Author Topic: The Stratovarius Thread  (Read 104568 times)

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Offline Keyboardframe

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #70 on: December 25, 2010, 07:27:25 AM »
people listen to this band?

lol

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #71 on: December 25, 2010, 07:29:00 AM »
people listen to this band?

lol

yesh!!! lots, a lot more peopl e listen to strato then lsuiten to you so STFU!!!!!!!
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Offline Keyboardframe

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #72 on: December 25, 2010, 07:30:04 AM »
 :'(

it was a question. why are you so hurtful. Visions is a great album

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #73 on: December 25, 2010, 07:31:24 AM »
:'(

it was a question. why are you so hurtful. Visions is a great album

sorry bro.

i thought youse was making fun with the lol in you comment,  vision is amazing,!!!!! as is Infinite, elements etc.

sorry again  :heart
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Offline Keyboardframe

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #74 on: December 25, 2010, 07:31:53 AM »
 :heart :heart

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #75 on: December 25, 2010, 07:33:05 AM »
:heart :heart

 :heart i am drunk, i only use that sehn i am drumk.  :heart

looking foward to this new sstrato album.  polaris was good.

 :heart :heart :heart :heart
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Offline bloop

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #76 on: December 25, 2010, 12:53:36 PM »

Kosmo

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011. Single on Nov 26
« Reply #77 on: December 25, 2010, 03:49:00 PM »
 ::)

Offline TimelessSymphony

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The Stratovarius Thread
« Reply #78 on: December 31, 2010, 02:39:31 PM »
i'm i the only one who likes those guy's :blush there pretty awesome!!
here's the biography of the band:

Stratovarius was founded in 1984 in Finland under the name Black Water. They went through a number of personnel, style and name changes before the band found its own voice. The founding members were Tuomo Lassila, Staffan Stråhlman, and John Vihervä. By 1985, the name had changed to Stratovarius (a combination of Stratocaster and Stradivarius), and guitarist/vocalist Timo Tolkki entered the band, replacing Stråhlman.
Tolkki became the driving force and mastermind of the band, assuming relatively complete control of the song-writing. He brought along not only strong rock influences, but also a neo-classical tinge. The band released a demo to various record companies by 1987, finally being picked up by CBS Finland. In 1989, their debut album Fright Night was released, following two singles. After being dropped by CBS, the band went through several member changes, but they managed to release a second album on another label. In 1994 they released their third album, Dreamspace, featuring new bass player Jari Kainulainen, and after that, a full-time singer joined the band: Timo Kotipelto. The release of Fourth Dimension (featuring Kotipelto on vocals) in 1995 was a great success, but internal differences in the band, particularly about the future musical direction, prompted the departure of long-time drummer Tuomo Lassila and keyboardist Antti Ikonen.
Two new non-Finnish members were recruited: Swedish keyboardist Jens Johansson, of Yngwie Malmsteen fame; and German drummer Jörg Michael. With the fifth release Episode, Stratovarius had finally found its sound and had a strong, diverse line-up. Episode was a grand project, featuring a large choir and a string orchestra. It spawned some of the all-time greatest Stratovarius hits, such as Father Time and Will The Sun Rise. This line-up released three hugely successful albums over the years: Visions in 1997, Destiny in 1999, and Infinite in 2000. With every album, their fame and fan-base expanded, and they started gaining a stronger following outside Scandinavia, particularly in Japan. In 2003, the band released its most epic project yet, the two album suite named Elements. With these albums, they reached a peak in their progressive and symphonic style of power-metal. The first album, Elements pt. 1, was released in early 2003, followed by a world tour. Elements pt. 1 was followed by Elements pt. 2, also released on
Nuclear Blast records the same year.
In January 2005, Stratovarius recorded their self-titled new album which was released in the same year by Sanctuary Records. In June 2005, Jari Kainulainen left the band, and was replaced by Lauri Porra. In the fall of 2005, Stratovarius was on the road in the US. Stratovarius was at times progressive and experimentally skewed, and a rather dark record. It was a daring and ambitious album which took the band in a new direction.

But unfortunately, dark clouds were shadowing the band’s path once again. In 2005, Sanctuary was starting to have severe financial problems and the whole label collapsed just as the record was released. Much of Sanctuary’s staff was made redundant, the stock price plunged, and banks and other creditors circled the company like vultures. The band played over 100 shows without any support from their record company, appearing at numerous festivals, and a long period of extensive touring all over Europe, Japan and South America began. One highlight was the two month Monster Metal Madness tour together with Shakra and HammerFall. It was a package of true power metal at its best, conquering Europe like an avalanche. In the meantime, Sanctuary’s financial troubles had really deepened. The band had to enter into a legal process with them to be able to release their next album. But the battle with this giant sinking multinational ship dragged on for more than a year, and it drained a lot of the spirit out of the band. In the end these tough times proved too much for Tolkki. In April 2008 he left Stratovarius and its debts and troubles behind, and gave the remaining members his blessing to do whatever they want with the band and the legal case, and formed a new band, Revolution Renaissance. The rest of Stratovarius’ members found themselves in legal limbo and with a heavy legal debt, but they were without preconceptions also all working on new music. The turning point came when a settlement with Sanctuary was finally achieved in late summer 2008.
A burst of creative energy followed. The young and very talented Finnish lead guitarist, Matias Kupiainen, joined the band.

In September 2008 the band found the freedom to go into seclusion for almost a month in a cottage by the sea in a Finnish forest to relax, laugh, write songs, be creative together, and record. And they found themselves being a band reborn. The result is a melodic, powerful, fresh, tight, and technically elaborate new album.
Polaris was recorded in the fall 2008 at Hästholmen and 5by5 studios, Helsinki, Finland. Mixed by the longtime confidant of the band Mikko Karmila the album became another shining polar star at the Northern sky. Powerful melodies mingle with sophisticated arrangements, strong anthems stand alongside heavy songs. 11 songs full of energy, musicianship, and a positive outlook.
Polaris is a positive, powerful album that Stratovarius fans all over the world are certain to take to their hearts.

The band will support the release of their new studio album with live shows around the globe in 2009 and 2010. Polaris will see a worldwide release in late May 2009 on edel/ear and JVC in Asia
.

I love Jens Johansson playing on the key's he's pretty awesome :metal also the drummer of the band have Cancer :eek

so what do you think about them and what is your favorite album?

for me my favorite album has to be:

EPISODE, DESTINY, VISIONS, ELYSIUM (apparently it got leaked on the net:P), INFINITE, INTERMISSION and POLARIS (well i didn't quite like that one)

Kosmo

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Re: The Stratovarius Thread
« Reply #79 on: December 31, 2010, 03:08:59 PM »
The only guy here? Well sir you are mistaken.
There are a few fans here, two regulars (including me) from the Stratovarius forums also.

Jens is pretty much a god on the keys, and Jörgi has almost beaten cancer, i think only one radiation treatment left or so.
My favourite albums are:
1. Visions
2. Dreamspace
3. Destiny

(Oh and now that i think about it isn't there a thread about Stratovarius already?)

Offline Zydar

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Re: The Stratovarius Thread
« Reply #80 on: December 31, 2010, 03:11:00 PM »
Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #81 on: January 01, 2011, 07:40:41 AM »
The whole labum is in youtube. Anyway, I won't listen till the release!!

Kosmo

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #82 on: January 01, 2011, 08:09:29 AM »
..I did.  :lol It's better then Polaris. best song is the 17 minute titletrack.

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #83 on: January 02, 2011, 04:10:48 AM »
..I did.  :lol It's better then Polaris. best song is the 17 minute titletrack.

That's promising, I think I'll hold off listening to it also.
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Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #84 on: January 02, 2011, 06:10:46 AM »
I won't listen to it until I've bought the album. But I guess I'll like the title track, I'm a fan of epics!

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #85 on: January 12, 2011, 06:58:29 AM »
 :omg: :omg: :omg: :omg: This album is absolutely amazing. WOW! Lifetime in a moment and Move the mountain are AWESOME. I will post more when I listen the whole album.

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #86 on: January 12, 2011, 03:04:45 PM »
Seriously, I'm amazed with this album. Elysium song is a masterpiece. The solo at the end is awesome. What a fucking fantastic album.

Offline MetalMike06

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #87 on: January 12, 2011, 10:25:33 PM »
Yeah, I've heard a couple songs and it sounds phenomenal.

Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #88 on: January 12, 2011, 11:21:59 PM »
I bought it yesterday. Such a great album, one of their best albums if not THE best album they've ever done! The title track is excellent but it needs more listens to fully click with me. Also, the digipak with the hologram cover looks awesome! I'll listen to the demos probably today.

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #89 on: January 13, 2011, 01:42:56 AM »
SHIT! I'm going to Madrid just like last year to see them, but TK had a food poisoning and had to cancel the shows in Paris and Lyon. They are travelling to Spain (tomorrow Bilbao, saturday Madrid and Sunday Barcelona) but who knows if Timo will be able to sing...

This has been posted by Jens in the official forums:

Quote
Well, the good news is that we're back on the road with Helloween. And Jörg Michael is back in his drum chair after his brush with death. The bad news is that Timo Kotipelto caught some sort of bacterial infection. We suspect it was something from the backstage food in December, but we don't know. Two of the other people on the tour had the same thing: a very bad dysentery-like stomach infection with vomiting and diarrhea, dehydration, also eventually had to go to hospital, etc.

Timo's infection is stubborn and in addition to ruining his Christmas break, it has dried out his vocal cords. In his own words, he can't sing a note at the moment. We are currently in France and so far we had to cancel playing in Paris and Lyon.

We are of course very sorry about this, and nobody is more heartbroken or frustrated than Timo himself. Apart from heeding the advice from doctors we are in touch with, the only thing we can do at the moment is to hope Timo gets better. We will ride the 1000 km to Bilbao tonight and hopefully we will all get some sleep on the nice smooth French motorways.

Here is a short video about the Paris cancellation and some words from Jörg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqq3o0_fhc
« Last Edit: January 13, 2011, 02:44:27 AM by RazielSR »

Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #90 on: January 13, 2011, 02:31:50 AM »
What a bad luck! First Jörg's cancer and after he's healed, Timo's voice!

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium", Jan 12 2011
« Reply #91 on: January 13, 2011, 02:43:40 AM »
What a bad luck! First Jörg's cancer and after he's healed, Timo's voice!

I'm really scared man, who knows if he will be able to sing in Madrid. In Bilbao is tomorrow, let's hope he can get some rest till the show. :'(

Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #92 on: January 13, 2011, 08:10:09 AM »
Just listened to the bonus demo disc of the digipak... I'm surprised how much the lyrics have changed on the songs! I think the only line from Darkest Hours demo that remained in the final version was "never alone"

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #93 on: January 13, 2011, 10:12:52 AM »
Just listened to the bonus demo disc of the digipak... I'm surprised how much the lyrics have changed on the songs! I think the only line from Darkest Hours demo that remained in the final version was "never alone"

Yeah, that's true. Let's hope somebody can extract the songs from the 7" vinyl and upload them. Those are Hallowed and Last Shore. Let's hope to have soon Castaway too.

Kosmo

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #94 on: January 13, 2011, 12:08:32 PM »
There was a sample of Castaway at some site, it wasn't bad but it didn't sound as awesome as the other songs on the albums IMO.

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #95 on: January 13, 2011, 01:21:02 PM »
What's the official release date of this?
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Offline nikatapi

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #96 on: January 13, 2011, 02:40:18 PM »
What's the official release date of this?

I believe yesterday.
Also, this album fucking rocks.

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #97 on: January 13, 2011, 04:45:56 PM »
What's the official release date of this?

I believe yesterday.
Also, this album fucking rocks.

These reactions are very promising.

So, it's better than Polaris?  Yes?
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Offline bloop

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #98 on: January 13, 2011, 04:59:39 PM »
What's the official release date of this?

I believe yesterday.
Also, this album fucking rocks.

These reactions are very promising.

So, it's better than Polaris?  Yes?
Just finished listening to it. It certainly is. They seem to have made a much more organized album in terms of music and ideas than Polaris was.

Offline RazielSR

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #99 on: January 14, 2011, 01:49:22 AM »
the album is betteer than Polaris. It is one of the best Stratovarius albums without doubt. It have it all, speed, proggy parts, atmospheric, dark, light...

I'm amazed with this album. It is enjoyable to listeng from the beginning to the end. RULES!

Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #100 on: January 14, 2011, 03:35:28 AM »
Polaris was great IMO but this is even better! It's probably the most diverse Stratovarius album and of their proggiest. It's also a bit heavier and more guitar-oriented than Polaris. I guess that's 'cause on all the previous albums the guitars were tuned to D# but on this one Matias used C# tuning (he said so in some interview).
« Last Edit: January 14, 2011, 05:17:34 AM by ? »

Kosmo

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #101 on: January 14, 2011, 05:54:38 AM »
The album gets better with each listen.  :corn

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #102 on: January 14, 2011, 02:14:24 PM »
Polaris was great IMO but this is even better! It's probably the most diverse Stratovarius album and of their proggiest. It's also a bit heavier and more guitar-oriented than Polaris. I guess that's 'cause on all the previous albums the guitars were tuned to D# but on this one Matias used C# tuning (he said so in some interview).

C# tuning!  That's very interesting.  That for sure would give it a fresher sound.
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Offline ?

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #103 on: January 16, 2011, 12:16:02 AM »
C# tuning!  That's very interesting.  That for sure would give it a fresher sound.
Actually, I read the interview again and it's dropped C# tuning. But anyway, lower than the one they've used before.
The album gets better with each listen.  :corn
My thoughts exactly! The title track is now my favorite Stratovarius song! It was quite interesting to know that Infernal Maze was originally part of it. Matias said they thought IM could work on its own so they made it a separate song. Elysium could also be my favorite Strato album. Polaris was great, but I didn't like it as much as I liked Episode and Fourth Dimension (which have been my 2 favorites). But Elysium is simply a masterpiece!

I guess this is a controversial opinion, but I have to say it: I've never found Visions very interesting. Of course there are some classic songs, but there are some songs that don't grab my attention at all. IMO it's quite inconsistent, unlike, albums such as Dreamspace, Fourth Dimension, Episode and Infinite.

Offline wolfking

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Re: STRATOVARIUS - New album "Elysium"
« Reply #104 on: January 16, 2011, 03:47:22 AM »
I really loved Visions, great record.  I gotta say possibly my fav Strato album is Elements Pt 1, just a magic record, I love it, it's perfect.  I'd say my second fav might actually be Twilight Time.  Amazing record.
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