The Metal Opera is the first full-length album by Tobias Sammet's German supergroup project, Avantasia. It is a concept album and a metal opera. The album is followed by the sequel The Metal Opera Part II. Both were written over the course of a year, starting in the last quarter of 1998, and both were produced from October 1999 to June 2000, with the works being interrupted for some weeks so Sammet could produce The Savage Poetry with his other band Edguy.
The project claims that the album's title marked the first usage of the term "metal opera". In 2021, they ranked it as the 18th best symphonic metal album.
Track listing
Note: "Malleus Maleficarum" is sampled from the song, "the Kingdom", by Tobias Sammet's other project, Edguy.
Credits
- Tobias Sammet - Keyboards, Vocals (see "Singers")
- Henjo Richter - Guitars
- Markus Grosskopf - Bass guitar
- Alex Holzwarth - Drums
Guests
Musicians
- Guitar
- Jens Ludwig (lead on tracks 12 & 13)
- Norman Meiritz (acoustic on track 6)
- Keyboards
- Frank Tischer (Piano on track 11)
Singers
- Gabriel Laymann – Tobias Sammet - tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 & 13
- Lugaid Vandroiy – Michael Kiske (credited as Ernie) - tracks 2, 5, 6, 9, & 13
- Friar Jakob – David DeFeis - tracks 3 & 13
- Bailiff Falk von Kronberg – Ralf Zdiarstek - tracks 4 & 7
- Anna Held – Sharon den Adel - track 6
- Bishop Johann von Bicken – Rob Rock - track 7 & 12
- Pope Clement VIII – Oliver Hartmann - tracks 7, 12 & 13
- Elderane the Elf – Andre Matos – tracks 11, 12 & 13
- Regrin the Dwarf – Kai Hansen - tracks 11 & 12
- Voice of the Tower – Timo Tolkki - track 13
Charts
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