What do you expect for the next album?

[RazielSR]

What do you expect for the next album?

In ten months more or less, we'll have the next album. What are your thoughts about the next Stratoalbum?

I think they are gonna explore more prog songs. Matias is a prog guy, and I remember Jens saying that he had a song about 30 minutes length. Well, I don't see Strato recording songs about 20-30 minutes, but I think they are gonna release some different things mixed with power metal. If you listened to some bands mixing prog and power, mainly one that Matias loves, maybe you'll understand what I mean. They have fast songs where you can say power, mixed with prog songs and neoclassical stuff. I think Stratovarius will be something like that. Of course Stratovarius is Stratovarius and they have their own identity and I'm not trying yo say I want them to play as other band, never. Stratovarius has his perception and style and it is the best for me.

So I think they will become more prog and technical, keeping the Stratovarius spirit, anthems, melodic riffs, etc, etc. For example, Deep Unknown is maybe what I mean. You can't say that is a prog song, but you can't say it's just a power metal song.

So, what do you think the guys will release? What kind of style? Do you think they will release something with the style of prevous albums? They will explore new styles?

I wonder, the title of the album...Polaris was a great name and had a great artwork...I can't wait to see something about the new one.

[Florian]

I'm just waiting... And we'll see when we'll hear that. I want Jens to write some songs, because the 3 songs he wrote for Polaris were awesome.

[mayhem-for-all]

Well I have quite huge expectations for Lauri and I think that he along with TK will propably keep the band with Power Metal whereas Jens and Matias are going for proggier this time.

I am awaiting the new one and hopefully it is as succesful overall as Polaris was.

Great to see the guys keeping a good pace up.

[NeonVomit]

I'm guessing more technical and edging towards more progressive than power metal.

Then again, it might be Episode II.

Who knows

[RazielSR]

Then again, it might be Episode II.

T-H-I-S

[RazielSR]

Well I have quite huge expectations for Lauri and I think that he along with TK will propably keep the band with Power Metal whereas Jens and Matias are going for proggier this time.

I am awaiting the new one and hopefully it is as succesful overall as Polaris was.

Great to see the guys keeping a good pace up.

It's gonna be a lot better than Polaris, dude! Now the guys are ready to finally be calmed and have really really good vibes in the thing. Polaris was great, for me the best 4th album as I already thought in May (as a whole album I mean). But it's clear that now the band is better than in May, they are in perfect harmony now and ready to spread their talent.

[ggonza43]

Well, this is gonna be hard...
My expectation of the next album may be, as you said RazielSR, hoping to be an album with some song with the classical catchyness Strato has: The usual style they have, power metal in a whole, chorus, melodycal instrument would be cool too.
But I would definitelly love if they turn into a more prog style. I mean, the idea of a longer song (of course, not 30 minutes. That's why we have Dream Theater ) isn't bad at all, and to add some neoclassical elements. They can give birth to a new style of music we've never heard before, and I'm sure all the fans would be very pleased with it.
And about the album title... Kind of hard, I guess it will come up whenever they have the listed song they want to release and according to them they should think of a name.

But Episode II won't be a bad idea

[RazielSR]

I mean, the idea of a longer song (of course, not 30 minutes. That's why we have Dream Theater ) isn't bad at all, and to add some neoclassical elements. They can give birth to a new style of music we've never heard before, and I'm sure all the fans would be very pleased with it.
And about the album title... Kind of hard, I guess it will come up whenever they have the listed song they want to release and according to them they should think of a name.

But Episode II won't be a bad idea

+10000000000000000000000 But Episode II for a name maybe it's too lame, cool, but lame. It should be a new name. About Episode II, I'd like the style! That feeling you know, that we could say...damn this is like an Episode II

[Jude]

Hopefully bands good mood shows in the songs. Im sure it will be better than Polaris, i personally hope they will get closer to 1996-2000 era (of course?! The best era of this band ).

