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The Scarecrow
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The Scarecrow
Current price: $24.99
Barnes and Noble
The Scarecrow
Current price: $24.99
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After causing quite a stir in the
heavy metal
community with
Avantasia
's ambitious, two-album, guest star-packed
Metal Opera
in the early 2000s, vocalist
Tobias Sammet
publicly retired the
name and retreated to the creature comforts of his primary creative outlet, German power metal favorites
Edguy
. But then a pair of EPs titled
Lost in Space, Vols. 1 & 2
emerged in 2007 bearing the
brand, and it didn't take much longer for
Sammet
's change of heart to produce yet another full
album in 2008's
The Scarecrow
. Though not as thematically intertwined as the preceding operas,
's credits certainly keep with the tradition of bursting at the seams with famous guest musicians (among them
Kiss
'
Eric Singer
,
Magnum
's
Bob Catley
Gamma Ray
Kai Hansen
Jorn Lande
Michael Kiske
Amanda Somerville
, etc.), and a few more so famous one can hardly believe their participation (the
Scorpions
Rudolf Schenker
and none other than
Alice Cooper
). That being said,
is indubitably
's baby, and his songwriting signature dominates
, even though it affords him with the opportunity to frequently step out from the restrictive power metal umbrella he's carried most of his professional career. Right off the bat, opening song
"Twisted Mind"
is a traditional, but radio-friendly
anthem (at least in Europe, where metal is actually heard on the airwaves), and so, seemingly, is the highly palatable ensuing title track, until it evolves into a lengthy atmospheric passage which reveals it for the grandiloquent, eleven-minute epic it actually is. Nevertheless, it's a good epic, and even though none of the subsequent tracks approach its girth,
scores additional classic metal highlights with
"Another Angel Down"
(where
really burns the house down),
"The Toy Master"
(which was obviously written with guest
in mind), and
"I Don't Believe in Your Love"
(featuring highly regarded free agent singer
Oliver Hartmann
and guitar contributions from
Schenker
). Less memorable are
's largely formulaic power metal thrashers (
"Shelter from the Rain,"
"Devil in the Belfry"
) and power ballads (
"Carry Me Over,"
"Cry Just a Little"
) -- all of which are unquestionably very competently executed, butâ?¦well, either you like these styles or you don't. And try getting any self-respecting metal-head to defend
's schmaltzy duet with
on the
Celine Dion
-ready
"What Kind of Love"
-- it can only lead to hilarity. Oh, and we should mention that the title track from the aforementioned EPs,
"Lost in Space,"
is tacked onto the very end of
, but its AOR-leaning hard rock feels distinctly out of place. At the end of the day, while it's hardly perfect, there's no denying that
really is an immaculately recorded project -- never mind the logistical nightmares that must have been involved -- and for that
and
both deserve respect. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia
heavy metal
community with
Avantasia
's ambitious, two-album, guest star-packed
Metal Opera
in the early 2000s, vocalist
Tobias Sammet
publicly retired the
name and retreated to the creature comforts of his primary creative outlet, German power metal favorites
Edguy
. But then a pair of EPs titled
Lost in Space, Vols. 1 & 2
emerged in 2007 bearing the
brand, and it didn't take much longer for
Sammet
's change of heart to produce yet another full
album in 2008's
The Scarecrow
. Though not as thematically intertwined as the preceding operas,
's credits certainly keep with the tradition of bursting at the seams with famous guest musicians (among them
Kiss
'
Eric Singer
,
Magnum
's
Bob Catley
Gamma Ray
Kai Hansen
Jorn Lande
Michael Kiske
Amanda Somerville
, etc.), and a few more so famous one can hardly believe their participation (the
Scorpions
Rudolf Schenker
and none other than
Alice Cooper
). That being said,
is indubitably
's baby, and his songwriting signature dominates
, even though it affords him with the opportunity to frequently step out from the restrictive power metal umbrella he's carried most of his professional career. Right off the bat, opening song
"Twisted Mind"
is a traditional, but radio-friendly
anthem (at least in Europe, where metal is actually heard on the airwaves), and so, seemingly, is the highly palatable ensuing title track, until it evolves into a lengthy atmospheric passage which reveals it for the grandiloquent, eleven-minute epic it actually is. Nevertheless, it's a good epic, and even though none of the subsequent tracks approach its girth,
scores additional classic metal highlights with
"Another Angel Down"
(where
really burns the house down),
"The Toy Master"
(which was obviously written with guest
in mind), and
"I Don't Believe in Your Love"
(featuring highly regarded free agent singer
Oliver Hartmann
and guitar contributions from
Schenker
). Less memorable are
's largely formulaic power metal thrashers (
"Shelter from the Rain,"
"Devil in the Belfry"
) and power ballads (
"Carry Me Over,"
"Cry Just a Little"
) -- all of which are unquestionably very competently executed, butâ?¦well, either you like these styles or you don't. And try getting any self-respecting metal-head to defend
's schmaltzy duet with
on the
Celine Dion
-ready
"What Kind of Love"
-- it can only lead to hilarity. Oh, and we should mention that the title track from the aforementioned EPs,
"Lost in Space,"
is tacked onto the very end of
, but its AOR-leaning hard rock feels distinctly out of place. At the end of the day, while it's hardly perfect, there's no denying that
really is an immaculately recorded project -- never mind the logistical nightmares that must have been involved -- and for that
and
both deserve respect. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia
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