“Lost in Space” was the featured single for Avantasia’s (the side project of Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet) 2008 excellent album “The Scarecrow”.  The single was originally released as two separate EP’s in 2008.  A year later in 2009 fans of the band in the U.S. and Canada are getting this special treat of both EP’s released on one disc with exclusive content. 

This release features two album cuts being the single itself “Lost in Space” (duh) and “Another Angel Down”.  “Lost in Space”, the single, I found to be extremely Americanized, modern and commercial and I am shocked that it did not break out on main stream radio.  “Another Angel Down” is a strong track with the amazing Jorn Lande on vocals who I rank right up there with Ronnie James Dio.

I absolutely love it when heavy metal bands cover 80’s pop tunes releasing their own unique version.  Some of my favorites of the past couple years include Firewind covering “Maniac” and Raintime covering Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”.  Tobias has now added two more to my list as this release features Avantasia covering Abba’s “Lay All Your Love On Me” and Ultravox’s “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”.  Both songs were very well done and extremely entertaining to listen to.

 “The Story Ain’t Over” has me feeling as if I am listening to a Broadway play picturing Tobias and crew running around on a stage inside a New York City theatre.  Somewhat of a cheesy track but also pretty catchy with the great Bob Cately and Amanda Somerville are guests on vocals.  I was disappointed when I found that “Ride the Sky” was not a cover of the Helloween song but instead a cover of the Lucifer’s Friend classic.  Not too bad but I prefer the original over this.  Eric Singer did some guest vocals on this one.  “Promised Land” is killer and the Avantasia that I want. This should have been on “The Scarecrow” album.  Michael Kiske (ex Helloween) and Jorn Lande make guest vocal spots on the track which also includes a great guitar solo.  “Scary Eyes” is also very good and would have been another strong album cut.  Fans who loved the first two Avantasia albums will surely love these two tunes.  Kudos to Tobias for doing a great job tackling the Queen classic “In My Defense”, Freddie Mercury would have been proud.  This special album ends with an alternate version and an extended version of “Lost in Space”.  Rather unnecessary if you ask me but great for the true diehards.

Although there were many mixed reviews with the last Avantasia album I give credit to Tobias for doing what he believes in and making music the way he envisions it.  I thought it was great and will continue to support Tobias as he is one of my metal heroes.  This release was very well put together by Nuclear Blast and I will surely spin it many more times in the future to come.