Ok here we go for part two of Avantasia's new EPs. Like previously mentioned, when names like Avantasia and Tobias Sammet are thrown into the mix, my expectations are stellar, and that's why while I found very good material on these two EPs, I find they lack the content you'd expect from something that cost MORE than the upcoming album. More on this subject later in the review.

Of course the album starts with the same Lost In Space song, and like stated before its a great radio-oriented hit song. I particularly love the video clip of the song that's been airing both on TV or online. Next comes Promise Land, the total killer track of this EP, with Jorn Lande, Michael Kiske as well as Tobias of course. The trio of vocalist is right on the money, and the fast paced song with killer chorus is the highlight of both EPs. Its pure, heavy, melodic and bombastic, now THAT'S Avantasia right there !, that's what I wanted to ear all along, and I was expecting to listen 10 tracks like this one, not one on Part II and one on Part I (Another Angel Down). While I usually love Micheal Kiske I must admit that he doesn't put much soul into his performance, at least not as much as Jorn and Toby, and you can feel that when he leads the second chorus it has about a 5th of the punch than the first chorus. Its not a big issue and it doesn't hurt the song much at all, but its worth mentioning that Michael is a bit playing safe on this track, and I hope he'll have more guts and metal spirit on the actual album. Next is Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, an Ultravox Cover. While the song is great its just the millionth time its been covered, and while I enjoy having one more song with Tobias on the vocals (being one of my favorite singers), I must say that it didn't make very happy about the originality of the content compared to what I was hoping in the first place. Scary Eyes is another original song (that makes 5 total out of 12 tracks), its also pretty fast paced, and it has an interesting mood, great vibe, love the verse and bridge but find the chorus, while pretty cool, to change the mood of the song a bit too much; like trying to swim against a river's current, if that makes any sense at all :). The verse has a great Iron Maiden vibe at one point though. Still, its a great song and thanks god its something that is not filler material or a cover. The next song is... you bet : another cover. In My Defense by Freddy Mercury. A great emotional song that I don't have much to say about; except maybe that Tobias executed it very well. And to finish hitting the nail, the last song is AGAIN Lost In Space. And guess what, its labeled Epic version. I would expect something a bit more metal than the original, or maybe just more symphonic or whatever to reach what epic means to me. Instead its an acoustic version as a duet with female vocals here and there. So I've looked into the definition of epic, one of the definition matches EXACTLY what I have in mind : "heroic; majestic; impressively great". So here I am, to me playing the song with even less metal factor than the original does not warrant the "Epic" version label. Maybe its one of Toby's joke, and while most of them makes me laugh my ass off, this one is a bit sour, may that it might not be a joke.

Now to the conclusion and to my explaining what I'm sure is obvious sourness on the subject of these two EPs. First of all the price, I've heard Tobias say it would be an incredible deal and that his label was crazy to go along with the idea. So when I saw that the price of both EPs combined surpasses the price of any album by 20% or more, I quickly lost my smile about the awesomeness of the deal itself. Let's face it 33.80 Swiss Francs (about 30 dollars) is NOT a deal for 5 new songs, a bunch of covers I'll have all but forgotten next week and an intro that last 47 seconds + a definitely-not-epic version of a song that we already get TWICE when we get both part I and part II. To me that's just a little steep a price for such limited content, especially when you take into account that there is very little Avantasia like feeling expect for 3-4 songs. Now would it have been a 5-6 track EP with all the best part of part I and II it would have been an ULTIMATE killer EP, not a diluted doubled disks for no real reason. And the LAST word I would use to describe these EPs is "deal", since 5 meters away from where I found them in the store, was lying Rocket Ride for 9.90 ! (Now that's a DEAL ! less than a 1/3 of the price of what these 2 EPs cost !). So excuse my bluntness but splitting Lost In Space in two parts was not an economical risk for the label, it was a marketing move, brilliant as it may, to make more money by diluting not so much content (the epic version of Lost in Space + the 47 seconds intro + 4 four covers proves there wasn't so much content to start with). So I don't buy the "my label is so crazy to go along with me on this one", cause they would be crazy not to cash on the name Avantasia so very easily. Tobias always said he doesn't need the money, but on this one, I'm forced to wonder if that's entirely true.

I'm sorry if I sound so harsh, but when you love an artist so much that you actually count the days until the release of their next work, you as a die-hard fan has the right to point the finger and criticize when you think its needed, and I REALLY think on this one I had to. I've been always blown away by Tobias' Edguy and Avantasia's albums (as my reviews will attest), I've seen Edguy live probably more time than any other band, wherever it was on show or festivals, and I've reviewed pretty much everything Tobias did so far. You will notice these two EPs have the lowest score I've put so far on Tobias score, and for a simple reason : there was no need to dilute these 2 release on 2 EPs, one bombastically charged one would have done the trick 10 times better than this, and it wouldn't have left a sour taste nor a moan coming from one's wallet. I will finish by saying that while the overall quality of every track is top notch (perfect production as always), some of it screams filler content all the way, and I did not take into account the financial joke that these two EPs are in terms of worth for original content ! If I did the quote might have fallen down 10-15 points each. Fortunately the album is not far away, and I'm sure that it will erase this little disappointment I got from Lost In Space part I & II and wipe the slate so clean it will reflect the pure magic and soul shattering feel that Tobias ORIGINAL work brings to the metal scene, or at least to me. No thumbs up this time (but hopefully rebounding for jow against the walls in January for the Scarecrow)