Creepshow quite literally creeps up to you with a crawling melody for a few seconds in the beginning of the song. This was the first single that was released of this album, and also the song this CD opens with. It’s an uplifting song with lead singer Tobias Sammet’s favorite word; creepshow. Freakshow or creepshow often occur in his songs, but always mean that you can be yourself wherever you are and that it doesn’t matter if you think you are weird or others say you’re weird. You are welcome to the creepshow. A classical Avantasia opening in symphonic opera metal with Toby’s amazing stories on top. I’m ready to hear the rest of this album.

Here Be Dragons, the title track of this album, opens very calm and peaceful. “Here we go!” is being shouted, and the song gets some more power to it. Harmonies are being put on the chorus and the first time hearing it just gives you goosebumps. The song continues in a steady, mighty pace. This one also carries the title of longest song on the album. For almost 9 minutes, we get to enjoy a beautiful story about a magical world where you can hide whenever the real one is too scary. In that magical world, you’ll find dragons and magic; a world that’s also worth discovering.

The Moorlands At Twilight starts with a lead guitar that gives us a solo on top of a bed of powerchords. After half a minute, the vocals come in too. The drums pound rather fast on this one. All of a sudden it’s just the guitar and the voice, before everything is joined together again. This gives the song a lively vibe. Michael Kiske joins on this one. He has featured in previous Avantasia songs as well and often makes a live appearance on tour too. He has such a recognisable voice and takes this song to another level. I have to add that the solo on this one is solid, and I would say near perfection. The guitars are loud, clear and in harmony. Both with each other and with the other instruments.

The Witch starts mysterious and a bit eerie. The synths are more present in this one. Verses build up to the chorus and then something magical happens. Both Tommy Karevik from Kamelot and Tobias Sammet can handle high and long notes, and their voices are in the same range. They sing in harmony on this chorus, and their two voices become almost one. This makes that their voices go seamlessly into the next verse that one of them sings.

Phantasmagoria, the definition states: a sequence of real or imaginary images like that seen in a dream. In my own words, I would describe it as something like daydreaming. A word that’s hard to define, but fits perfectly for the magical world that Avantasia creates. It has occurred before on Spectres, the opening song on The Mystery of Time, if I’m correct. Phantasmagoria has a faster pace. It grabs your attention and leaves no room for you to be distracted by something else. The choruses feel almost perfect, with both the instruments and the vocals becoming one. And before you know it, this song is over, and you are released into the next song.

Bring On the Night gives you the time to relax a little. It builds up mystery by letting the instruments build up tension. They go from a lower volume to louder, and from calmer to more frequent and faster. Until the chorus is there and the song losses its restrictions and does its thing. “Bring on the night!”

Unleash The Kraken; the title makes it sound like all hell will break loose. It doesn’t start as heavy as I expected, but after a few seconds it throws some lower sounding powerchords your way and some heavy metal high screams. Toby sings this one by himself, but when the chorus says the name of the track it shows a special effect. It sounds like a lot of people sing the line at the same time. Probably it is Toby‘s voice that’s layered a couple of times. But I’m not quite sure if I like that effect. All the music sounds so real to me, so pure, but that one effect doesn’t. When the song is halfway done, we get some choirs for some extra dimension to the song and once again a killer solo; which is what I expected when I read the title. The song stays true to its name and delivers a faster, lower sounding track with mostly amazing effects.

Avalon sounds heroic and takes you on a journey. I’ll let the lyrics explain it to you:

“You – you may find the answer
To denial of return
You may trade in your mind
Lose your senses inside
and the chains…”

Against the Wind gives us a melodic opening and talks to us about being different and going your own way. Not everybody may agree, but “I’m me and I do it my way”. Harmonious and melodic, this song continues to do its own thing.

“And if you don’t like what I do
Then it’s not made for you
If you get exasperated
with what I will or I may or I say –
it’s my way!”

Closer Everybody’s Here Until the End gives you time to think about everything you’ve just encountered. May it be personal, emotional or just an amazing magical adventure. The verses are calm and classical, the choruses powerful and straight forward. And it ends on the beautiful lyric: “Somehow I know that I am not alone”, which brought tears to my eyes.

Avantasia gives us once again a pearl of an album full of magical stories and adventures. It always touches me emotionally about how beautiful these albums are. Let There Be Dragons is amazing. It gives you the base of a story and lets your brain fill in the edges around the stories. All these stories are played on a bed of power metal/symphonic metal/melodic metal and switches fluently between calm, heavy and heroic sounding parts. The sound of this album is in line with previous Avantasia albums. Yet it never gets boring because the songs are interactive; they change in pace and form. So even though it is the same style, it gives you a whole other story to enjoy and different vibes to encounter.

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