SYNOPSIS:

This is the first Stratovarius album, fully outdated by today's standards of the band. I can say this album has value only for collectors or absolute Strato fans. Fright night offers a form of heavy metal with a pretty banal sound and attempts to imprint a certain originality to the songs, not with too much suces. The voice is made by Timo Tolkki, not very good in this field, unlike his work on guitar. In 1989 there have been made many valuable metallic albums and Fright night doesn't even manage to allign itself to the quality level of that period. There is not much to be said about this album. False messiah is the only song that has something special, the chorus is very penetrating with a very atmospheric keyboard orchestration. Fire dance is an instrumental song that crystallizes a couple of main future Strato themes. Short, 2:22 min only, but pretty interesting. The title track has an epic touch, it is 8:12 min long and has many moods - rapid heavy metal, virtuoso and meditative parts. The final Good bye is a pleasant accustic postlude.

GENRE Heavy metal
ORIGINALITY 2 of 5
PERFORMANCE 2,5 of 5
SONGWRITING 2,5 of 5
VOCALS 1 of 5

BOTTOM LINE 4,9/10 (Obsolete, for collectors only)

OTHER HOT SPOTS
Fright night
Fire dance

SYNOPSIS:

The album number 2, Twilight time, comes with a production and conception superior to the debut album. As a matter of fact, this is the album that launched Stratovarius to the Japanese public, bringing them many months in top position of best sold import bands. Unfortunatelly, the voice doesn't sound too good here either, Timo Tolkki being very limited in expression when it comes to the vocal parts. Overall, the album has a rougher tonality, with heavier riffs (Break the ice), dark keyboards, but also typical Strato elements, so much adored by the fans. The hands of time is the first 100% Strato song, starting with the lyrics and ending with orchestral arangements. The keyboard intro, with an hymnical light followed by the metalic unleash, with the use of guitar, in the purest Helloween style, as we find on the legendary and influential song March of time. This song is a typical Strato hymn dedicated to eternity, future and optimism. Madness strikes at midnight is a dark song, with squeezed guitar sound, very atmospheric. Twilight time, The hills have eyes sound "gothic" a bit, while Out of the shadows points again the Strato's celestial melodicity. This is a decent album, that some will like, others will find it boring.

GENRE Heavy metal
COMPARABLE TO Stratovarius Fright night
ORIGINALITY 2,5 of 5
PERFORMANCE 2,5 of 5
SONGWRITING 3 of 5

BOTTOM LINE
6,9 OF 10 SKULLS (Listen before buying)

SYNOPSIS:

Dreamspace is a natural evolution, an album much above Twilight time, with more and more original Strato components. Dreamspace presents a mature band, with enough experience in order to try its strength upon the metalic pantheon. The number of 14 songs that explore various moods, show us the band has a conscience of its own value. Albeit creative, the album has a couple of flaws because of the not so good production (We are the future) and the voice of Tolkki that sounds irritating at times. Some compositions approach melodic speed lines, some others have a ballad tempo and the final brings a very successful conceptual moment Thin ice / Atlantis / Abyss dedicated to mystery and exploration of the unknown. Shattered is a speed metal "according to the book", in the manner of Halford's yellings. Wings of tomorrow closes the album with mid temp hit that reminds me slightly of Def Leppard of Europe. Dreamspace is a pleasant album, that ends the first Strato period and deserves some attention.

BEST SONG
Eyes of the world

OTHER HOT SPOTS
Dreamspace
Shattered
Wings of tomorrow
Abyss

SYNOPSIS:

