931. Avantasia / The Scarecrow. 2008. 3.5/5

The appearance of a third album from the Tobias Sammet backed project Avantasia came as something of a surprise. The excellent vision and production of the original The Metal Opera album, and the follow up The Metal Opera Pt. II which concluded the story, was something that no one would have wanted to have tarnished. So when The Scarecrow was announced and then released, it was another album where my feelings were mixed completely - the desire to hear if this could continue with the excellence of the first two albums, and the fear that it would fall flat and not work at all.

This time around there are some changes to the whole concept. The musicians who performed on the original metal opera have been replaced, though guitarist Henjo Richter does make an appearance on several songs as a 'guest' lead guitar. Tobi Sammet takes on the bass playing duties himself, something he is quite comfortable with. Michael Rodenberg and Sascha Paeth, both of whom have been involved in a plethora of high profile European power metal bands, both playing and producing and engineering, fill the positions of keyboards and guitars respectively here, while Eric Singer came on board to provide the drums. Though Tobi still remained in charge of writing the songs for this album, it would be interesting to know whether the subtle change in music direction comes from him, or the period of time between the albums, or from the different personnel involved in recording.
Because there is a definite switch on The Scarecrow from the previous project. Whereas it was most definitely a metal opera, with songs firmly in the power metal genre and tied to an operatic feel in most places, this album progresses to a bit more rawness in the music, with riffs that are more of a traditional heavy metal sound and song arrangements that also drift that way as well. So certainly this is a concept album - which would eventually stretch to a concept trilogy - but we have moved on from the metal opera vision to simply creating an album exploring a theme, with many different players being involved. The story, which revolves around the central character trying to find themselves inner peace having suffered through unrequited love, and eventually facing somewhat the opposite, is played over the eleven tracks on the album.
"Twisted Mind" is an immediate heavy start on the album, with great duelling vocals between Tobi and Roy Khan. This floods into the lengthy tome of "The Scarecrow", where not only does Tobi show his great abilities, but we get the first efforts of Jorn Lande in the Avantasia universe, and it is spectacular. His vocal performance defies his usual pitch and range, and adds another dimension, really throwing his usual panache out the window and stretching himself into the role. The second half of this song is quite amazing, thanks in the main to Jorn's part. "Shelter From the Rain" keeps ripping up this part of the music landscape, through the remarkable efforts of returning duo Michael Kiske and Bob Catley. One wonders how Tobi was able to convince Kiske to return again to his music roots, given his reluctance in recent years to acknowledge his metal heritage. Here again, his distinctive vocals come in over the top of the music bridge and make the song his own. The extra pace and double kick and guitar riff through the song lifts the tempo nicely.
"Carry Me Over" slows the tempo down a touch, providing Tobi the opportunity to let his vocals soar, and put in a chorus that tends to be repetitive throughout. "What Kind of Love" shuttles in with Amanda Somerville lending support, in a real power ballad atmosphere that wreaks havoc with the senses for those that are so inclined. "Another Angel Down" cracks back in through the periphery, with Tobi and Jorn again lifting the intensity of the album supported by a faster paced tempo in the music. Both vocalists play off each other nicely and give a great performance on this track, while the duelling guitar solos in the middle of the song are blistering.
"The Toy Master" is written perfectly for Alice Cooper, and indeed could have easily been one of his own songs. The tempo comes back to suit his performance perfectly. This is followed by "Devil in the Belfry" which like "Another Angel Down" combines the vocal talents of Jorn and Tobi, and again impresses by the energy shown throughout the song. Somewhat disappointingly, this is then followed by another power ballad, "Cry Just a Little", which no matter how much it may be relevant to the story being told, just harms the output of the album. The penultimate song "I Don't Believe in Your Love" does pull back some of that, while the soft rock rendition of "Lost in Space" concludes the album.

Overall, The Scarecrow is more uneven than the predeceasing albums in musical content, and given that this is a concept album rather than a rock opera, I guess that can be seen. It has its holes, and places where for me it doesn't quite work. Even the songs if taken individually don't quite come up to the standard of what has gone before. But that's not to say that there isn't lots to like here, and the vocal performances of Michael Kiske and Jorn Lande in particular are just spectacular. It's still a very good album, despite the couple of places where I would have done things differently.

Rating:  "From the cradle to the madhouse, a twisted mind". 3.5/5