AVANTASIA Releases New Single 'The Inmost Light' Featuring HELLOWEEN's MICHAEL KISKE

EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet's AVANTASIA project will release its ninth album, "A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society", on October 21 via Nuclear Blast. The disc will be the follow-up to "Moonglow", which came out in 2019.

The official video for the LP's latest single, "The Inmost Light", can be seen below. The song features a guest appearance by HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske. The song sees both vocalists trading off their signature styles over a short, sharp attack of classic heavy metal that's destined to be a hit live.

Sammet comments: "Michi Kiske is not only a good friend of more than 20 years, he has been with AVANTASIA right from the beginning. His singing inspires me when I compose songs, and while finalizing the writing for a duet with him, it always ends up in a very powerful missile like 'The Inmost Light'. The sound is in my DNA. It always was an important component of my songwriting, and maybe that is the reason our voices form a strong unit together.

"It is always a challenge to work and sing with this kind of expert. You have to put a lot of effort into it in order to not secede.

"Michi's singing and the sound of early HELLOWEEN influenced my career.

"I wrote 'The Inmost Light' in the wake of just throwing everything overboard which would not be essential. I wanted to deliver a short and tight rocket."

The "The Inmost Light" video is a recap of AVANTASIA's career so far. It's an emotional ride that takes us all the way back to the roots of the project.

"A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society" was produced by Sammet with AVANTASIA guitar player Sascha Paeth. The cover artwork was created by Swedish illustrator Alexander Jansson.

Sammet previously stated about the new album: "From the first song ideas back in 2018 / 2019 to the production, orchestration, keyboards, arrangements, details, I have been personally involved so deeply in every little aspect and detail of this album that you can't get an album any more personal or closer to my vision than this one. I had the time. Nothing else to do in the past two and a half years. It was a slow movement life with music and my Mysteryhausen studio serving as a portal to another world, full of music and quirky encounters with my muses keeping me sane and hopeful.

"I am super proud of the album — some of my best songs, some of my most emotional and extreme vocal performances, some of the strongest guest performances ever. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and when you'll hear it, you will know why."

"A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society" track listing:

01. Welcome To The Shadows
02. The Wicked Rule The Night
03. Kill The Pain Away
04. The Inmost Light
05. Misplaced Among The Angels
06. I Tame The Storm
07. Paper Plane
08. The Moonflower Society
09. Rhyme And Reason
10. Scars
11. Arabesque

Regarding the "A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society" title, Tobias said: "At first our label was wondering if we couldn't come up with a longer album title maybe. [Laughs] Given the attention span of the brave new world, it's not very memorable perhaps, but it's the concept and the title was on my mind for quite a while. Most fans know that I have never taken the easy way just to deliver things bite-sized for what the market can handle. Our fans are smart enough to memorize the title. As an artist you need to follow your vision, otherwise you get an ulcer and ulcers kill creativity."

"Moonglow" hit number one on the album charts in Germany and charted in 17 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas before AVANTASIA embarked on a ten-month tour of Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America.

Since its beginnings in 1999, AVANTASIA's past releases have featured international stars such as Alice Cooper, Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker (SCORPIONS), Sharon Den Adel (WITHIN TEMPTATION), Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer (KISS), Eric Martin (MR. BIG), SAXON's Biff Byford, TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider and many more.