Fourth dimension (95) brings Timo Kotipelto, the charismatic frontman, that brought into the main line the clean and natural voice, whose most significant representant was Michael Kiske. In the past years we witness a true explosion of castrated vocalists, many of them blantantly lacking inspiration and some others truly cursed by nature. Bringing Kotipelto was a very usefull manoeuvre that raised very much the level of the band. At this very moment, Kotipelto is, probably, the best clean vocal of metal. Instrumental wise, Fourth dimension sounds similar to Dreamspace, the vocal is what brings a plus of quality. The first 3 songs of the album, with a rocking mid tempo, very catchy, put into evidence his extraordinary voice abilities: Against the wind, Distant skies, Galaxies. The first two are very much requested in live apparitions. Winter is a ballad on the theme of solitude, with rich orchestration and tragic accents. Stratovarius - an instrumental insanity, full of virtuosity, in the most authentic Malmsteenian style, was specially made to wake up the laziest hormon out of your butt. Each song is a nice accomplishment in its own way, especially Nightfall - with simple lyrics but full of magic. The title 030366 means the birth date of Tolkki, it is an experimental track, with a robotic voice repeating obssessively 030366. A very uncannily frightening and disturbing composition - that makes me think about devil, 030366 can easily be transformed into satan's number... the devil who slid its tail and disrupted the fluence of this album with a very different song :-) Lord of the wasteland is the only speed composition, a very strange thing for a Strato album, especially because the song has desolant lyrics. Fourth dimension is full of hits and already a classic.

BOTTOM LINE
8,6 OF 10 SKULLS (Worthy)

HOT SPOTS
Stratovarius

OTHER HOT SPOTS
Distant skies
Against the wind
Twilight symphony

SYNOPSIS:

Considered by many as the most complex Stratovarius album, Episode is the first release of the band that has maximum ratings in all fields - voice, instrumentation, production, melodicity and originality. Jorg Michael (ex Running Wild, Mekong Delta, Avenger, Rage) and Jens   Johansson (ex Malmsteen, Dio) are incorporated in the band in order to fit the new alchemy, that gradually developed in Tolkki's conception. The two new musicians, with many years of metal in background, manage to raise Strato's concept to a truly superb level. Jorg Michael, trained by the fast songs of Rage and Running Wild brings a plus of vitality with a constant double bass attack and Jens Johansson adds his own solistic that becomes complementary with Tolkki's virtuosity. Episode is a pure heavy metal album, with complex orchestral parts and a lot of inspiration. It should stick immediately to any metal fan. Those unfamiliar with the band, should start their exploration in Strato's universe with the help of this album. Instrumentation is top notch, being able to satisfy even the exigencies of progressive metal fans.

Half of the album is built on fast compositional structures, that glory speed coressponding to the bands' motto Keeping the melody in metal (Father time, Will the sun rise, Speed of light, Stratosphere, Tomorrow). There is on Episode, a sensational song, and that is the instrumental Stratosphere, that contains, in my opinion, the quintessence of conceptual Strato universe. A complete explosion of instrumental solistic, an infusion of energy into the ear. I confess I find it to be one of the most impressive songs I know and every time I listen to it, I can't stop my inner ecstasy. Timo Tolkki uses his whole arsenal of guitar techniques at a 1000 miles an hour speed. The song suggests a continuous search, expressed with the artistical image of flight - an inquiry into the stratosphere. I imagine an Icar that speeds up higher with a hallucinating speed. In the middle of the song there is a slow tempo interlude, with atmospheric keyboards in background that suggest floating in the middle of stratosphere - the finding of a certain temporary quilibrium. Everything continues with the reprise of the speed parts, perhaps expressing a ciclicity and continuity of search and fligth.

The second half of the album has a reduced speed (slow or mid). Musicians propose longer songs that are not candidates for "happy hits" cathegory, but who offer a very complex introspective music (Uncertainty, Babylon). There should be also mentioned the presence of a 40 persons choir and a string orchestra of 20 musicians, all of them have participated to the recording of this opus.

Well, I assume most of those who read this review, already possess this masterpiece, if not.... then immediate purchase is recommended.

BOTTOM LINE
10/10 Skulls (Superb!)

