The Wicked Symphony

‘The Wicked Symphony’ marks Toby’s fourth album and is the second part of the Wicked Trilogy, a series of supposed concept albums that tells a vague story of a troubled musician and his journey to find himself.


As we all know, Avantasia is Tobias’s project and his alone. Every album he has released under the Avantasia moniker has boasted a large selection of guest musicians and vocalists. To name these guests now would be pointless as they have been listed in pervious reviews; I will mention selected ones when I comment on their performance. I can assure you though; every guest has done their job well. Everybody fits perfect in their ‘role’ (I say ‘role’ because the concept of this album is pretty vague) perfectly. Of course there are some truly standout moments, namely Michael Kiske whose vocals, as we all know, are superb and truly bring some magic to the songs he is involved in.
I won’t discuss all the tracks but I will mention what I feel are the best of the bunch and the one filler track on the album.


The album opens up with the powerful title track, ‘The Wicked Symphony’. This is the most operatic song on the album featuring a nice orchestrated opening for about a minute and a half then launches into the main riff. This song has a hard rock feel to it and some really powerful vocals thanks to Toby, Jorn Lande and Russell Allen. It’s Jorn who especially shines though. His vocals are as amazing as ever. If you don’t like him you’ll have to get used to him or leave. He is the most featured guest of the two albums (I don’t see what’s not to like about him though). The chorus for this track is undeniably catchy; it’ll be in your head for days. This track is possibly the most epic sounding on the album and it is certainly the longest anyway. This song is truly great and lives up to the Avantasia name.


The next song is actually the second track on the album. ‘Wastelands’ is true power metal through and through. Lead vocals are with Kiske and Sammet. Kiske gives us one of his best vocal performances I have ever heard from him. He can still hit them highs with the same killer execution as before. The bridge also has a lyric which really stands out to me, ‘we pretend to be blind every time it hurts to see’. Not only is it sung fabulously but the line is very true and shows that Tobias does have some song writing talent in him. The chorus, as you will find with basically all the tracks, is unbelievably. It just makes you want to sing on top of your voice, trying to emulate Kiske and then Sammet the second time around. There are also some real killer solos courtesy of Oliver Hartmann and Sascha Paeth.


‘Scales of Justice’ features the ever awesome Tim ‘Ripper’ Owen and is by far the heaviest track here. Tim’s vocals are truly something else. The shrieks this guy can do are like no other. Such power yet catchy as fuck. Combine him, a nice section (as always) from Tobias and powerful drumming from Alex Holzwarth and we have a real winner. There is some pure aggression on this track which is unusual for Avantasia but it is a nice direction.


‘Blizzard on the Broken Mirror’ is another standout. The song builds nicely to the bridge where Tobias shines. His highs sound remarkable in this section then into the chorus which is brilliant. The solo straight after is really good too. It brings a smile to my face. It is one of them cheesy, up-tempo solos but it really fits with the song. This leads into a slow section which I find to be the highlight of the song. A simple guitar melody and Toby’s wonderful vocals really make this amazing. It builds and builds until it explodes into the chorus for the last time. This is certainly one of the best tracks you’ll hear from Avantasia.


The last track I will comment positively on is ‘Runaway Train’ which happens to be my favourite track on the album. This is a semi ballad/rocker which, to me, resembles Meat Loaf in a way. The intro with piano and vocals is amazing. You can sense the emotion in them and it is believable. This track has some amazing people on it. We have Sammet, Kiske, Lande and Bob Catley. Kiske only has a tiny part but it’s truly my favourite section of the song. It features just him with a piano, much like the beginning of the song. His vocals sound so passionate and emotional; it is the best thirty seconds on the entire album that’s for sure!


‘Days gone by
Who'd wanna live forever
On our knees up your road
Paved with good intentions
Fly high
Where angels can't breathe no more
Some dare go blind
Some stay behind’


The verse and chorus is pure Meat Loaf I think, in a good way. Nice little ‘chuggy’ guitar (no, not in the bad way like you’re thinking) over the verse with vocals that alternate from first verse, Tobias, second verse, Jorn. Wonderful performances from both I must add. The chorus is catchy and as powerful as anything on this album, a true highlight. This really is a must hear track. No description can make you understand the true beauty of it.


The decline in quality unfortunately comes straight after ‘Runaway Train’. This song is ‘Crestfallen’ and is by far the worst track on this album. The keyboard intro reminds me of something from an Abba song. Yes that’s not good. The verse isn’t completely bad. The whole, ‘am I blind, am I blind’ section is nice enough but the chorus, the chorus is terrible. Tobias, well I assume it is Tobias, does some god awful shriek/scream over Lande’s vocals. You can hardly tell what Tobias is saying, it just sounds like a weird mess and is just plain wrong. The rest of the track doesn’t do anything to help either. It’s basically it is a filler track in the true sense of the word. It is best to miss this song out for your own good.


The only other problem I find with this album is that ‘Black Wings’ is just a little bit boring but it’s not a bad track by any means. It’s very slow, kind of doom sounding in approach but not an actual doom metal song. It just gets a tad tedious if you’re not in the right mood. That’s how I feel about it anyway.


The concept of this album I find pretty much pointless to talk about. The songs don’t flow like a concept and the lyrics are cryptic and vague. If you look into them you can loosely follow how the protagonist is feeling during the different song but if you’re looking for a true concept album this isn’t really for you. It’s best to listening to this as just a highly diverse rock/metal album. Somehow I do feel, partly, that the vagueness is a bit of a nice touch, leaves it open to interpretation but that is only if you are willing to look deep into the lyrics.


For me, this is album is truly amazing. There is only really one hiccup but the rest is really great music. I personally think this is the best of the trilogy, not to say the others are bad though mind you. This album is something I will continue to love and play regularly. I highly recommend this modern masterpiece.