I'll give u some dope on the band since most of us in india havnt heard of STRATOVARIUS.
STRATOVARIUS is a ''Power/Progressive Metal'' band from FINLAND founded in 1984 while their first demotape came about in 1987. Meanwhile a guy called Timo Tolkki(THE MAN!!!) joined the band in 1985 as the vocalist/guitarist. Keyboard player Antti Itkonen( He loves Indian Food ) joined the band after the demotape happened. Their debut album came out in 1989. But my MAn is both Tolki who went on to become very famous & THE drummer JORG MICHAEL.
The 2nd album Stratovarius II was released in early 1992. In October the same year Stratovarius II was released with a new cover and a new name TWILIGHT TIME all over the Europe and Japan. As with many extraordinary bands before(scorpions) it was Japan which showed the world how good they were. TWILIGHT TIME was the ''BEST IMPORT ALBUM'' in Japan in 1993. And STRATOVARIUS were big now.
The third album ''Dream Space'' was released worldwide in 1994. Then vocalist Timo Kotipelto joined the band and album Fourth Dimension came out in 1995 and it doubled the sales of Dream Space.
For more info about the band u can log on to their official website https://stratovarius.com .
Now the album TWILIGHT TIME-
It starts with arguably the best songs of this album -BREAK THE ICE -Progressive/power Metal RULEZ!!!!!!!! this song has everything mindboggling drumming, superb vocals, great bassriffs. Its got a sound which should make anyone like this song irrespective of his/her music tastes. Such songs cannot be disliked when you listen to them for the first time. The way the guitar solo starts is power metal at its best. {4:39}
THE HANDS OF TIME - Another high quality song. But instead i'll let the lyrics of this song speak for itself. Speed Drumming all the way!!!!! {5:34}
The time is running
It's running so fast that you don't
Notice years are passing by
And you're growing older
What happened to all your dreams?
Did they become true at all
We cannot undo the deeds of the years
They leave you on your own with your deepest fears
Don't look for the future
Don't live in the past
Just take it day by day 'cause life goes fast
The minutes the hours
The days and the years will fly so
Live still when you have the time
DID I hear someone say TIME -PINK FLOYD?? hahaha
MADNESS STRIKES AT MIDNIGHT- Drumming is the highlight here again. Vocals r full power too. But its a very long song {7:18}
METAL FRENZY- Drumming track basically but I dont like it. The speed lead part irritates me to no end but others mite like the speed thing. But the good news is this song is the shortest. {2:18}
Then comes the title track TWILIGHT TIME. Another smashing track. The first half of the song is power metal with vocals...but its after 2 minutes when therez that slow tempo building up for explosion. Man the drumming & bass after 'the lead peaks' just takes off complementing each other so perfectly. {5:49}
THE HILLS HAVE EYES - It starts with a haunting sound of bells tolling with keyboard giving it proper backgroud. Then the lead & bass picks up . Check the distortion used. After a min the tune starts. Its a very melodic tune. The bassriff is full power & melodic at the same time. The double bass drumming in the later part also rocks as usual. Actually the second half gets little boring. I think instead of 6 mins they should have kept in 4 mins or so.This is my weak track other than Metal Frenzy (but thats ionly 2 mins) {6:18}
OUT OF THE SHADOWS - This is speed/power/progressive all combined in one song. The drumming is mindblowing throughout the song. It starts with full throttle with Drums dominating for most of the songs. Theres a Lead solo somewhere around 2'n half mins into the song but there also u cnnot escape the DRUMMING. Man this is a song for drummers. {4:07}
LEAD US INTO THE LIGHT - Its got a very ballad kinda feel to it. Its quite like those 80's glam rock songs with long guitar solos ''but its not'' if u know what I mean:). This ones got deadly Solos too. {5:45}
TOLKKI RULEZ & so does JORG These Scandanavian countries r filled with such talented metal bands unheard of in this part of the globe. It takes time to dig out one by one. I'm sure if Stratovarius was from America or UK they would have been 10 times more known. The awerness about them is very low.
Its become my fav passtime offlate. To review music albums. Before writing about it I listen to the album a few times for 2-3 days & then I write the review while i'm listening to the songs :). Trust me this is the best way to discover so many things about these amazing song. CALVIN this review is for u ...BUY THIS ALBUM TODAY. Its available in MusicWorld.
As for me i'm looking out for someone who has their other albums esp. INFINITE & DREAMSPACE.
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.
