Ghostlights is the seventh full-length album by Tobias Sammet‘s German metal opera project Avantasia. It was released on 29 January 2016.[1][3] The opening track and first single “Mystery of a Blood Red Rose” was a candidate for the German representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, along with nine other songs.[4] The Digibook edition of the album included a bonus track and a bonus CD entitled Avantasia Live, which featured songs recorded mainly during Avantasia’s 2014 performance at Wacken Open Air Festival.[5]
Ghostlights scored the highest positions of any Avantasia release in several international music charts and marks the second time Avantasia has entered the US Billboard 200 albums chart.[6]
The plot of the album concludes the story started on The Mystery of Time. Musically, it shows a darker and more theatrical tone than its predecessor, which Sammet claims to have been spontaneous, not planned.[7][8][9]