A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society

A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society is the ninth studio effort from Tobias Sammet's Avantasia and yet another feast for the ears for fans of symphonic power metal. Once again, Sammet brings together a multitude of guest vocalists to flesh out the different voices woven into the lyrical story of the album and once again, he does so expertly. Regulars like Bob Catley, Jørn Lande and Michael Kiske take their turns, as does Geoff Tate who makes his third appearance in a row on an Avantasia album. Say what you want about him, but he can still sing. There are plenty of others, but I'll leave them as surprises for anyone checking out the album. Musically, it's an Avantasia album. That means you get hooks upon hooks upon hooks with loads of wonderfully harmonized vocals between Sammet and his guests and all the power metal songwriting you could ever want from speedy double-kicks ("The Inmost Light") to epics ("Arabesque" which clocks in at just under 10 minutes) and ballads ("Misplaces Among the Angels"). I really appreciate Sammet paring the running time back from the well over an hour the last two ran to a "lean" 53+ minutes. The only complaint, if you even want to call it that, is A Paranormal Evening... comes across as a safe album, one that hits all the notes Sammet knows the fans want, and doesn't try anything too far outside the lines nor does it do anything better than its predecessors. To my ears, it sounds a lot like Ghostlights, an album I admittedly think very highly of. Other than sounding very familiar (which is probably a good thing for a number of fans), I can't think of anything bad to say about this album. If you are an Avantasia fan or you enjoy symphonic, melodic power metal in general, you can safely grab a copy and let it find its way into heavy rotation.