Edguy's Tobias Sammet and his group Avantasia project will be releasing their ninth album, A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society, on October 21 from Nuclear Blast. It's the follow-up to 2019's Moonglow. A lyric video for first single, "The Wicked Rule The Night," featuring a guest appearance by Primal Fear singer Ralf Scheeperscan, can be seen below.
About the album, Sammet said "From the first song ideas back in 2018 / 2019 to the production, orchestration, keyboards, arrangements, details, I have been personally involved so deeply in every little aspect and detail of this album that you can't get an album any more personal or closer to my vision than this one. I had the time. Nothing else to do in the past two and a half years. It was a slow movement life with music and my Mysteryhausen studio serving as a portal to another world, full of music and quirky encounters with my muses keeping me sane and hopeful. I am super proud of the album — some of my best songs, some of my most emotional and extreme vocal performances, some of the strongest guest performances ever. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and when you'll hear it, you will know why."
Explaining the album title, Sammet joked that, "At first, our label was wondering if we couldn't come up with a longer album title maybe. Given the attention span of the brave new world, it's not very memorable perhaps, but it's the concept and the title was on my mind for quite a while. Most fans know that I have never taken the easy way just to deliver things bite-sized for what the market can handle. Our fans are smart enough to memorize the title. As an artist you need to follow your vision, otherwise you get an ulcer and ulcers kill creativity."
A Paranormal Evening With The Moonflower Society was produced by Sammet with Avantasia guitar player Sascha Paeth. The cover artwork was created by Swedish illustrator Alexander Jansson.
