AVALAND – Theater Of Sorcery (2021)
Entitled ”Theater Of Sorcery”, the debut album from AVALAND – a project written and composed by 22-year-old prodigy Adrien G. Gzagg – is a theatrical metal adventure that tells the story of a young sorcerer Adam Wilstorm who could be the salvation of bringing back the light to the kingdom of Avaland and during his journey, he must learn to control his powers linked to the Storm.
If you think Gzagg still is too young, late in the 80s, a Progressive Metal group initially known as Majesty released their debut album When Dream And Day Unite, a band now known as Dream Theater. The legendary founding members such as John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy were around their 22 at the time their first album saw the daylight.
Here are Avaland with their debut album ”Theater Of Sorcery”. Perhaps the Dream Theater analogy has been pointed out for a reason.
”Theater Of Sorcery” is very likely to be one of the hottest releases of 2021 – even though it has not even been half way through yet, featuring musicians such as Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Zak Stevens (Savatage), Stéphan Forté (Adagio), and more.
It is like a mixture of Melodic Metal, Progressive Metal, Classical Music and Metal Opera. Blending all these genres into a musical smoothie certainly has resulted with something worthwhile to say the very least. Energy and passion are omnipresent and abound. Beautiful and sophisticated melodies combined with heavy riffs and superb instrumentation. But to think that this little masterpiece was created by someone who’s just 22 years old and it is their debut album is quite beyond any belief.
It should be no surprise that influences by such bands as Savatage, Dream Theater or Avantasia can be heard in the music created by Avaland. Each of the aforementioned acts sure wouldn’t be ashamed to have such tracks as “Gypsum Flower” or “Let The Wind Blow” in their repertoire.
Also, it would be interesting to know what someone like Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night) would have to say about Adrien G. Gzagg and friends, considering how rarely he tends to compliment anyone, unless they’re The Beatles or Van Halen.
If there is anything ”Theater Of Sorcery” is short off, then it’s having short songs: “Storyteller” which happens to be the track number 4 is barely four and a half minutes long. But that’s what can be expected from any band that has at least some Progressive Metal influences in their music.
If all of the above is still not enough for an idea as to what the music by Avaland actually sounds like, then there is also a way of putting it very short: compared to Avaland, any average Prog / Power Metal band sounds rather simplistic.
There is hardly anything negative that can be said about ”Theater Of Sorcery”. Production is immaculate; every instrument can be heard perfectly. The only thing that might be slightly annoying is that – at least in the near future – no live performances can be expected due to obvious reasons.
It is worth mentioning that ”Theater Of Sorcery” features many guest appearances, such as Zak Stevens (Savatage) and Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, ex-Gamma Ray). One might think it’s beyond cool and exciting for any band to have such prominent singers sing on their debut album. Yes, that is beyond cool, beyond any doubt. But it is probably all those guest musicians who are the winners here.
They were lucky enough to perform on the debut album by a band that may not be heard of much right now, as of early 2021. But this is certainly going to change as the time goes by.
New bands come and go like everything else and if a new exciting project comes to life, then it quickly gets acclaimed as the newly born star.
That can actually be applied to Avaland, although it would be good to be more precise in this instance – after all, stars come in many sizes and weights. The world of Metal is witnessing the birth of a blue hypergiant.
Highly Recommended
01 – Theater Of Sorcery
02 – Gypsum Flower
03 – Let the Wind Blow
04 – Storyteller
05 – Escape To Paradise
06 – Holy Kingdom Of Fools
07 – Never Let Me Walk Alone
08 – Deja-Vu
09 – I’ll Be Ready For Your Love
10 – War Of Minds
11 – Rise From The Ashes
Adrien G. Gzagg – Vocals, Keyboards, Orchestrations
Christophe Feutrier – Guitars
Lucas Martinez – Guitars
Camille Souffron – Bass, Double-Bass
Leo Mouchonay – Drums
Guests:
Zaher Zorgati (Myrath)
Jeff Kanji
Heli Andrea (Mobius/OLANE)
Emmanuelson (Rising Steel/Ellipsis)
Zak Stevens (Ex-Savatage/TSO/Archon Angel)
Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear/ex-Gamma Ray)
Madie (Nightmare/Faith In Agony)
Pre Order:
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