BEST SONG
Stratosphere

OTHER HOT SPOTS
Tomorrow
Father time
Uncertainty
Speed of light

SYNOPSIS:

Visions was the next step after Episode and it's equal in quality and creativity to its mighty predecesor, perhaps even better. This album is best sold in Strato's discography, largely acclaimed critically and commercially, supported by gold discs and extensive tours all around the world. It`s not often you find a release where all songs are killers and keep your attention all the way through. This is exactly what Stratovarius has done with Visions. The songs come out as extremely energetic and bombastic, based on Jorg's powerful high speed drumming and Tolkki's refined solistic. The expressive vocals together with the perfect balance of speed, mid tempo and ballads succeed to create one of the most hypnotic creations I have ever had the chance to experience, worthy to stand right near the Keeper of pumpkins albums. Visions holds so many classics that it offers a continuos climax from the first second to the closing line. Kiss of Judas, Black diamond, Legions, Paradise are excellent fast heavy metal songs, with wonderful melodic lines and original solos. Every single song is played in an individualized manner and all the memebers succeed to follow their own "standard" style without becoming repetitive. Just analyze the Paradise song - the riffs are pretty common and simple, and so does the melodic line, but Strato finds the appropriate path towards a masterpiece. In addition to the great heavy metal parts, the album displays a richness of classical and choral music influences - grand choirs, symphonic touches of keyboards and many Baroque elements in Tolkki's style.

Lirically, the album develops around Strato's traditional themes - about dehumanization, warnings about destruction of the earth, but with an optimistic touch.

What makes this album so great is its completeness and structure. The equilibrum of all alternating elements that form Strato music is completed with the grand conclusive song - Visions (the southern cross). This final epic track depicting a Nostradamus prophecy goes throughout all the stylistic patterns to be found in the album - the mystery and darkness of Kiss of Judas, the orchestral slow solistic of Before the winter, the breathtaking speed of Black diamond, the accustic meditative parts of Forever free and obviously the guitar wizardry of Holy light. It is the natural peak that crowns a "magnum opus".

Visions represents at this very moment, the maximum of what Strato can offer and it is, perhaps, the most ingenious metal album of the 90's "post Kiske generation".

BEST SONG
Black diamond

OTHER HOT SPOTS
Kiss of Judas
Before the winter
Holy light
Legions
Paradise

SYNOPSIS:

Stratovarius' first and, so far, only live album. And a real treat it is. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the strongest live offerings to come out in the 1990s. Starting with a short intro, the first high point comes soaring by in the form of Forever Free. Timo Tolkki and his companions show why Strato have become really popular lately. Strong melodies and a flawless performance can take you far, and Strato have both. The band is in top form, and especially Jorg shows why he is considered the nr 1 drummer in Metal today. TT and Jens' solos are equally great. Father Time is one heckuva speed fest, and noone is disappointed. It is also almost spooky how Timo Kotipelto's vocals at times sound more that Michael Kiske than Kiske himself! The only minor downside is that Kotipelto isn't that  a great a front man. He would do well to cut down the cheese a bit, and focus more on his vocals. He would also do well to try and improve his (very) thick accent a bit. This is of course only itsy-bitsy tiny flaws in an otherwise extremely good live recording. If you don't believe me, just listen to the likes of Distant Skies, Will the Sun Rise, Forever and Paradise. Great stuff, great band, great record. A perfect starting point for new Strato fans, and old ones who would like some live ear candy.

  STRATOVARIUS - Destiny
  Reviewed by Gorgar...the Romanian Pirate

SYNOPSIS:

Destiny opens the 3rd period in Strato's music. They give less attention to the instrumental creativity of their music, but focus on melody and catchiness instead. I would have preffered less Strato albums but capable to sustain the tradition of originality that was initiated with Fourth dimension and blossomed with Episode and Visions. Destiny sounds tipically Strato, filled with anthems of glory and optimism. It is one of those albums that one could give to the boyfriend or girlfriend that is not into metal - the album to initiate someone into the virtues of heavy metal music. It has so much melodicity that it should please everyone. Given the experience of previous Strato releases, Destiny comes as a slight dissapointement, but still the album its own hot spots, interpretation sounds very convinced and sound kicks ass to 90% of power metal releases of the decade. There are hyper fast songs No turning back (this one with an incredible keyboard rhythm), Rebel or Anthem of the world, 2 great ballads 4000 rainy nights, Years go by and Cold winter nights, the title track long of 10+ minutes and the hit of the album SOS.

