This year was certainly a maelstrom of events, wasn’t it? From some incredible highs, all the way to some of the worst lows ever, 2022 definitely left a mark on all of us. Regardless, we got a mini celebration on our hands! It’s time to look back at some of the best music from the year prior, and I picked some goodies to look at this year. To start things off, I got a hell of an honorable mention to review today! The band I’m looking at today is actually fairly brand new, as they’ve only been around since 2018, and just got out their very first record in 2021. The band definitely had a lot of ambition going into this release, but does it result in a phenomenal musical experience, or is it an abomination onto the metallic gods? So, let’s not waste anymore time, and take a look at the debut album of Avaland, Theater Of Sorcery. Let’s begin!
Background
Taken from the band’s official website:
“AVALAND is an Epic and Symphonic Metal Opera, written and composed by Adrien G. Gzagg, born in 1998 in Grenoble, France.
Inspired by fantasy, alchemy, legends and
History, Adrien have thought about 10 stories in different timelines, telling 10 important chapters of the magical place he baptized......Avaland.
Adrien’s musical influences started very young with Alan Parsons Project. As a teenager, he discovered in his father’s vinyls Yes, Deep Purple, Genesis, Journey… His curiosity brought him step by step to hard rock and heavy metal, and of course to his today main influences: Avantasia, Ayreon, Savatage…”
Here’s one other fact: Avaland has only been around since 2018 (Like I said above), and as of now they’re almost half a decade old. As to why they waited until recently to finally get the album out, the only reason as to why I think it took so much time was probably a mix between getting things setup, and of course the Plague from 2020 that shut the world down.
Basic Description
If Everfrost wrote Winterider first.
That sounds like a weird way to describe Theater Of Sorcery, but hear me out. When Everfrost release Blue Eyed Emotion back in 2015, you could tell that it was an awesome record, but it was obvious that some work was needed. Come 2019 with Winterider, it was equally obvious that there was a lot of improvement, and as a result a better album came out. Avaland opted to release their equivalent of Winterider first, and it shows! There’s a lot of confidence in the entire record, with nary a shred of being amateurish in any way. The storytelling is strong, the instrumentation & keyboarding are great, and the vocal work from both the main band & the guest vocalists is pretty top notch!
And then there’s the album’s story. As stated on the youtube page of one of it’s singles:
"Inspired by heroic fantasy, history, mythologies, and esoterism, Adrien G. Gzagg decided to create an epic story album with 8 characters. Entitled "Theater Of Sorcery", the debut will be 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."
Now, I will say that Theater Of Sorcery’s story isn’t the deepest fantasy story around. In fact, it’s kind of stereotypical in a lot of places. As I said above, it’s actually really well written! Like Benji from Everfrost, it’s obvious that Adrian really put a lot of hard work into the story & world he wanted to display on the album. I’m really looking forward to what he has in store on future Avaland releases, because if it’s just as good as it was here, then the band will definitely go places!
Best Track
When I first listened to Let The Wind Blow in March last year, I loved it immediately from the first few notes. When compared to many of their Power Metal compatriots, Avaland are a bit more on the melodic & symphonic side of things, and it shows not only on this song, but across Theater Of Sorcery as a whole. There are milder moments where it’s just keyboarding & soft drumming, but then it’ll cut into more intense instrumentation that brings in some of the symphonic element that this record has. The vocal work is pretty much the same way: You got points where it’s simple, then it’ll get almost operatic, or it’ll become loud like a thunderstorm! All the while, the band is playing at a middle pace that never sways to either fast or slow. Everybody manages to strike a perfect balance during the song’s runtime, and I think that’s impressive!
Let The Wind Blow
Worst Track
Like I said in 2021's honorable mentions, Theater Of Sorcery’s only fault is the copious usage of guest singers. The messed up thing is not that they were bad, because not a single one of these guest vocalists suck! Ralf Scheepers of Primal Fear & Zaher Zorgati of Myrath were voices I was able to recognize almost immediately, but in general everyone that was brought on puts in a great amount of work. My issues is that too many were brought on, and as such Avaland’s identity isn’t completely their own on this record. They certainly have an image, and the story they crafted is most definitely their own, but they don’t seem to have a complete hold over their vision. I hope this trend doesn’t continue on future, because if it doesn’t then any potential Avaland has to being something amazing may go down the drain.
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, then click on the link below:
Theater Of Sorcery
Overall Impression & Rating
Theater Of Sorcery is just wonderful. Putting the amount of guest vocalists aside, it’s obvious from the first few notes of the opener that Avaland have a vision for what they want, and put in a lot of work to bring said vision to life. You can definitely tell that the band wanted to give you an experience, as this just feels like a Power Metal Opera come to life. Thankfully they’re beginning to tour over in Europe due to COVID restrictions being lifted, but I long for the day when they come to the United States. You can bet that I’ll have a ticket the moment they step foot here!
Theater Of Sorcery gets a 9 out of 10.
And that was my review for Theater Of Sorcery, the first release from French Power Metal maestros Avaland. Like I said, these guys have some serious potential to be a metallic colossus a few years down the road, but for now they’re an awesome group that’s gotta practice flying around first. Well, I’ll be getting to my other No. 1 album of 2021 in a bit, but before I do......I’d like to revisit some downloadable content. So join me next week when I’ll take another look at some more of the best expansion packs & DLC that have been released. Take care!
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