Ghostlights

Ghostlights is the seventh full-length album by Tobias Sammet's rock opera project Avantasia. It was released on 29 January 2016. The opening track and first single "Mystery of a Blood Red Rose" is a candidate for the German representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, along with nine other songs. The winner will be decided via public vote on 25 February. The digibook edition of the album includes a bonus track and a bonus CD entitled Avantasia Live, which features songs recorded mainly during Avantasia's 2014 performance at Wacken Open Air Festival.

Ghostlights scored the highest positions of any Avantasia release in several international music charts and is only the second time Avantasia has entered the US Billboard 200 albums chart.

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.

Background and concept

After releasing The Mystery of Time, the predecessor to Ghostlights, Sammet said in a press conference that Avantasia's performance at the 2014 Wacken Open Air could be the project's last activity in a long time. However, in a later interview, he said The Mystery of Time hinted a sequel, and the details to that sequel were announced in November 2015.