More my opinions:
- Fast opening track like Father Time OR heavier opening track like The Kiss Of Judas because i know TK is still able to do amazing vocals.
- No boring slow songs like Somehow Precious or When Mountains Fall, "Precious" didn't sound like Stratovarius to me and "Mountains" reminds too much of Forever and A Drop In The Ocean. Tolkki would had done this kind of song better i guess. Check out Visions for example, there is Before the Winter and Coming Home, but both have powerful and catchy choruses which makes those songs fill in nicely with faster stuff.
- Couple longer songs (7-9 minutes?) wouldn't be bad either, i want epic songs ala Season Of Change or Visions.
- Bring back the good old Stratovarius sound! If we compare Episode or Visions with Polaris, Episode and Visions wins easily because they have heavier sounding mix that i like.
- More heavy songs with emotion (The Abyss Of Your Eyes, Season Of Change etc), i didn't find many good emotional songs from Polaris (only one?), even though Winter Skies shows that these guys can make touching music too (especially that piano solo, that's what im looking for!).

After all im very interested about the upcoming album!

[RazielSR]

This is going in a very interestig direction.
I agree completely with you, Jude. i don't want "Somehow precious" songs cause as I said so many times, that song seems from Kotipelto band, and that's another thing. When mountains fall is a very good song imo, but too similar to Forever and a bit filler. I think that's the weakest part in Polaris, that two songs. Not meaning that are bad songs, but it's the weakest part imo, and Strato should go in another direction.

[Empathica1928]

If Polaris is the direction new Stratovarius is looking to go in, I have no objections at all. I want it to sound like that, not old Stratovarius, because we've had that already and ran it into the ground. New, more progressive Strato is what I want...

[Ragehead91]

Let Matias do more leads and fanzy shredding. I sort of missed that.

[Balu]

It will probably be more progressive, and I'm pretty happy with that.

[ggonza43]

Let Matias do more leads and fanzy shredding. I sort of missed that.

Totally agree with you. Is it just me and Ragehead91, or Stratovarius isn't giving too much attention to the great skills and abilities Matias has? That's something the new album needs: We wanna hear Matias and Jens make an epic duel (similar to many songs he and Tolkki did in the past). Matias has a lot of potential and if some of the upcoming songs includes amazing solos from him, I bet it will we even more wonderful than Polaris

[NeverendingAbyss]

I expect something new. Something fresh from the guys.
I hope JM could write at least one song.

[Ragehead91]

I expect something new. Something fresh from the guys.
I hope JM could write at least one song.

Did he ever wrote any song in his carrere?

[lalodrums2]

I expect something new. Something fresh from the guys.
I hope JM could write at least one song.

Did he ever wrote any song in his carrere?

Im not sure about that but i think it would be cool if he record a drum solo at the middle of a song (sort of zepellin's moby dick) or like in winter skies the piano.

I really loved polaris so i have no suggestions for the next album, i expect something similar. I just loved it! Maybe a little bit more of guitar solos. And to not cut or divide the songs like in emmancipation 1 and 2, i think would be cool if you guys just record both in one, it doesn't matter the length to me.

Amazing team... Lauri Porra, Jens Johansson, Matias Kupiainen, Timo Kotipelto and Jorg Michael!! Cheers from Monterrey, Mexico!!

[RazielSR]

Yes, do not cut or divide a long song. I don't like that. It's better all the parts together.

[Beast_Pete]

I'm not expecting an Episode II. I expect something new.

[doc_holliday]

I like Stratovarius just the way it is. I don't know much about metal, but I youtubed "progressive metal", and I didn't really like what I heard

[Skyggeboy]

If Polaris is the direction new Stratovarius is looking to go in, I have no objections at all. I want it to sound like that, not old Stratovarius, because we've had that already and ran it into the ground. New, more progressive Strato is what I want...

I agree with you. Polaris was one of the best albums from Strato. There are something old and some new fresh stuff in it. And that's good. I like it.

For the next album.. What do I expect? I wish that guys will continue their new direction. Something powerful and fresh stuff. That's it.

[RazielSR]

We were talking about Episode II, not because we want a second part. It's because we, well at least me, I'd like to have that kind of album, that kind of mix with mid-tempos, epic and fast songs. And Episode had prog elements on some songs, not being progressive metal like could be DT for example. And I think the new direction is nearer to that in Polaris, than the direction the band was having with selftitled album or New era.

doc, dont' you like progressive? Don't you like bands like DT or SymphonyX? )

I didn't like DT, just Train of thought. But I was entering into DT's world step by step and I can't tell you now that I can't get out. Songs like Octavarium, The count of Tuscany, In the presence of enemies, A change of seasons, Under a glass moon, the whole scenes from a memory, the whole Six degrees of inner turbulence, etc, etc are just pure art to me now.

