Female Singer Confirmed For AVANTASIA Project

Germany-based singer Cloudy Yang (pictured below) has joined the list of guest musicians who will appear on the forthcoming release from EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet's AVANTASIA project.

Commented Tobias: "I know people have speculated and thrown in a lot of names [about which female vocalist will appear on the next AVANTASIA album], but it's not about names, it's foremost about quality.

"Together with the amazing Amanda Somerville, Cloudy Yang had been singing backing vocals during the AVANTASIA world tour, and also performed backing vocals for EDGUY's 'Dragonfly'. Cloudy's vocals are simply terrific! And having a gifted singer like that in my extended rock and roll family that a lot of people may not have known yet, I consider it my duty to give her as much exposure as I possibly can.

"Cloudy had sung the demo that we had recorded to guide the real singer later on — whoever that was going to be. But Cloudy was perfect on that demo, and we really, really had to keep her vocals on there. She reminds me a lot of Lisa Dalbello, some people said Kate Bush. You will hear it — she is nothing but amazing!"

So far Tobias has confirmed the following musicians to be part of the forthcoming AVANTASIA opus:

* Klaus Meine (SCORPIONS)
* Tim "Ripper" Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ICED EARTH)
* Eric Singer (KISS, ALICE COOPER)
* Michael Kiske (HELLOWEEN)
* Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN, ARK, MILLENIUM)
* Bob Catley (MAGNUM)
* Sascha Paeth
* Felix Bohnke (EDGUY)
* Alex Holzwarth (RHAPSODY, SIEGES EVEN)
* Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X)
* Jens Johansson (STRATOVARIUS, DIO, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN)
* André Matos (ANGRA, SHAAMAN, VIPER)
* Bruce Kulick (KISS, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD)
* Cloudy Yang

AVANTASIA project will celebrate its comeback this year with a new epic masterpiece, to be released on April 3, 2010 as two separate albums and in a limited deluxe edition (in one box set) entitled "The Wicked Symphony" and "Angel Of Babylon".

Regarding his decision to release the next AVANTASIA chapter in two separate CDs, Tobias said, "I have always given my very best, but this new chapter in AVANTASIA's history is too much and too ambitious to be just a regular album. I have worked on it for years now, and it has become even more than two albums!

"I knew that story would be spread out over two albums back then when we started working on it in 2006, 'cause we had written a real rock opera of over 20 songs even back then. But since then, we kept composing, and out came even bigger and better material.

"Looking at the music industry today with all the CD burning and downloading, I guess in the near future many of us traditional rock and metal bands won't be able to spend such a production budget. I am afraid I won't be able to afford so many guests and such a big production with orchestration and a choir and all that. That's why this production takes so much time; it may be the last big epic I will be able to afford, and I want it to be the biggest piece I have worked on so far."

Kiske has appeared on every AVANTASIA album so far, including the first two full-length releases, "The Metal Opera" (2001) and "The Metal Opera Pt. II" (2002).

On the topic of the new AVANTASIA album's musical direction, Sammet recently stated, "We've got quite many songs, and it ranges from epic ballads to metal opera. From pop to hard rock to folk to speed metal. My best friend, who co-wrote the story of 'The Metal Opera' back then, just listened to some of the tracks and he said that it will blow people away and enchant AVANTASIA fans and it will surely piss people off . . . It's just enchanting music. And these days honest and good music is kind of offending to some, that's pretty sick, isn't it? But as long as I get goose bumps hearing majestic music, I do not really care if I am fashionable or not."

The most recent album from AVANTASIA, "The Scarecrow", was one of the 20 best-selling albums in whole Europe during the fourth week of January 2008, according to a press release.

"The Scarecrow" was released on January 25, 2008 as a standard CD as well as rare picture (double) vinyl. It features a long list of guest musicians, including Bob Catley, ex-MASTERPLAN frontman Jorn Lande, ex-HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske, Alice Cooper, KISS drummer Eric Singer, SCORPIONS guitarist Rudolf Schenker and GAMMA RAY's Kai Hansen. The album produced a Top 10 German hit single, "Lost In Space", and entered the national charts in 15 countries, with the CD landing in the Top 10 in four countries.