Avantasia (story)

Avantasia (story)

Avantasia is a story composed of two music albums by Tobias Sammet's metal opera project Avantasia. It is written in the format of a play and the songs are the characters dialogs and inner thoughts. The story was split into two parts, The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera Part II, released in 2001 and 2002. The albums feature many artists from various power metal bands, such as Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Rhapsody of Fire and many more.

"Avantasia" is a portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" ("fantasy") and describes "a world beyond human imagination" (a quotation from the booklet). The project consists of two CDs containing 23 pieces, which tell a fictional story about a Dominican monk, Gabriel, in the early 17th century (the story starts in 1602 AD).