I guess there are quite many in UK that never heard of Stratovarius so I will give you a brief history lession. The record company Sony,Finland wanted to sign up another hardrock band so they made a talentcompetition. Stratovarius won this competition and they got a recorddeal on this label. Their first album, Fright Night, sold only 500 copies (today it has sold over 20.000!) and the band got fired. They then got a recorddeal with the German label Noiserecords and this album I am reviewing is their 8th album.
This is definately a typical Stratovarius album, so if you liked their previous work then you can blindly go and buy this album from the store, if not then you most likely won't like this album either. To people who never heard of Stratovarius, I can reveal that they are all about heavymetal with a lot of weight on the keyboards and vocals. The album starts of with one of the best Stratovarius songs ever, Hunting high and low, which is by the way not a cover of the norwegian rockbands A-HA's hit in the 80s. This song is very catchy song which has a commercial touch, the song just wants you to sing along with it. The next track of the album is "Millenium" which is a fastpaced song with a nice guitartheme and great drumming, also some backing vocals on the chorus can be found. "Mother Gaia" is a slow ballad that has an additional choir and orchestra beutifully arranged. "Phoenix" starts of att a fast pace, but then the calms down to the very catchy chorus. "Glory to the world" and "Freedom" are two fastpaced tracks with a happy sounding keyboard maintheme. "A million light years away" was the second single from the album which starts of with the fantastic main-keyboardmelody that makes you feel like you were floating through space, the song is definately one of the best songs on this album. "Infinity" is an almost 10 minute long epic song that changes between slow, mitempo and fast paces almost all the time, and has also a human choir singing a bit on it. "Celestial dreams" is a beutiful short ballad with only accoustic guitar, violins and Timo Kotipelto's great vocal performances.The production of this album is crystal clear and the technical skills of these musicans are incredible. If you haven't heard of Stratovarius before and want to listen to melodic metal music, I suggest you go and check out this album!
Tracklist: Hunting high and low, Millenium, Mother gaia, Phonix, Glory to the world, A million light years away, Freedom, Infinity, Celestial Dreams. Timo Kotipelto - Vocals // Timo Tolkki - Guitars // Jens Johansson - Keyboards // Jari Kainulainen - Bass // Jörg Michael - Drums Released 2000 under NuclearBlast
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