Stratovarius Community

So, I've always seen fan reviews of both parts (and a lot of them negative), and I rarely ever see professional reviews of either of them. Since I live in America, it's hard for me to find anything Stratovarius, even on the Internet.

So, what are some professional reviews of the elements saga? I basically just want to see if the professional reviewers see it as more positive than many of the fans (though Elements Pt. 2 was awful, in my opinion).

Oh, and provide links if you can!

Thank you!

I have no idea but I suppose it very much depends on the reviewer. You know, they are ''professional'' opinions but opinions after all. Positive and negative. I will also be very pleased to read them if somebody finds any

my review on reviews : useless

the fact that everyone hears and listens differently makes reviews utter shit.

I know reviews are completely useless in terms of forming your own opinion. But it's still fun to just look at them and see what other people think of them.

icecab21 wrote:my review on reviews : useless

the fact that everyone hears and listens differently makes reviews utter shit.

Did you think them useless when New Era by Tolkki was getting 8.0+ reviews across the board?

Yes. I can't even think of things as albums. I have to go song by song.

Bringing up the scores of new era would be for the sake of point that sometimes reviews can be informative and sometimes there is just a lot of crap in them. With new era it was getting good scores even from people that used the whole review to say shit about everything.

Reviews can be useful to a certain point but in metal there are really a lot of people trying to score street credit points and be the generic counterculture kid.

@Star_Ocean, I don't know what reviews you had in mind.
There are Metal Websites which do their own reviews, there are journalists which work for magazines and do reviews for that particular mag, then there are the free-lance journalists, who sell or post their reviews just anywhere they can.

I don't have that much time, but I'll try to find you a few reviews, Star_Ocean. They may not be what you want or have in mind, but I'll see what I can run across. OK?

BTW, most of the time no matter how creditable the writer, most reviews are basicly just opinions, more or less. Its how they feel about the music, etc.

I rarely even look at the professional critics reviews. I am more interested in the reviews from other fans. That's not to say that I let the fans opinions of something dictate my opinion of something because I do occasionally disagree with them as well (case in point, I love the Elements albums). But at least with fan reviews you get an opinion from someone who is at least somewhat informed on what they are talking about and usually has something invested in the band as a fan.

Professional critics usually do not have the time (or they don't care) to absorb the albums that they are reviewing because they are getting paid for it either way. So they give it a spin or two, basically give you their first impression of it, and then they are done with it. It's hard to give an opinion like that any credibility. I think it's halarious that so many people consider Rolling Stone to be credible music experts. Why would the opinion of any of those idiots matter to any fan? They are clearly more focused on lifestyle and fashion than they are on music. Yet if they say that the album is good, the record company quotes the review on a sticker and slaps it on the CD case because they know that thousands of people will buy the album just based on that one review.

I never found many "professional" Stratovarius reviews and certainly not from mainstream magazines like Rolling Stone or even Metal Edge. Why this band never obtained much of a following in the States is something that I will never understand especially when bands like Dragonforce are getting so much attention right now.

Star_Ocean, I will make a post of reviews&add to it as needed.
http://www.goldlyrics.com/reviews/strat ... ents_pt_1/

This one has several short reviews from fan listeners of the album. Just click on each one to read all of it. This website gives Elements a 7.7 rating.

I don't pay much attention to reviews myself. I listen to the CD&if I like it, thats all that counts. Sometimes it is interesting just to read what others think of it, though.

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Prog4you.com - Progressive Metal Review - Stratovarius - Elements Pt. 1
http://www.prog4you.com/cd-reviews-08-0 ... s_Pt_1.htm

This review seems alittle more "professional" and the site seems to be better arranged.
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Stratovarius - Elements, Pt. 1 CD Review at Heavy Metal Portal http://www.1heavymetal.com/CDReviews/Ja ... varius.htm

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Stratovarius - Elements Part I review - Metal Storm
http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/review.php?review_id=336

Another webpage review. I'll try searching for journalist and mag reviews tomorrow.
Maybe you had something different in mind, Star_Ocean?
I found all of these by Google.

Reviews are a general guide, but nothing will compare with listening to an album on your own, without having read any reviews at first.

Then, it's just you and the music and no other words to get in the way.

NeonVomit wrote:Reviews are a general guide, but nothing will compare with listening to an album on your own, without having read any reviews at first.

Then, it's just you and the music and no other words to get in the way.

totally agree

Imo,
comparing the overall feeling of the albums, Elements and Destiny are the best of Strato.

