Building up for the release of their new album Ghostlights, out January 29th via Nuclear Blast Records, Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia has slowly been releasing its cast of characters. The newest vocalist to be announced was none other than Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, playing the part of a ghost. Sammet desribes Snyder as a cross between a “peacock, jackal and Bugs Bunny” and “when [he] was younger… the kind of character that [he] wanted to be.”
Snider will be joining an already stellar crew featuring Geoff Tate (ex-Queensryche, Operation Mindcrime), Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween, Unisonic), Jorn Lande, and Bob Catley (Magnum), with more to be released in the coming months.
Full statement:
‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, ‘I Wanna Rock’, ‘The Kids Are Back’… There’s hardly any Rock fan around the globe who isn’t familiar with the big hits of Rock icons TWISTED SISTER, whose frontman Dee Snider is going to appear on the forthcoming AVANTASIA album ‘GHOSTLIGHTS’ (out on January, 29th). Besides mastermind Tobias Sammet, vocalists who have been confirmed for the new chapter of the Metal Opera are Geoff Tate (ex-Queensryche, Operation Mindcrime), Jorn Lande, Bob Catley (Magnum) and Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween, Unisonic). More singers are going to be announced soon.
Tobias comments: “I’ve always been a fan of Twisted Sister and Dee Snider in particular. He is entertaining, flamboyant, energetic, loud, tongue in cheek, colourful and mean! When I was young, I remember that he was the kind of character that I wanted to be. A crossing between peacock, jackal and Bugs Bunny. I loved it! On “Ghostlights” Dee is gonna be a ghost, and what a ghost he is. Great performance. Dee, welcome to the Avantasia family!”
