"The Metal Opera" is the first full-length album by the German metal project Avantasia, created by Tobias Sammet. It is a concept album presented in the form of a metal opera and was later followed by the sequel "The Metal Opera Part II". Both albums were written over the course of approximately one year, beginning in late 1998, and were recorded and produced between October 1999 and June 2000. Production was temporarily interrupted so that Sammet could work on "The Savage Poetry" with his other band Edguy. The project has stated that the album title represents the first documented use of the term "metal opera". Sammet has described the release as his professional debut, as it was the first project from which he earned income as a musician, despite having already released three albums with Edguy prior to this work. According to Sammet, the album’s narrative is partly inspired by historical witch trials that took place in Fulda, his hometown, and in Mainz during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 2019, "The Metal Opera" was ranked 25th on Metal Hammer’s list of the best power metal albums of all time. In 2021, the magazine ranked it 18th among the best symphonic metal albums. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.