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Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Angels Of The Apocalypse



6.2 | 78 votes |
Release date: 16 May 2014
Style: Power metal, Symphonic metal

Owners:

56 have it
10 want it


01. Song For Eden [Feat. Fabio Lione]
02. Jerusalem Is Falling [Feat. Fabio Lione]
03. Design The Century [Feat. Floor Jansen]
04. Rise Of The 4th Reich [Feat. David DeFeis]
05. Stargate Atlantis [Feat. Fabio Lione]
06. The Paradise Lost [Feat. Floor Jansen]
07. You'll Bleed Forever [Feat. Floor Jansen]
08. Neon Sirens [Feat. Zak Stevens]
09. High Above Of Me [Feat. Simone Simons, Caterina Nix & Elize Ryd]
10. Angels Of The Apocalypse [Feat. Simone Simons, Caterina Nix, Floor Jansen & Elize Ryd]
11. Garden Of Eden

Additional info
Recorded at East Sound Studios in Helsinki, Finland.
Written and produced by Timo Tolkki.

Staff review by
R Lewis
Rating:
7.5
Loyal to his one-album-per-year rule, Timo Tolkki releases Avalon's sophomore album, once again featuring the crème de la crème of power metal.

Read more ››
published 15.05.2014 | Comments (6)

Found in 3 lists
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Comments

Comments: 19   [ 1 ignored ]   Visited by: 322 users
27.10.2013 - 03:24
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Hoping this one will be worth (it could be?)
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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26.12.2013 - 05:19
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Well, just with Floor Jansen surely it will be worth
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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18.02.2014 - 19:11
Stratoman

Hope is not like Land of New Hope and much better/original than Revolution Renaissance or Symfonia
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Metal Is Made For All Men, But Not Every Man Is Made For Metal
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26.03.2014 - 12:42
Rating: 10
southerncross

Can't wait!
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16.05.2014 - 15:17
Rating: 2
Sword_Chant

Disappointing release.

After several spins i've concluded some of the songs are alright, but it's all very average TT material (AGAIN!!!) I thought the Land Of New Hope was much more innovative and fresh in ideas.
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19.05.2014 - 02:47
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

What a way to waste the chance to get again a great name in metal along great singers!!!!

An soooo UNINSPIRED, SAD AND BORING album! Is par with AGE OF AQUARIUS in my disappointments' scale...

The worst Timo Tolkki strikes back...

And to think I could get better this time listening Jethro Tull's albums (I'm starting to listen carefully their music and they are so AMAZING!).

Seriously, even if you are a great fan of Tolkki, just AVOID THE DISAPPOINTMENT if you look for an Episode II or a Visions II, even Elements Part II was better than this blandness fest putting in shame also the names of great female singers.

The only above-average track was the Fabio Lione's one (Jerusalem Is Falling).

Not that I don't enjoy the more slow-paced Power Metal (I love it in all its forms, Euro Flowerish, Sppedy as Hell, Thrashy as Heck, Melodic as Heaven) but FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! TIMO, YOU HAD SO GREAT SINGERS AND YOU COULD NOT EXPLOIT BETTER THEIR TALENTS (and it hurts me painfully to listen the deFeis' song in this album, cause I love his vocals).

My hopes of getting again amazing music from the finnish madman are almost dead...

The last albums I enjoyed truly from him were Trinity from RR (almost as great as Infinite) and In Paradisum (yes, I know, generic as hell and Matos outta form, but it has at least some old-Strato vibes in this one).
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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24.05.2014 - 21:46
ManiacBlasphemer
Black Knight
Tolkki man... you've made a mess out of this one. Never seen such a bland album in my life. I seriously think that the power drive behind Stratovarius wasn't this guy as much as Jens and Kotipelto was as I really can't explain so many disasters in his post-Stratovarius discography. Except for the vocals and guitar solos, everything was ignored by Tolkki. The ballads are just horrible and uninspired and DeFeis sounds just gruesome. I just hope Tolkki did some shit to his voice otherwise Virgin Steele is really fucked.

My pick for the most disappointing album of the year...
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01.06.2014 - 18:18
larrynmn

I would say there's some stratovarius copy-catting as well as some pagan's mind and sabaton type sounding stuff. minus the good songwriting. so you're left with a second rate sounding cover band.
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06.06.2014 - 16:34
Rating: 2
Sword_Chant

Written by ManiacBlasphemer on 24.05.2014 at 21:46

Tolkki man... you've made a mess out of this one. Never seen such a bland album in my life. I seriously think that the power drive behind Stratovarius wasn't this guy as much as Jens and Kotipelto was as I really can't explain so many disasters in his post-Stratovarius discography. Except for the vocals and guitar solos, everything was ignored by Tolkki. The ballads are just horrible and uninspired and DeFeis sounds just gruesome. I just hope Tolkki did some shit to his voice otherwise Virgin Steele is really fucked.

My pick for the most disappointing album of the year...


I agree, TT has been stuck in a rut for about 10 years and this album is no exception - it sounds rushed beyond belief. One album per year can't be helping much... he should probably have a break and spend a couple more years focusing on bettering his material / find a way to reinvent himself, hell, maybe even spend longer in the studio!?!

Since he left Strato i've only really enjoyed 2 albums (The RR New Era album and the Land Of New Hope) and I wouldn't say either of those broke new ground. Tolkki had his best days with Strato in the 90's but you're right, it wasn't all about Tolkki, the 4 other guys helped to make the band as good as it was...
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07.06.2014 - 16:30
gkatz
Account deleted
Is the production really so awful (guitars and other instruments pretty buried, voices's volume so high) or did I download bad quality mp3s of the album (which actually is the only reliable and available quality in torrent sites)?
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08.06.2014 - 01:14
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Written by Sword_Chant on 06.06.2014 at 16:34

Since he left Strato i've only really enjoyed 2 albums (The RR New Era album and the Land Of New Hope) and I wouldn't say either of those broke new ground.