Sometimes is that you see a 20 minutes song and you say..... :/ but if you listen maybe, I say maybe (cause everyone has his own taste) you understand that it's better that song than to listen a whole album with 13 songs. Anyway, that kind of progressive is difficult to reach, you like it or you hate it.

And of course I don't want Stratovarius to become a progressive band, it's just that when somebody wants to evolve in music, the progressive elements are the perfect path imo. I think Symphony X do that very well, they mix some elements and they have always fast and melodic songs, and they use neoclassical elements too. Tolkki used some progressive elements in albums like Dreamspace or Episode. Then Visions is maybe the pinnacle of power metal in Stratovarius discography, anyway Visions song has some prog elements on some parts.

And if we think about the new direction, you clearly see more prog elements, because of Jens and because Matias is a prog guy and Lauri too, so you have the possible result. And I thank that, cause I think is the only way of not having again the same old songs re-mastered you know. You can say, "fuck this is Strato", but it's fresh and plenty of new ideas and energy.

[Arkash]

Then Visions is maybe the pinnacle of power metal in Stratovarius discography, anyway Visions song has some prog elements on some parts.

And Visions is the best Strato album, with Infinite (closely followed by Episode and Polaris), for me!

But, I'd be a little disapointed if Strato was to become too prog: prog is technical and experimental music mostly, and that's why I lack in Symphony X (I'm not gonna talk about DT cause I'm definitly not a fan of'em!): not enough fresh like Strato is. SX is too technical and that kills the freshness of their songs! And the great power of Strato is this freshness, so I wouldnt like Strato to become too much prog!

[scamps]

i think the guys should keep the same sound,its the strato sound that we all know and love.for me Polaris is their best album since Visions,remember they changed their sound for the last album wit T.T and that was not a great album,more Lauri compositions though, : should problem call the new album FREEDOM as they are finally free to do what they want

[RazielSR]

Arkash, but being Visions and Infinite your favourite Stratovarius albums, and being Fouth Dimension and Episode my favourite ones , just shows the different musical taste we have.

And I don't get you point in saying that Symphony X is not fresh because is too much technical¿?...that's a paradox and I don't agree, if you have not enough technique to be a versatile artist, you are condenmed to do always the same. Another thing is that maybe you can't find a link in a too much technical song because you are not looking for that, and sometimes too much technique makes the song to lose some emotion. But freshness is another thing imo. And Symphony X is a fantastic band in every aspect. Just for Romeo and Allen the band is awesome. And DT just for Petrucci and his incredible works and solos, is an absolutely amazing band.

Anyway this is off topic and regarding Stratovatius, I'd like to see the guys experimenting new things like Deep Unknown and Jens using the keys a lot, but Matias should have a lot of things to show too. The next album must contain a lot of guitar too. All we know that Polaris contain just a few guitar work.
And that's it, if you want a lot of keys and a lot of guitar, then you go for a long and prog song. If not, you have the typical 4 minutes song with a 5 seconds solo and repeating the chorus over and over again. And yes, Forever Free, Distant Skies, Against the wind and all that wonderful songs are incredible, but they can't be always making remakes of that songs. Anyway, Forever is today is a good example of how to release the typical Stratovarius power metal song with fresh and new energy.

[Polaris]

I expect the next album be much more powerful & awesome than Polaris

[NeverendingAbyss]

I expect the next album be much more powerful & awesome than Polaris

Your expectations are granted. The next album will throw you down the drain.

(I heard it was going to be called "Icecab's Symphony")

[Polaris]

I expect the next album be much more powerful & awesome than Polaris

Your expectations are granted. The next album will throw you down the drain.

(I heard it was going to be called "Icecab's Symphony")

We'll see

Can't wait for the next album! Good Lucky to all Stratoguys, hope they'll be very inspired to compose great songs!

[icecab21]

(I heard it was going to be called "Icecab's Symphony")

that would be a great name

[RazielSR]

.....singing, dancing......this is nooooo dreeeeammmmm.....papapapapaaaappapapaaaaa Icecaaaab's syyyymphooooonyyyy paaaa paaaa paaaaaaa


Neverendingnames is always good finding a good nick for the things.