It is a great album, I always listen to all of its songs, but I can't help thinking how would have been like if Stratos made Visions part 2. The cover brings the favorite colors and images of progressive bands - blue, hallo, sleep, eyes, dreams... :-)

BEST SONGS
Rebel
4000 rainy nights
Anthem of the world

SYNOPSIS:

The album has been reviewed by fellow ship mate Matt the Pirate when it has been released, so I don't have many things to add. Very much alike the previous Destiny, with the same conception and structure - 3 high speed compositions Millenium, Phoenix, The glory of the world, a long title track, add the ending ballad and the hit single Hunting high and low, you get a standard Strato release. This is the album that I listen most, together with Visions, for I like its sound. While originality obviously shows a stagnation, creativity in composing catchy hymns goes on without borders. Apparently there are no limits in Strato's optimism and vitality, songs like Glory of the world or Freedom would be utterly hated by the inveterate misanthropists. The hot spot of Infinity is definitely its production, a really high class one and this is something that Strato guys can be proud of. I particularily enjoy Jorg's drumming sound, a bit in front, with emphasized cymbals. He has been sometimes criticized for sounding too much double bass oriented. Infinity could be regarded as a remedy for those who thought so. I am in love with it. It has a certain "consistent" appeal, not just because of the two inspired long tracks Infinity 9+ min and Mother Gaia 8+ min, but also because they manage to make the listener participate emotionally to each part of the album. Each song is a jewel, despite the fact Stratovarius did not work much to enhance their progressive side.

I like this album a lot, but I can't help bashing a bit the guys, how much are they going to release albums titled like this Infinity, Destiny, Dreamspace, Episode, Visions with blue covers - oceans, skies and happiness everywhere? Don't they have problems or something? The pause they took between 2002 - 2002 doesn't mean much, Tolkki's 2nd solo album is named Hymn to life with the same obssessive blue on the cover... I'm starting to think blue is the color of annoying optimism.

BEST SONGS
Hunting high and low
Freedom
Glory of the world

SYNOPSIS:

After Strato gained enough success in Europe and especially Japan with their first 3 albums, Timo Tolkki decided it's time to make his dream come true by recording Classical variations and themes - a 36 min collection of old Strato demo songs from the early 80's days plus some newer compositions and a couple of classical covers. The album is decent, with some boring parts and some others very pleasant and it sounds very much like Strato's early works. We find the same Strato line up Tolkki - guitars, bass, guitar synth, vocals / Tuomo Lassila - Drums / Antti Ikonen - Keyboards. However, despite the fact this release is authored by a guitar player, I don't think it would excite much guitarists around the world. It is a pretty basic and simplistic guitar album, not very homogenous, probably because of the distance in time between songs, and not too diverse either because creativity is missing. Fire dance suite dates back in '86, for example (the voice on this track plain sucks). I have always had hard times listening to the whole album from the beginning to its end. It just doesn't have fluence - one weak song / a good one and so on. The songs with vocal are pretty weak, less than average I dare say, while the instrumental ones, those very accustic are enjoyable and atmospheric. The covers are more than typical and I am not sure who would be interested to hear them with such a poor quality - Guitar "Concerto de Aranjuez" by the Spanish Joaquin Rodrigo (and not as the booklet says "Guitar Concerto" by Aranjuez), Death of a swan (the famous theme from Tchaikovsky) and Greensleeves (traditional Irish song). There is also a Tolkki composition entitled Capriccio in A minor, obviously pointing Paganini - the menthor of neo classical guitar players, but it sounds very much like a short rehearsal or something, there has nothing peculiar.

Two compositions only managed to stimulate my imagination - The flying samir, very emotional, cosmic and pantheistic, the kind of melody that I expect from Tolkki (Stratosphere, Holy solos) and Lord of the rings - a very good epic song on guitar inspired from Tolkkien sagas.

I don't really see who would need to listen or possess this album. Perhaps Strato fans only or metal collectors. Tollki's work on Strato albums, especially on Episode and Visions is remarkable, high above with majesty, while his solo album offers only a beginner level music. I take it as a fact that doesn't really require in depth analysis, since the future release Hymn to life (what a typical Strato title :-) will probably be a kicking ass work. Make sure you are a complete worshipper of Stratovarius before purchasing Classical variations and themes.

BEST SONGS
Sunwinds
Lord of the rings