might be tangible to the story, but is also an automatic song to go for the skip button. "Babylon Vampyres" conversely jumps out of the blocks, driving along by a much more high tempo beat, which Robert Mason takes full advantage of to get the album back on the front foot.
"Lucifer" kicks off as the epitome of the dreaded power ballad, featuring piano and keyboards, with Jorn crooning over the top. However, halfway through this the band joins the party, finishing off the song in a stronger, more powerful fashion than appears likely in the first half of the exercise. It's a two way switch, which depending on your leanings and possibly your mood at the time will either excite you or make you cringe. But it's okay! Because "Unchain the Light" lifts that tempo once again, and also sees the return of the double kick and a decent guitar riff. So, by now you should know who it features on vocals, right? Yep, our old friend Michael Kiske returns, and his anthemic music as insisted upon by Tobi Sammet again jumpstarts the album. Along with Tobi himself and Ronnie Atkins, and the chorus as well, and Oliver Hartmann again providing the guitar solo, "Unchain the Light" proves to be one of the better tracks here. "A Restless Heart and Obsidian Skies" is anchored by Bob Catley, who along with Tobi and the chorus gives us a closing track that settles into the soft rock or AOR genre, and perhaps most disappointingly concludes the album this way, in almost the same way the other recent Avantasia albums have done, more with a whimper than a bang.
I probably wanted to like this too much, which has perhaps clouded my ability to take in everything on offer on the album. What strikes me the most about Ghostlights is that it seems to be trending much like the recent Edguy albums have been - away from the roots, away from what made the best albums of both those bands great, and into a style that becomes more like a formula, and with a lessening degree of inspiration and excitement. Perhaps this is still too new in my collection, and on a second coming will prove to me a better album than I have in my mind at the moment. Or maybe the concept has run its course, and it's time to try something else.
Rating: "And after it's all said and done, we won't fear the transience no more" 3.5/5
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