This is an authorized translation, since the magazine allowed me to translate and post it here.
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Stratovarius – idem – 9,0 from 10,0
Maybe the Stratovarius members should have passed through all the tribulations that have hit them on the last year to get back to work. Maybe Timo Tolkki had really to get near madness in order to make his band sound undoubtedly relevant once again. Although they weren’t bad, Infinite and both Elements denounced a band dangerously close to exhaustion, which was recording the very same album for the 4th or 5th time. They were competent jobs, no doubt about that, and very interesting in many aspects, but that repeated till exhaustion the cliches and solutions created by the band long time ago. In another words, Stratovarius was repeating itself – openly, by the way. And, as Jörg Michael himself admits on an interview in this same magazine, the band couldn’t keep the rest of its career re-recording Visions. Ok, they did it 3 or 4 times, but finally changed their path and saved their names reputation. Undoubtedly, Stratovarius is the most attractive album from this Finnish group in many, many years. The old cliche “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” here’s very well put. Because the band was almost done, but got recovered on time and came back to life with a heavy album, well done, different, no queerness and absolutely exciting.
Even though, don’t be deceived because this album has the Stratovarius mark, so it means the band got renewed but hasn’t lost its characteristics. What happens is that Stratovarius came back to be one of the most important and prominent bands in the super crowed power melodic metal scenery, position which might have been lost if the band kept on recording predictable albums, with never ending screams, neoclassical harmonies, tons of double bass, etc, etc, etc... but the band has changed. And for much, much better. Right on time!
Taken from Rock Brigade Magazine # 228
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