Aina

Aina is the name given to both an album, 2004's Aina -- Days of Rising Doom -- The Metal Opera, and an international collective of musicians championed by multi-instrumentalist Robert Hunecke-Rizzo (Luca Turilli, Rhapsody, Kamelot). Along with producer Sascha Paeth, keyboardist and arranger Miro, and vocalist and lyricist Amanda Somerville, the Aina project boasts an extensive cast of participants drawn from the hard rock and metal communities, including Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc.), Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween), Andre Matos (ex-Angra), Candace Night (Blackmore's Night), Sass Jordan, Jens Johansson (Stratovarius, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, etc.), Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Marco Hietala (NightWish), and many more. Painstakingly assembled in 2003, the epic work that is Aina -- Days of Rising Doom -- The Metal Opera was touted as the world's first legitimate heavy metal opera, and was released early the next year by Transmission/The End Records.