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If you heard the first Avantasia album, you know what to expect here. This is 100% Power Metal right down to the core; high pitched, melodic vocals, fast-paced and speedy riffs and melodies, double bass drums, and all drenched with a healthy layer of synths (buy some now and get one free!). How much can I actually write about the music here? It's a tried and true formula by a bunch of musicians who have been doing it for a long time, and this is no less than what anyone expected. It's not a newborn classic as behind the scenes mastermind and lead vocalist Tobias Sammet touts it as, nor is it anything close to horrible or disappointing. It's just another solid Avantasia outing.

Sammet made the mistake of putting the 14 minute behemoth "The Seven Angels" right at the front of the album here, and it's without a doubt the best song on the album and one of the best he ever penned. It's pretty much the only song on both current Avantasia albums worthy of the title "metal opera," with every single vocalist putting in a few parts, and even blending together a couple times to form a majestic, heavenly choir that revokes (once again) strong, strong images of Edguy's Theater of Salvation album, feeling as if it would not be out of place in a gigantic cathedral. Somber, driving melodies and even some slightly heavier riffs meet to form a kingly epic, and if Sammet could write a whole album of stuff on this level of quality instead of talking trash and bragging, we really would have the classic he promised. The other songs here are not near the quality of "The Seven Angels," but there are gems to be uncovered - the speedy, Helloweenesque "No Return," the pounding, riffy "Memory," the catchy "Chalice of Agony," and especially the monstrous, powerful smash of "The Final Sacrifice."

Aside from having a few too many ballads (and one really shitty one; the tepid "In Quest For"), this is still a grandiose tour de force in Power Metal, and I can only fault it for bringing nothing new to the table in comparison to Avantasia's first effort. If this is your thing, then don't bother reading this review a second time; just go get it.