Aina

Aina designates both the 2004 album Aina: Days of Rising Doom -- The Metal Opera and the international collective of musicians spearheaded by multi-instrumentalist Robert Hunecke-Rizzo, whose prior affiliations include Luca Turilli, Rhapsody, and Kamelot. Producer Sascha Paeth collaborated with keyboardist and arranger Miro as well as vocalist and lyricist Amanda Somerville to anchor the effort, which drew an expansive roster of contributors from the hard rock and metal realms. Among those participants were 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. The ambitious undertaking reached completion after painstaking assembly in 2003. Touted as the world's first legitimate heavy metal opera, Aina: Days of Rising Doom -- The Metal Opera reached the public in early 2004 through Transmission/The End Records.