The Mystery of Time

Last updated
The Mystery of Time
Themysteryoftimecover.jpg
Studio album by
Released26 April 2013
RecordedJune 2012 - January 2013
Genre Power metal, symphonic metal
Length62:00
Label Nuclear Blast
Producer Sascha Paeth and Tobias Sammet
Avantasia chronology
The Wicked Symphony / Angel of Babylon
(2010)
The Mystery of Time
(2013)
Ghostlights
(2016)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Metal Blast Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Time For Metal - Magazin Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Metal Traveller Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

The Mystery of Time is the sixth full-length album by Tobias Sammet's german metal opera project Avantasia. The album was released on 26 April 2013. [4] This is the first Avantasia release to feature the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg (the same orchestra that performed on Edguy's album Hellfire Club ). The cover artwork was painted by Rodney Matthews. [5] [6]

Contents

The Mystery Of Time scored high positions in several international music charts and even enabled Avantasia to enter the US Billboard charts for the first time. [7]

When asked to compare the album to Avantasia's previous efforts, guitarist and producer Sascha Paeth described it as follows: [8]

It is a more 'fantastic' production, based a little bit more on orchestra work and keyboards. It's more like a film score, to underline the whole story, the rock opera aspect, which was a choice on this one and I think it works out fine. Also, this gives the album a face of its own.

Track listing

Limited editions of the album include a second CD with instrumental versions of all the tracks on the album, with the exception of the two limited edition bonus tracks.

All tracks are written by Tobias Sammet

No.TitleGuest VocalistLength
1."Spectres" Joe Lynn Turner 6:09
2."The Watchmakers' Dream"Turner4:14
3."Black Orchid" Biff Byford 6:52
4."Where Clock Hands Freeze" Michael Kiske 4:35
5."Sleepwalking"Cloudy Yang3:52
6."Savior in the Clockwork"Turner, Byford, Kiske10:40
7."Invoke the Machine" Ronnie Atkins 5:30
8."What's Left of Me" Eric Martin 5:07
9."Dweller in a Dream"Kiske4:45
10."The Great Mystery" Bob Catley, Turner, Byford10:03
Total length:62:00
Limited & Japanese edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."The Cross and You"4:14
12."Death Is Just a Feeling (Alternative Version/Tobias Sammet)"5:24
Total length:71:38

Story

The album booklet describes the story "So take the time to follow me into a small old English town during the Victorian era and join a young agnostic scientist by the name Aaron Blackwell as he is forced to explore the coherencies of time, God and science; torn between belief in his professional conviction, his spiritual intuition, love and a lodge of scientific occultists." [9]

Personnel

Special guests

Musicians

Vocalists

Charts

[10] [11] [12]

ChartNumber
German Albums Chart 2
Swiss Albums Chart 5
England Rock Albums Chart 6
Finnish Albums Chart 9
Swedish Albums Chart 9
North America Billboard Chart 9
Austrian Albums Chart 11
Czech Albums Chart 12
Hungary Albums Chart [13] 15
Japanese Albums Chart 17
Norwegian Albums Chart 19
Spanish Albums Chart [14] 29
French Albums Chart 61
Belgian Ultratop (Wallonia) 70
Dutch Albums Chart 85
Belgian Ultratop (Flanders) 97

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avantasia</span> German heavy metal supergroup

Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept albums. The name is a blend of the words Avalon and fantasia ('fantasy') and describes "a world beyond human imagination".

<i>The Metal Opera</i> 2001 studio album by Avantasia

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<i>Hellfire Club</i> (album) 2004 album by Edguy

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<i>The Metal Opera Part II</i> 2002 studio album by Avantasia

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<i>The Flying Opera</i>

The Flying Opera is a boxed set containing two DVDs and two CDs by the German power metal band Avantasia, released in March 2011. Avantasia evolved from being a side-project of Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet to a full-fledged band touring all over the world. The tracks of the set were recorded live during their first world tour in 2008, in support of the album The Scarecrow. The DVD contains also a documentary of the tour and various video clips.

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References

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  2. "Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time Review". Time-For-Metal.eu (Germany). 2013-03-26.
  3. "Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time Review". Metal Traveller. 2013-04-08.
  4. "The Mystery Of Time". nuclearblast.de.
  5. "Tobias Sammet :: Avantasia :: Official Web". tobiassammet.com.
  6. "Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time - Listening Session". musikreviews.de.
  7. "Metal-Rules.com News, Interviews, Concert Reviews » AVANTASIA "THE MYSTERY OF TIME" DEBUTS AT #9 ON BILLBOARD "HEAT SEEKERS" CHART, #33 ON "HARD ROCK"". Metal-Rules.com News, Interviews, Concert Reviews. 10 May 2013.
  8. Jon (27 April 2013). "Sascha Paeth (Avantasia) Interview @ PPM 2013". Metal Blast. Mons . Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  9. AVANTASIA - The Mystery Of Time (PRE-LISTENING), NuclearBlastEurope on YouTube
  10. "AVANTASIA AUF #2 IN DEN DEUTSCHEN ALBUMCHARTS!". Rock It!.
  11. "Tobias Sammet :: Avantasia :: Official Web". tobiassammet.com.
  12. "Tobias Sammet's Avantasia - The Mystery Of Time". ultratop.be.
  13. "Top 40 album-, DVD- és válogatáslemez-lista – 2013. 14. hét" (in Hungarian). Mahasz . Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  14. "TOP 100 ALBUMES" (PDF) (in Spanish). PROMUSICAE . Retrieved 2013-04-08.