''The Enigma Birth'' is the fourth full-length album by

Timo Tolkki Timo Tapio Tolkki (born 3 March 1966) is a Finnish musician best known as the former guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer of the power metal band Stratovarius. With his tenure lasting for more than twenty years, he was the longest standing ...

's Finnish

metal opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been a ...

project Avalon, released on June 18, 2021. As with the previous effort, several heavy metal singers were invited to play the characters of the story of the album. The album was announced on 14 April 2021 alongside a video for "Beauty and War" (featuring Raphael Mendes). On 27 of the same month, a video for "Master of Hell", also featuring Mendes, was released. On 10 May, Avalon released a video for "The Fire and the Sinner" (featuring Jake E and Brittney Slayes). On the day of the album's release, a lyric video for "Beautiful Lie" (featuring James LaBrie) was published. According to Tolkki, he created a fourth part for the trilogy out of contractual obligations with

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...

. In September, he wrote around 10 tracks for the album and the label picked about half for the final track list; the remaining songs were written by a team of unacquainted Italian songwriters. He also claimed he doesn't know most of the guests, who were all suggested by the label.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

Metal.de Metal.de is a German-language online magazine launched in 1996. The magazine focuses on the subgenres of heavy metal and hard rock, but also reports on similar styles. ''Metal.de'' foundation in 1996 makes it one of the longest-running heavy me ...

'', Jannik Kleemann praised the performances of the guest singers, called Tolkki "a good guitarist" that "can write good material", but said "the atmosphere of projects like Avantasia is clearly denser". Nevertheless, he concluded his review by saying that "what remains is a decent, symphonic power metal album". Jonathan Smith, at ''Sonic Perspectives'', said that "for an album that isn't that much of a stylistic enigma, it nevertheless provides an assortment of anthems so fun and varied that frequent replays are a virtual certainty" and ultimately called it "an album not to be missed".

Track listing

Personnel

Per sources. Instrumentalists *

(ex- Stratovarius,

Symfonia Symfonia was a short-lived symphonic power metal supergroup formed in 2010 by Andre Matos (vocals), Timo Tolkki (guitars), Jari Kainulainen (bass), Mikko Härkin (keyboards) and Uli Kusch (drums). On February 18 of 2011, the band made its debut pe ...

Revolution Renaissance Revolution Renaissance was a multinational power metal band founded by guitarist Timo Tolkki after he left Stratovarius in 2008. The band released three studio albums before disbanding in 2010. History ''New Era'' The studio lineup for the '' N ...

) – guitars * Aldo Lonobile (

Secret Sphere Secret Sphere is an Italian symphonic power metal band from Alessandria, formed by guitarist Aldo Lonobile in July 1997. History Early Years (1997–2011) Guitarist Aldo Lonobile formed Secret Sphere in July 1997. Early on, the band was in ...

) – guitars *

Federico Maraucci Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcu ...

– additional guitars *

Andrea Arcangeli Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

(

Concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

, DGM) – bass *

Antonio Agate Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

(Secret Sphere) – keyboards and orchestrations * Marco Lazzarini (Secret Sphere) – drums Vocalists * James LaBrie (

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

MullMuzzler James LaBrie (formally MullMuzzler or ''James LaBrie's MullMuzzler'') is the progressive metal solo side project by James LaBrie, the lead singer of Dream Theater, before recording under his own name in 2005. The record company would not allow LaB ...

) *

Jake E Amaranthe is a Swedish metal band originally known as Avalanche. The band is notable for their blend of various metal genres and having three lead vocalists. History Formed by Olof Mörck (Dragonland, Nightrage) and Joacim "Jake E" Lundbe ...

(ex-

Amaranthe Amaranthe is a Swedish metal band originally known as Avalanche. The band is notable for their blend of various metal genres and having three lead vocalists. History Formed by Olof Mörck (Dragonland, Nightrage) and Joacim "Jake E" Lundbe ...

, Cyhra) *

Marina La Torraca A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ship ...

( Phantom Elite,

Exit Eden Exit Eden is an international symphonic metal supergroup (music), supergroup that performs cover versions of well-known pop and rock songs. Background The band was formed in 2017 by the American singer Amanda Somerville (Avantasia, Alice Cooper ...

) * Brittney Hayes (

Unleash the Archers Unleash the Archers is a Canadian power metal band from Victoria, British Columbia, currently signed with Napalm Records. The band plays a fusion of traditional heavy metal with power metal and melodic death metal. History 2007–2015: Formati ...

) * Raphael Mendes ( Icon of Sin) *

Fabio Lione Fabio Tordiglione (born 9 October 1973), known professionally as Fabio Lione, is an Italian singer and lyricist who has worked with many bands in the metal genre. He was known for being the singer of Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire fo ...

(ex-

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

, ex-

Vision Divine Vision Divine is an Italian power/progressive metal band formed in 1998. History Originally a solo project from Olaf Thörsen (born Carlo Andrea Magnani). Soon, Fabio Lione rejoined him after the first Labyrinth period ("No Limits"), and the ...

, ex-

Rhapsody of Fire Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre. Since forming in 1993 as Thundercross, the band h ...

Turilli / Lione Rhapsody Turilli / Lione Rhapsody was an Italian symphonic metal band formed in December 2018, by former Rhapsody of Fire members Luca Turilli and Fabio Lione. The lineup also included former Rhapsody of Fire members Alex Holzwarth, Patrice Guers, and Do ...

, Angra, Eternal Idol) * Caterina Nix (

Chaos Magic Chaos magic, also spelled chaos magick, is a modern tradition of magic. It initially emerged in England in the 1970s as part of the wider neo-pagan and magical subculture. Drawing heavily from the occult beliefs of artist Austin Osman Spare, ...

) * PelleK Production * Timo Tolkki & Aldo Lonobile - production

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enigma Birth, The 2021 albums Rock operas Concept albums Frontiers Records albums Timo Tolkki albums