4000 rainy nights...with you. :luv4:

one problem I se with reviews is how people put so many value judgments and will even have different opinions on some of the more objectives elements of a albums. The comments on tks voice are a huge example of this kind of thing. Seems some people confuse tenor and falsettso with not having balls. It’s also strange that these people have such an obsession with balls. They have to be around balls, aggressive balls. They need a complete manfest of balls and yet they call this stuff gay and for children. Of course that usably goes in the section of people that hate the band and the music but there are exceptions. The whole thing of calling it a guilty pleasure and submitting to the thoughts of those that only like aggressive music also gets strange. Its fine when done on joke websites, but when it’s in magazines that’s unnecessary to send people to review something that they won’t point out real information about the music.

icecab21 wrote:one problem I se with reviews is how people put so many value judgments and will even have different opinions on some of the more objectives elements of a albums. The comments on tks voice are a huge example of this kind of thing. Seems some people confuse tenor and falsettso with not having balls. It’s also strange that these people have such an obsession with balls. They have to be around balls, aggressive balls. They need a complete manfest of balls and yet they call this stuff gay and for children. Of course that usably goes in the section of people that hate the band and the music but there are exceptions. The whole thing of calling it a guilty pleasure and submitting to the thoughts of those that only like aggressive music also gets strange. Its fine when done on joke websites, but when it’s in magazines that’s unnecessary to send people to review something that they won’t point out real information about the music.

Yes, unfortunately there are critics and even fans that call a singer gay when they don't sing in an aggressive way,don't have aggressive balls,don't dress in a certain way, don't speak in a rude way or they simply don't behave how machos and bad metal boys are supposed to do. For instance Tobias Sammet is constantly being criticised and called gay. Of course being gay is not a sin, but Tobi has denied this over and over again. He also was criticised for having his hair cut and people said he was not a true metal boy, LOL what a stupid thing! TT has short hair, so what? Being a metal boy/girl is not something you get with your appearance. It's something you feel inside you.

The thing is that the “gay” guys get more women than the aggressive bands that just get a bunch of men that go to their concerts

True.

reviews are mostly shit!! if i had listened to them id love all the gay crap that is crap out there, its true what some people say on here you just listen to them yourself and you decide whether you like them or not!!!

KilledByDETH wrote:its true what some people say on here you just listen to them yourself and you decide whether you like them or not!!!

Obvioulsy, that's the best thing we can do.

I like reviews. After reading a decent review, I start listening to the albums through an additional perspective as well. Obviously, you need to filter out stuff that doesn't apply to you when reading a review.

Also, if you're not sure about buying an album, a decent review (again, provided that you filter out what doesn't apply to you) gives you some insight, it's very useful. Obviously, you need to trust the reviewer (i.e., you need to have read some of his/hers previous reviews and agreed with them before).

Metal-Rules.com has a good amount of album reviews, in case you guys are interested.

KilledByDETH wrote:you decide whether you like them or not!!!

Why does one have to decide to not like something, it's much more fun when you just like everything you hear.

it's much more fun when you just like everything you hear

Oh no exe, that's terrible, it's impossible!

Can it exist?

I'm scared! I can't imagine exenight dancing macarena for example!

No no, I usually atleast TRY to enjoy whatever it is playing, but I hate stuff that's played all the time, that, atleast on our family, unfortunately includes most of Sonata Arctica and Nightwish.

I understand

StratoFabio wrote:

NeonVomit wrote:Reviews are a general guide, but nothing will compare with listening to an album on your own, without having read any reviews at first.

Then, it's just you and the music and no other words to get in the way.

totally agree

About that... that's what I did with Metallica's St Anger... still regreting those 15 bucks I paid.

exe knight wrote:I usually atleast TRY to enjoy whatever it is playing

That's a very healthy attitude. My brother, who is 11-years old, is quite confused. Some time ago he was into Children of Bodom and now the only stuff he listenes to is rap. It's obvious that he likes both stuff, but friends at school simply can't accept that.

I listen to all kinds of stuff, from extreme metal to obscure electronica composers. The metal audience tends to be quite conservative, that's a shame.

Let your minds slip through the metal bars!

Lurdi wrote:He also was criticised for having his hair cut and people said he was not a true metal boy, LOL what a stupid thing!

This is exactly what I mean.

One fun part of reviews is when sheet music and the sound itself do not stop people from calling stuff "too similar" or the same song. It’s also fun when the reviewer goes over a 100 part formula that every song has and part of that formula is to change the order of those 100 parts. Only in a metal review can a band rip their own sound off while ripping off the sound of a band that’s a rip-off of the original band. Different instrument settings, melody, rhythm, and lyrics influences are nothing to stop reviewers from calling bands copycats or songs copycats.