Avantasia is a symphonic metal project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist and frontman of the power metal group Edguy. The project's title is a portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" ("fantasy") and describes "a world beyond human imagination" (a quotation from the booklet). The project consists of a self-titled EP, two full length albums with the subtitle The Metal Opera, two EPs called Lost in Space, and the recently released album The Scarecrow.

“Avantasia” was founded in 1999 and is the side-project of the “ Edguy ”-singer Tobias Sammet. He published two concept albums (“The Metal Opera”, “The Metal Opera Pt. II”), which structures are very similar to the one of an opera. Both can be classified with power metal and/or symphonic metal . After the second album, Sammet announced that he would not publish any more Avantasia albums. However, in January 2008 a third album was released, titled “The Scarecrow”, musically be