Avaland – The Legend Comes Alive. | Progressive Rock Central.com

April 11^th of this year Avaland released the first live album of their music, The Legend Comes Alive.

The album, as the band’s PR notice describes it, is, “A journey into the enchanting realm of Avaland. For the first time, the band has captured the unbridled energy of their grand concerts during three shows in 2024. Joined by four guest vocalists, the Metal Opera takes on an even grander scale, becoming truly theatrical. This is an all-encompassing experience, dedicated both longtime and newer fans : Welcome to Avaland!”

Avaland is made up of Adrien G. Gzagg (lead vocals); Jeff Kanji (lead vocals); Lucas Martinez (guitar); Camille Souffron (bass); and Léo Mouchonay (drums).

The album also includes: guest singers: Madie (ex-Nightmare/Faith In Agony); Cara (Eltharia); Sophie Yanelli; and Laurene Telennaria (Orkhys).

The album opens with the overture, “Welcome to Avaland,” a royal and grand instrumental welcome to the Avaland experience. This must have been an incredible experience to witness.

Then, “Theater of Sorcery,” one of the best and most beloved songs of Avaland’s fans, takes the stage to rock the crowd into chaos. It is a wonderful and rollicking rocker that will demonstrate the ability of the band well.

“Storyteller,” is another of the band’s biggest hits and they perform it well live. More pounding, bass thumping, lead electric guitar shredding and impactful drums. This one has more pizzaz, like a Kiss or Judas Priest classic. The pace starts fast and never slows.

“To Be the King,” is another great song to include on this live album. There are some keyboards and orchestration, for a few brief moments, before the metal guitar assault resumes. Cara, is the bright spot on this song, adding a different sound to the soundscape. So much Medieval shouting and storyline that all fans will be satisfied.

“Let the Wind Blow,” features Laurene, and again the sound is buoyed by her vocal diversity. Heavy metal reigns throughout this album. It is a full head of metal directed at you.

“Betrayers,” features Madie, when she can be heard, above the roar of the band’s vocalists, the metal music, and the shouting fans. They do give her a few moments, towards the end of piece, to allow her to be heard, before the metal grinding machine restarts. Another powerful rock anthem.

“War of Minds,” features Madie and Sophie. Again, they are hard to hear, but help to provide diversity to the pure, non-stop metal music being performed. On this one, each lady gets more time and space to sing their vocal sections, and it made for one of my favorite performances on the album. This reminds me a lot of my experience watching Visions of Atlantis live. A lot of, “Hey, hey, hays,” and probably much hair waving and head banging. Every once in a while, they slow it down to deliver some great lyrics.

“Kingslayer,” picks the pace back up after a short slow opening. Then, back to the electric metal grinder. The fans are probably appreciative of a few slow songs in between the metal rockers.

“Out of the Fog,” features Sophie again. This track opens with splendid keyboards, before the grinding guitars and drums enter the soundscape. The most room to sing they have given any of the women on this album so far. And it makes this song another of the best.

“Holy Kingdom of Fools,” sounds a lot like a classic Judas Priest song. Very powerful and more of a rocker than a metal grinder song. In fact, it is quiet enough to hear the keyboards this time.

“Madness of the Wise,” features Cara again. But first the metal grinder returns. Power metal delivered with male voices shouting, electric lead guitars grinding, bass setting the rhythm, and drums pounding out the beat.

“You’ll Be The Legend,” is another of the best songs on the album. It starts off slow and with good, solid rock vocals, no yelling. The kind of singing you want to hear and can understand better. The symphonic orchestration is so perfect. Why could there not be more of this? Flutes, woodwinds, and piano, on one of the album’s longest songs. But, the quiet could not last. The metal engine revs up and off we go. More grinding and pounding.

“Crimson Tyranny,” the closer, is the longest song on the album. It features Madie, Sophie and Cara, for this finale. There is a long opening introduction in French, before the axes grind and the wheel spins with drums and lots of “hey, hays!” The ladies’ voices take the edge off the meat grinding electric metal, welcome to the machine sound. But this is pure metal designed to excite thousands of fans in a field, before a summer stage.

Every song on Avaland’s The Legend Comes Alive, is full of energy, metal screaming guitars, thumping bass, and pounding drums. The only thing missing is the visual spectacle of this band performing it live. But you can definitely feel the magic and power of a live concert experience with Avaland, is like. This sounds are very much like Visions of Atlantis’ current pirate themed metal, only these stories seem to be set more during Medieval times. If that is your recipe for metal, then, this is your album.

The Legend Comes Alive was recorded between the 1st of September and the 27 of November 2024. The show was filmed and recorded at: Fertois Metal Fest in Grenoble, Paris. The sound technician is JP Francon. Technical Supervision at Backstage BTM – Stéphane Brulez. Artwork by Avaland. Logo and graphics by Stan-W Decker. Pictures and photography by Dwidou Photography. Mix and mastered by JP Francon.

Album Track List: