Stratovarius Community

Hello everyone! I only recently discovered the band since I'm not really into metal (although I listen to some). I'm not really sure what are the fan favorites so I thought I'd ask people still active here about their fav/top songs. Mine is Elysium.

Listen to the entire discography. Each album is different from one another, so some songs are really good in their album context.

You should definitely listen to Episode, Visions, Infinite, and Elements if you want to hear them at their peak.

The other album you should try out is Nemesis. You will notice that it is very different from the aforementioned albums, but that does not mean it is not good (it's one of my top 3 albums, personally). It is the most successful album since their main writer/composer, Timo Tolkki, left.

I tend to chunk Stratovarius' discography into several eras. My personal favorite of each era is in bold text.

* Old-School era (1989-1994) {Fright Night, Twilight Time, Dreamspace}
* Transition to golden/classic era (1995) {Fourth Dimension}
* Golden/Classic era (1996-2000) {Episode, Destiny, Infinite}
* Hiatus era (2001-2002) {Intermission}
* Elements era (2003) {Elements Pt. 1, Elements Pt. 2}
* Decline era (2004-2008) {Stratovarius, R.R. Demo}
* New era (2009-current) {Polaris, Elysium, Nemesis, Eternal}

I don't know where to place Enigma. It's a compilation album with a few new songs, but it doesn't end the new era. Also, new era is not the best name for the current era.

You can also divide the new era into sub eras.
by genre:
NE: Power/prog (2009-2012) {Polaris, Elysium}
NE: Power/elec (2013-2014) {Nemesis}
NE: Power (2015-current) {Eternal}
by mix:
NE: Bright clean powerful (2009-2012) {Polaris, Elysium}
NE: Dark/warm mids-focused Modern (2013-current) {Nemesis, Eternal}

First of all you need to buy the best of: it's compiled by the band members and contains their vision of the "best part" of their discography.

About my personal taste (I'll try to include my top 3 songs from every album):

Fright Night: Witch Hunt, Fright Night and False Messiah

Stratovarius II/Twilight Time: The Hills Have Eyes, Madness Strikes at Midnight, Hands of Time

Dreamspace: Dreamspace, We Are the Future and Fourth Reich (bonus Abyss)

Fourth Dimension: Distant Skies, Twilight Symphony, We Hold the Key

Episode: Cannot chose. Everything except Tomorrow, you can skip it with no problem (even tho there's the highest note ever sunged by Timo K.)

Visions: Same as above, everything

Destiny: Difficult to chose three songs so I will go for 5; Destiny, 4000 Rainy Nights, Venus in the Morning, Anthem of the World and Cold Winter Night (bonus could be S.O.S.)

Infinite: Phoenix, Millenium and Infinity (I decided to cut out from the list Hunting High and Low and A Million Light Years Away but I love them)

Elements Part 1: Soul of a Vagabond (I love the orchestral stuff in it), Find your own Voice, Fantasia, Learning to Fly and Elements (love the solo part, choir and also the orchestration)

Elements Part 2: Alpha and Omega, I Walk to My Own Song, Know the Difference, Liberty

Stratovarius: Back to Madness, Fight, United (Worst album but still I enjoy some of the songs)

Polaris: King of Nothing, Winter Skies, Forever is Today, Somehow Precious (Deep Unknow also)

Elysium: Elysium, The Game Never Ends, Infernal Maze

Nemesis: Abandon, Stand my Ground, Out of the Fog, Castles in the Air, Nemesis (the album is very cohesive and I like almost every song)

Eternal: My Eternal Dream, Feeding the Fire, The Lost Saga (also Man in the Mirror but it's a little bit strange for stadard Power Metal and I doubt a lot of people like it)



I have deliberately omitted compilations and celebratory albums (Intermission part 1 and 2) but you will find about them later since there are a lot of b-side and bonus track.

Let us know if you want some informations about the line-up or about the strange going on: I believe it's going to be very funny when you'll find out

ZenithMC wrote: * Golden/Classic era (1996-2000) {Episode, Destiny, Infinite}

You forgot the most important album of the most imporant era, and the biggest seller with all the classic, Im talking about Visions and to an extent,Visions of Europe.

adrian9 wrote:

ZenithMC wrote: * Golden/Classic era (1996-2000) {Episode, Destiny, Infinite}

You forgot the most important album of the most imporant era, and the biggest seller with all the classic, Im talking about Visions and to an extent,Visions of Europe.

Damn it! I knew I would forget one! My favorite from that era is still Episode, however. I've been making silly mistakes like that recently.

Wow, thank you so much for the helpful replies!! Somehow I was not expecting long replies but you guys delivered. Really can't wait to go through them all! Side note, the song and album titles sound really epic.

ZenithMC wrote:

adrian9 wrote:

ZenithMC wrote: * Golden/Classic era (1996-2000) {Episode, Destiny, Infinite}

You forgot the most important album of the most imporant era, and the biggest seller with all the classic, Im talking about Visions and to an extent,Visions of Europe.

Damn it! I knew I would forget one! My favorite from that era is still Episode, however. I've been making silly mistakes like that recently.

its cool man, I have strong feelings for Episode too, but Visions is the soundtrack of "When Stratovarius Ruled the Metal World" remember that movie?

Apologies if this is too much, but, Stratovarius is arguably my favorite band of all time and I have a lot of favorites. Let's go album by album.

TOLKKI VOCAL ERA:

Fright Night: Honestly, I don't recommend anything from this record. It's raw, it's immature, it's a difficult listen and not representative of what the band actually became known for. Better to explore once you're familiar with the classics.

Twilight Time: Madness Strikes At Midnight, The Hands of Time, Twilight Time, Out of the Shadows

Dreamspace: Chasing Shadows, Eyes of the World

TIMO KOTIPELTO/"CLASSIC" LINEUP ERA:

Fourth Dimension: Against the Wind, Distant Skies, Galaxies, Twilight Symphony

Episode: Father Time, Speed of Light, Eternity, Will The Sun Rise? (but honestly this is my favorite metal album of all time and you should hear the whole thing)

Visions: The Kiss of Judas, Black Diamond, Forever Free

Destiny: Destiny, 4000 Rainy Nights, Anthem of the World

Infinite: Hunting High and Low, Phoenix, A Million Light Years Away

Elements Pt. I: Eagleheart, Find Your Own Voice, Soul of a Vagabond

Elements Pt. II: I'm Still Alive, Alpha & Omega, Know the Difference, I Walk To My Own Song

Stratovarius: Maniac Dance, Fight!!!, Gypsy In Me

POST-TOLKKI ERA

Polaris: Forever Is Today, Higher We Go, Falling Star

Elysium: Elysium, Darkest Hours, Move the Mountain, Event Horizon

Nemesis: Abandon, Fantasy, Castles in the Air, Halcyon Days

Eternal: My Eternal Dream, Rise Above It, Man in the Mirror, Few Are Those, The Lost Saga

Eternal/Enigma aren't in here and my tastes have moved around in the intervening years but I'd still put 030366 as my least favorite song and Elements as my favorite

http://forum.stratovarius.com/viewtopic.php?t=11746

Try Trinity from Revolution Renaissance too... Crossing the Rubicon, Dreamchild, Marching with the Fools, A Lot Like Me...

LiteFeather wrote:Hello everyone! I only recently discovered the band since I'm not really into metal (although I listen to some). I'm not really sure what are the fan favorites so I thought I'd ask people still active here about their fav/top songs. Mine is Elysium.

Elysium is mindblowing. It incorporates all the best elements of the band.

lucaf9397 wrote:

LiteFeather wrote:Hello everyone! I only recently discovered the band since I'm not really into metal (although I listen to some). I'm not really sure what are the fan favorites so I thought I'd ask people still active here about their fav/top songs. Mine is Elysium.

Elysium is mindblowing. It incorporates all the best elements of the band.

The solos at the end are so inspiring, if I remember right. Its been a while and the dude who borrowed my cd never gave it back. I have it on my phone, though. The muddy tone of that album that was mentioned here before might be from the B tuning, I remember mentioning it here some other tuning until I went to jam with the new albums and realized the stuff is in B. Or I could be wrong all together, who knows.

Trying to name one song from each album, but just have to name three from some...



Fright Night
Song(s): Night Screamer


Twilight Time
Song(s): The Hands of Time


Dreamspace
Song(s): Tears of Ice


Fourth Dimension
Song(s): Distant Skies, We Hold the Key, Lord Of The Wasteland

Great album, very difficult to choose the best song here. Most albums after this are still much better tho.


Episode
Song(s): Season of Change, Speed of Light, Forever

This one's a masterpiece. Season of Change is the best song for me from here, but the other two could be replaced I think, but those are the ones I've liked very much ever since I heard them


Visions
Song(s): Black Diamond, Visions, Before the Winter

Again, real power metal classic, full of great songs


Destiny
Song(s): Destiny, S.O.S, Anthem of the World

Love this album too. Together with the previous two, some of the greatest power metal albums


Infinite
Song(s): Phoenix, Mother Gaia, Infinity


Elements pt 1
Song(s): Learning to Fly


Elements pt 2
Song(s): Elements pt 2: I'm Still Alive


Stratovarius
Song(s): Back to Madness, Götterdämmerung, The Land of Ice and Snow

Not as strong album as many of the albums mentioned above, but I still think it's underrated


Polaris
Song(s): Emancipation Suite pt.1

Nice comeback album, but the next one is so much better


Elysium
Song(s): Elysium, Infernal Maze, The Game Never Ends

Easily the best album of the new era IMO, the title track being one of the best songs from Stratovarius, and one of the best long (let's say...10 min +) tracks I ever heard in general


Nemesis
Song(s): Nemesis

To be honest I didn't listen to it very much when it was released, but loved the songs when I finally heard them live


Eternal
Song(s): My Eternal Dream

The track above gave me goosebumps, can't remember any other new power metal single from recent years that managed to do that

People always dismiss "Fright Night", its not the best, but I do like a lot of songs there, like Witch Hunt, Night Screamer, Darkness. lot of good stuff there.

Oh new Forum, we're in 1999 instead of 1992!

Anyway...
Fright Night
- Future Shock
- Black Night
- Goodbye

Twilight Time
- The Hands of Time
- Madness Strikes at Midnight

Dreamspace
- Chasing Shadowsa
- Eyes of the World
- We Are the Future

Fourth Dimension
- Galaxies
- Twilight Symphony

Episode
- Stratosphere
- Speed of Light

Visions
- The Kiss of Judas
- Black Diamond
- Forever Free

Destiny
All of it. Particular attention to Destiny and Playing with Fire

Infinite
- Glory of the World
- Mother Gaia

Elements
- Elements
- I'm Still Alive
- Learning to Fly

Stratovarius
- The Land of Ice and Snow
- Back to Madness

Revolution Renaissance
- Heroes
- Last Night on Earth

Polaris
- Deep Unknown

Elysium
- Infernal Maze
- Elysium

Nemesis
- Abbandon
- Nemesis

Eternal
All of it, my favorite Strato album.

Huh, I'm surprised you put Eternal with high enough regards to make it your favorite album.

It is a great album, no doubt. In the new Strato era, I consider Nemesis the best. Visions will be forever the classical favorite.

HinatAArcticA wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:19 am

Jani got me pregnant.

Goddamnit, Jani! Now you’re going to have to spend all the cain’s offering royalties on child support....smh.

adrian9 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 29, 2019 12:27 am

People always dismiss "Fright Night", its not the best, but I do like a lot of songs there, like Witch Hunt, Night Screamer, Darkness. lot of good stuff there.

The production is always what gets me to stay (farther) away from that album. Second half is pretty good though

I like to the stratovarius Album "Horny Visions"

All the others albums are shit

Where’s the cocks?? There was a rainbow on the cover after all.

There is also a cross and God hates gays

SentineLEX wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:31 am

There is also a cross and God hates gays

You mister bean, try to not hit or ban to Robo!!

HE IS NOT GAY YOU KNOW?!, HE ONLY LOVE COCKS!!

Motha-faka wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:49 pm

SentineLEX wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:31 am

There is also a cross and God hates gays

You mister bean, try to not hit or ban to Robo!!

HE IS NOT GAY YOU KNOW?!, HE ONLY LOVE COCKS!!

Your posts read like Trump's twitter feed. Sad!

Lmao. It’s all a big joke right guys right. I haven’t seen tits for over a decade so I’m qualified to be homosexual.

robocop wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 05, 2019 9:45 am

HinatAArcticA wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:19 am

Jani got me pregnant.

Goddamnit, Jani! Now you’re going to have to spend all the cain’s offering royalties on child support....smh.

Pepe the frog....cringe.