Post-1970s
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo had planned to produce an album called Songs From The Black Hole, which was to be a rock opera about a group of people pursuing an adventure in outer space to rescue an unidentified person or object. After the project was then abandoned in 1995, the band replaced it with their album, Pinkerton. Most of the demo recordings are available, legally or as bootlegs, though four remain unreleased. In 1995 David Bowie made the rock opera 1. Outside, a groundbreaking album for Bowie's 1990s career. In 1996, John Miner staged the rock opera Heavens Cafe at the Flamingo Theater in Las Vegas, and again in Los Angeles in 2004. That same year, Marilyn Manson, released Antichrist Superstar and subsequently created a reverse trilogy with Mechanical Animals in 1998 and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) in 2000.
Some heavy metal bands have released albums inspired by rock opera, often in a progressive metal framework. In some cases they have overlapped considerably with the format of metal concept albums. Queensrÿche's fourth album Operation: Mindcrime expanded the genre from their previous three rock opera by bridging rock opera with real opera and a stage production complete with the story playing on jumbotrons in live versions and DVD releases. Albums by Opeth (My Arms, Your Hearse), W.A.S.P. (The Crimson Idol, The Neon God: Part 1 - The Rise, The Neon God, Pt. 2: The Demise), Dream Theater (Scenes From a Memory), Kamelot (Epica, The Black Halo), Blind Guardian, Dimmu Borgir, Pain of Salvation, Protest the Hero (Kezia) and Epidemia are a few examples of metal opera albums. The Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire (formerly "Rhapsody") released several complementary albums that each continued a single mega-"DragonRock" opera. King Diamond has almost exclusively released metal opera albums, with only two albums containing stand alone tracks (though even these albums have several related tracks each).
The American heavy metal band Savatage released three rock operas, Streets: A Rock Opera (1991), Dead Winter Dead (1995) and The Wake of Magellan (1998), before the same composers continued the release of a series of rock operas under the banner of American progressive metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra, including Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996), The Christmas Attic (1998), Beethoven's Last Night (2001), The Lost Christmas Eve (2004) and the two-disc Night Castle (2009).
In 1995 Arjen Anthony Lucassen startet his Ayreon project with its first rock opera The Final Experiment, followed by Into the Electric Castle (1998), The Universal Migrator Part 1 & Part 2 (2000), The Human Equation (2004) and 01011001 (2008), which though all self-contained overall formed a continuing bigger story.
The composer Andy DiGelsomina calls his Lyraka project "Wagnerian Opera Metal", due to the influence of Richard Wagner's opera Der Ring Des Nibelungen. The project's first release, Lyraka Volume 1, received much critical acclaim, with Martin Popoff referring to DiGelsomina as a "great songwriter", and the opera itself as "the next Led Zeppelin". The second volume of the opera is being recorded and is slated for release December 2012.
Punk rock opera is a term coined by the punk band Green Day to describe their 2004 album, American Idiot, which was written about a teenage boy who runs away from home to find himself and how his life is before and after. Their 2009 follow-up album, 21st Century Breakdown, continues the rock opera style. Rock opera have been written in other languages as well, such as Gaia II: La Voz Dormida in 2005 by the Spanish rock group Mägo de Oz. On September 22, 2005, rock band Ludo released a rock opera entitled Broken Bride. In 2006, New Jersey rock quintet My Chemical Romance released a rock opera, titled The Black Parade, about a man dying from cancer. Edguy singer and main songwriter Tobias Sammet has written two separate rock operas under the name Avantasia. The first, Tobias Sammet's Avantasia, was released as two albums. The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera Part II. The Second opera is known as The Scarecrow trilogy and spans three albums The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony, and Angel of Babylon. Both feature many well known rock musicians. In 2008, Dutch band Xystus, along with an eighty-piece orchestra and four additional vocalists, released Equilibrio, which involved a stage show in addition to the studio album. The Protomen, an American rock band, released two rock opera, the Protomen, and its prequel, Act II: The Father Of Death in 2005 and 2009, respectively. Most notably, both albums dealt with the fictional video game character, Mega Man.
2009 saw the release of several different rock opera. In March, folk rock group The Decemberists released a rock opera entitled The Hazards of Love, telling the story of a doomed love affair between an innocent young woman and a cursed man. That same month, Mastodon released its fourth full length album entitled Crack the Skye. Its story tells of a quadriplegic space traveler who can only travel through astral projection. In April, Christian pop punk band FM Static released Dear Diary, which tells a story of a high school boy who goes through typical teenage struggles such as love, death, and self-discovery. In April, indie rock group The Antlers released an album entitled "The Hospice" which is centered around a man who's love life is falling apart, while his lover was diagnosed with cancer who ultimately dies on a sour note in the relationship. In May, Green Day released the aforementioned 21st Century Breakdown; it follows two lovers named Christian and Gloria as they struggle with religious beliefs and rebellion in the 21st century. In 2010, the progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria completed their fifth album, Year of the Black Rainbow which is the prequel album to their storyline called the Amory Wars, which arcs through their previous four albums. Also in 2010, American post-hardcore band Alesana released The Emptiness, which is a follows more of a horror-themed narrative. The following year, came about the release of a third album Canadian hardcore punk band Fucked Up. David Comes to Life was released on June 7, 2011.
Volunteer productions have sprung up as well. Founded in 1993, the non-profit Boston Rock Opera presents theatrical stagings of rock opera, narrative song, song cycles and conceptual rock works. In 2009, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society formed out of Baltimore, Maryland. The group has so far put on three rock operas, one in 2009, another in 2011 and their most recent one in 2012. They both have featured original scores.
Read more about this topic: Rock Opera