Did you listen also the last RR album "Trinity"? IMHO it was the best one released by the maniac through those years
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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08.06.2014 - 14:35
Rating: 2
Sword_Chant

Quote:
Quote:

Did you listen also the last RR album "Trinity"? IMHO it was the best one released by the maniac through those years


Trinity was alright, it was probably the heaviest RR album, but I felt like most songs copied Strato's older works... and Gus Monsanto's vocals sounded frail and forced... (check out how much better his vocals are in Adagio's 'Dominate' album!!)
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15.06.2014 - 14:36
Chriwalker
Account deleted
I actually liked the last one kind of, it wasn't great, but okey yes. This one though, I listened once through it, and it's the worst album I've heard in a very long time. I can't remember one song, and it even had Floor Jansen in it... Come on, it should be impossible to make her voice so bland.... Better luck next time Tolkki, I'll be passing this one.
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23.06.2014 - 05:48
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Written by Irritable Ted on 16.06.2014 at 10:07


Its only when Kotipelto joined the band that they started doing anything any good. Just saying.


I don't think so. IMHO Fright Night & DREAMSPACE (speacially DREAMSPACE) were very great albums.

The thing now is to think about what has been the worst TT's effort:

-Stratovarius homonymous album
-RR's Age Of Aquarius
-This new crap
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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26.06.2014 - 14:25
Rating: 2
Sword_Chant

Written by mikeprado30 on 23.06.2014 at 05:48

Written by Irritable Ted on 16.06.2014 at 10:07


Its only when Kotipelto joined the band that they started doing anything any good. Just saying.


I don't think so. IMHO Fright Night & DREAMSPACE (speacially DREAMSPACE) were very great albums.

The thing now is to think about what has been the worst TT's effort:

-Stratovarius homonymous album
-RR's Age Of Aquarius
-This new crap


I thought the first Avalon was pretty good... since he left Stratovarius it's one of the only Tolkki albums I can listen from start to finish. But this album gets worse and worse the more I listen to it. This has got to be Tolkki's worst album ever - it makes RR and Symfonia seem epic in comparison
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28.06.2014 - 07:09
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Written by Sword_Chant on 26.06.2014 at 14:25

I thought the first Avalon was pretty good... since he left Stratovarius it's one of the only Tolkki albums I can listen from start to finish. But this album gets worse and worse the more I listen to it. This has got to be Tolkki's worst album ever - it makes RR and Symfonia seem epic in comparison


Well, at least I got love for Symfonia (surely Matos vocals are outta place but IMHO was a nice album with so much Strato feeling, maybe the post-Strato album made by TT with more Strato influences, following Trinity). RR was a mess with New Era (and also has the MOST CHEESIEST SONG OF ALL TIME EVER, Glorious and Divine), then got released the also HUGELY DISAPPOINTMENT called Age of Aquarius, and in another weird move by the maniac, he calls it quit the band and releases their best album: Trinity.

Something very serious happened with Timo after this grave incident through 2004 :/ Meanwhile, Stratovarius gets better and better...
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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17.07.2014 - 16:42
Rating: 2
Sword_Chant

Written by mikeprado30 on 28.06.2014 at 07:09

Written by Sword_Chant on 26.06.2014 at 14:25

I thought the first Avalon was pretty good... since he left Stratovarius it's one of the only Tolkki albums I can listen from start to finish. But this album gets worse and worse the more I listen to it. This has got to be Tolkki's worst album ever - it makes RR and Symfonia seem epic in comparison


Well, at least I got love for Symfonia (surely Matos vocals are outta place but IMHO was a nice album with so much Strato feeling, maybe the post-Strato album made by TT with more Strato influences, following Trinity). RR was a mess with New Era (and also has the MOST CHEESIEST SONG OF ALL TIME EVER, Glorious and Divine), then got released the also HUGELY DISAPPOINTMENT called Age of Aquarius, and in another weird move by the maniac, he calls it quit the band and releases their best album: Trinity.

Something very serious happened with Timo after this grave incident through 2004 :/ Meanwhile, Stratovarius gets better and better...


I remember watching a video blog Tolkki did about this 2nd Avalon album, it was about the time he was making the album in Winter. He openly admitted it took him ages before for good ideas came along, and they came late on in the writing process. Your right about Stratovarius, it must have weighed on his mind a lot over the years, maybe that has drained him of creativity... but I guess he was in Strato for 20+ years. For Tolkki's sake I really hope the 3rd Avalon will be better...
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18.07.2014 - 08:17
Rating: 6
mikeprado30

Written by Sword_Chant on 17.07.2014 at 16:42



I remember watching a video blog Tolkki did about this 2nd Avalon album, it was about the time he was making the album in Winter. He openly admitted it took him ages before for good ideas came along, and they came late on in the writing process.


Well, if that could be called "good ideas"...
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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29.04.2019 - 12:17
Rating: 5
Mountain King
K i K o
2 big jokes in this song. I don't mind that it's generic but the biggest joke is that David Defeis is even there. The horrible voice, as if a person is vomiting coupled with a few high pitched screams here and there. Is this considered singing nowadays? He really is a disgrace to the great singers that are featured on Timo's albums. The second joke is the George W. Bush like speech towards the end of the song. Like seriously, the Americans are protecting the world from a 4th reich? This whole song is a big joke, thematically and musically.

Fabio Lione sounds horrible specially in Stargate Atlantis and also other songs but at least he is trying to sing.
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