An edited version of the track “Dying For An Angel” - featuring guest vocalist by Klaus Meine of the Scorpions - off the upcoming Avantasia album 'The Wicked Symphony' is now available on Tobias Sammet’s website. The song also features Tobias Sammet on vocals & bass, Sascha Paeth on guitars, and Eric Singer (KISS) on drums.

North American street date for Avantasia's 'The Wicked Symphony' (physical release) and 'Angel Of Babylon' (digital-only release) is May 4th.

On the decision to release the next Avantasia chapter in two separate CDs, Tobias stated: "I have always given my very best, but this new chapter in Avantasia's history too ambitious to be just a regular album. I knew the story would be spread out over two albums when we started working on it in 2006 'cause we had written a real rock opera of over 20 songs even back then. [This] may be the last big epic I will be able to afford, and I want it to be the biggest piece I have worked on so far.”

'The Wicked Symphony' track listing:

01. The Wicked Symphony
02. Wastelands
03. Scales Of Justice
04. Dying For An Angel
05. Blizzard On A Broken Mirror
06. Runaway Train
07. Crestfallen
08. Forever Is A Long Time
09. Black Wings
10. States Of Matter
11. The Edge

'Angel Of Babylon' track listing:

01. Angel Of Babylon
02. Stargazers
03. Your Love Is Evil
04. Death Is Just A Feeling
05. Rat Race
06. Down In The Dark
07. Blowing Out The Flame
08. Symphony Of Life
09. Alone I Remember
10. Promised Land 2
11. Journey To Arcadia

Confirmed guest musicians on the forthcoming Avantasia opus include:

* Klaus Meine (SCORPIONS)
* Tim "Ripper" Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ICED EARTH)
* Eric Singer (KISS, ALICE COOPER)
* Michael Kiske (HELLOWEEN)
* Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN, ARK, MILLENIUM)
* Bob Catley (MAGNUM)
* Sascha Paeth
* Felix Bohnke (EDGUY)
* Alex Holzwarth (RHAPSODY, SIEGES EVEN)
* Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X)
* Jens Johansson (STRATOVARIUS, DIO, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN)
* André Matos (ANGRA, SHAAMAN, VIPER)
* Bruce Kulick (KISS, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD)
* Cloudy Yang
* Oliver Hartmann (AT VANCE, HARTMANN)
* Jon Oliva (JON OLIVA'S PAIN, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, SAVATAGE)

At Mobile World Congress 2009, a small company named Innocomm showed off an Android phone they called the Innocomm Skate (pictured) – it still isn’t released. That phone faced delays due to a change in chipsets but that hasn’t slowed down the company’s Android aspirations. In an interview with PC World the company’s Sales Manager made mention of at least 4 more handsets on the way: the Innocomm Shark, Innocomm Shadow, Innocomm Scorpion and Innocomm Gemini.

The most imminent of the 4 seems to be the Shark which had a pretty darn good list of specs and is, according to Sales Manager Chuck Huang, slated for May or June:

  • 3.2-inch touchscreen
  • 800 x 400 pixel resolution
  • 8MP camera with flash
  • 3.5mm headset jack
  • MicroSD slot up to 32GB
  • GPS, 3G, HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
  • 115 x 58 x 12.5 mm
  • Analog TV Receiver
  • Digital TV Receiver in future model

The Shadow is expected to be a 4.3-inch phone but besides the Shark, most of Innocomm’s devices are prototypes and plans. It’s great to know that their plans are based on Android:

“Windows is nice,” said Huang, but it can’t beat the price on Android.

“It’s free and the Google brand is already well known,” he said, “Android is the only OS we’re working on.”

Can’t argue with that, and best of all, Innocomm plans to pass that savings onto the consumer:

“What we do is sell a high-end smartphone at a low-end price,” he said, adding that network operators will likely offer it for free with reasonable service contracts.

Stay tuned for more on the Shark, Shadow, Scorpion, Skate and Semini. Oops, I meant Gemini – they like their esses.

[Via PCworld]