By: Tordah

Posted: Sep 12, 2005

After all the controversy and nonsense that has happened surrounding Stratovarius the past years I had very low expectations for this release. First Tolkki went insane and kicked Kotipelto out of the band and now they’re all friends and back together like nothing ever happened. Apparently they also thought the new album was worthy of being called simply "Stratovarius", as to signify a new beginning for the band. If that's the case then I can't say I look forward much to their next album after this one.

The album starts out with a silly electronic melody and then continues into a boring and repetitive riff. The guitar-work on this album is by far Tolkki's worst yet. Most of the songs have simple power-chord riffing with the occasional solo. But the solos are nowhere near the likes of classic solos like 'Speed Of Light' or 'Destiny'. The lyrics have not always been Stratovarius strong side but the lyrics on this album are mostly very dull and horrible: "I do the maniac dance! Just like in trance! I do the maniac dance!". The lyrics to some of these songs make 'Eagleheart' seem like Shakespeare. The music is not much better either unfortunately. Every song on the album has been done before by the band in much better versions. 'Fight' is the typical fast-paced song but it fails to impress me much. However, it's one of the better songs on the album.

The track 'Back To Madness” has some kind of odd operatic part in the middle of the song that doesn't fit at all and it completely ruins the whole song. Kotipelto does a good job as always but when the music is so uninspired and generic it doesn’t help much. 'Götterdämmerung (Zenith Of Power)' is a slow-paced epic song where the line "Zenith of power" is sung at least 300 times throughout the song. Very annoying. Of course there's the obligatory ballad on here as well but it feels like a rush-job. It's just a filler track for the sake of having a slow song on the album. Although there are some cool ideas here and there in the album and hints of what could have been they are few and far between. Another complaint I have about the album is Jörg Michael's drumming. It seems like Tolkki has told him to just play standard rock-beats instead of using the twin-pedals like he usually does. Jens Johansson seems to be mostly in the background providing some melodies here and there. No guitar/keyboard duelling solos on this album I'm afraid.

The only really good song on this album is 'United'. This is a classic Stratovarius song right here. An epic and catchy tune with great melodies and a memorable chorus. It has a short but cool guitar-solo as well. Too bad that the rest of the songs on the album vary from mediocre to bad. As a big Stratovarius fan I was hugely disappointed by this release and I wish they could have gone to the grave after "Elements Part 2". Check out this album only for the song 'United' and forget the rest. I know I will.

Rating: 4/10

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