Timo Tolkki's Avalon The Land of New Hope

Frontiers Records is excited to announce the release of TIMO TOLKKI’S AVALON stunning new Metal Opera entitled “The Land of New Hope” on May 17th in Europe and May 21st in North America.

Hailed by fans and press as one of the forefathers of the Power Metal genre with his songwriting for the band STRATOVARIUS in the late 90’s and early 00’s, Timo Tolkki has been silently preparing his musical revenge. Following a call in august 2012 from Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino, Tolkki quickly cancelled all plans and started writing new music following an original concept discussed years ago between the artist and Perugino. The idea was to have a magniloquent metal / rock opera with some cinematic orchestrations to bring back the STRATOVARIUS original sound in a more symphonic and grandiose fashion. “I sort of rediscovered myself musically in the process of making this album”, explains Tolkki. “I wrote the story first and started composing the music after that. My aim was to write memorable songs with good melodies that would support the story. In STRATOVARIUS back in early 90’s, I was one of those who were there in creating the whole Power Metal genre, so it is natural that people may associate this music style to me. But on this album you will find a lot of different dynamics as well with some songs that are fully orchestrated and sound very very big”.

For this unique album, Tolkki managed to gather some of the most renowned singers around including Michael Kiske (UNISONIC), Elize Ryd (AMARANTHE), Rob Rock (IMPELLITTERI), Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X), Sharon Den Adel (WITHIN TEMPTATION) and Tony Kakko (SONATA ARCTICA).

Rounding up the stunning line-up of this album are: Alex Holzwarth (RHAPSODY of FIRE) on drums and Jens Johansson (STRATOVARIUS), Derek Sherinian (BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION), Mikko Härkin (SONATA ARCTICA) on keyboards, with Tolkki taking care of all guitars and bass recordings and of course production duties.

1. Avalanche Anthem
2. A World Without Us
3. Enshrined in My Memory
4. In the Name of the Rose
5. We Will Find a Way
6. Shine
7. The Magic of the Night
8. To the Edge of the Earth
9. I'll Sing You Home
10. The Land of New Hope