Stratovarius Community

I love this band. It's probably the best heavy/power metal band right now. Their music is very powerful, their singer has the most metal accent I've ever heard and their lyrics are brilliant.

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And my favorite song:
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:headbang: :headbang:

They're playing in Cyprus on Saturday if you want to fly over and catch them My good friends RUST are opening for them.

Great band, great fun.

NeonVomit wrote:They're playing in Cyprus on Saturday if you want to fly over and catch them My good friends RUST are opening for them.

Great band, great fun.

They are playing here on Friday and I'll definitely be there

Shurik wrote:

NeonVomit wrote:They're playing in Cyprus on Saturday if you want to fly over and catch them My good friends RUST are opening for them.

Great band, great fun.

They are playing here on Friday and I'll definitely be there

While I'm stuck in London take pics!

They are good, but saying they are the best power metal band is far too much (as right now the best is Blind Guardian, with Strato as a close second imho). I also don't really like their lyrical themes, battles get boring after a while...

Balu wrote:They are good, but saying they are the best power metal band is far too much (as right now the best is Blind Guardian, with Strato as a close second imho). I also don't really like their lyrical themes, battles get boring after a while...

Blind Guardian's new album is really good, but the one before that was mediocre at best. I didn't like anything Stratovarius did between Infinite and Polaris. Sorry, forgot to add IMO to the first post

As to lyrics, I prefer to listen to the songs about real battles than to listen to the gazzilionth song about magic sword that slays the evil dragon or stuff like that ... Especially when the lyrics are as good as Sabaton's.

This pretty much sums up what I think about Sabaton:
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles. ... 1&id=17417

Shurik wrote:

Balu wrote:They are good, but saying they are the best power metal band is far too much (as right now the best is Blind Guardian, with Strato as a close second imho). I also don't really like their lyrical themes, battles get boring after a while...

As to lyrics, I prefer to listen to the songs about real battles than to listen to the gazzilionth song about magic sword that slays the evil dragon or stuff like that ... Especially when the lyrics are as good as Sabaton's.

True, but I also don't like if a band has lots of songs about similar things.

Great band, I've been listening to them a lot lately. Art of War in particular sounds like a possible future classic album to me. I'll probably see them live this December.

I like them. The gigs are always big fun, but as Balu said Blind Guardian is far better power metal band or Nightwish for me. They are uncomparable with Sabaton

Shurik wrote:

Balu wrote:They are good, but saying they are the best power metal band is far too much (as right now the best is Blind Guardian, with Strato as a close second imho). I also don't really like their lyrical themes, battles get boring after a while...

Blind Guardian's new album is really good, but the one before that was mediocre at best. I didn't like anything Stratovarius did between Infinite and Polaris. Sorry, forgot to add IMO to the first post

As to lyrics, I prefer to listen to the songs about real battles than to listen to the gazzilionth song about magic sword that slays the evil dragon or stuff like that ... Especially when the lyrics are as good as Sabaton's.

This pretty much sums up what I think about Sabaton:
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles. ... 1&id=17417

I like Sabaton too, but I do have one interesting thing to add, so far so good, but they are playing with forces (political and emotional) that at least have the potential to be a bit of a Pandora's box.

I saw an example of that last year when Strato opened for Sabaton in Poland. They have a huge hit there with that 40:1 song. They were involved in all sorts of political ceremonies etc, meeting with prime minister (the one who later died in that plane crash), laying a wreath on some war monument or whatever it was. Nothing wrong with that, of course. It's great that they are doing good and that they are reaching and affecting people.

BUT I was a little bit uncomfortable when I saw the promotion for the gig (I think it was in Bydgoszcz). It was something like "tonight only, three pro-war bands, Proletarya, Stratovarius, Sabaton".

There were lots of people with very short hair and military clothing also in the audience... if you get my drift. And later after the gig the Sabaton guys were invited to some after party at some underground skinhead bar, or was it illegal club or whatever.. we (strato guys) didn't go, I had the distinct feeling that the people in this place might not take too kindly to long haired hippie type people like us.. if you get my drift.

BTW I'm not anti-Polish by any stretch of the imagination, I would say the opposite, I for instance have met many really good Polish people, too many for it to be some sort of statistical anomaly.. and I always look forward to "Polish day" when doing weeks of interviews. Usually good conversations and intelligent questions. But I'm not pro-war in any way though, any more than i am pro-cancer. Live and let live..

Sabaton limit their lyrics to armed conflicts between Nation-states, i.e., where people wore uniforms. But what if some new "pro war" go a bit bolder and make a song called "Entifada" or "Glory of Jihad: 9/11".. ?

BTW are there any pro-moslem anti-western metal bands? I know there are Christian death metal bands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Imk_RqFlr4

I know one instrumental "arabic metal" band, Al Qaynah (four downloadable songs at: http://www.last.fm/music/Al+Qaynah ), but I'm not sure about how anti-western they are.

That sounds slightly disturbing. I'm not convinced Sabaton's intentions were to become a band for Polish skinheads. Personally I prefer to take Sabaton's lyrics with the same level of seriousness as those of Manowar's.

It is incredible how the religious / war "movements" still controlling weak minds.

There were lots of people with very short hair and military clothing also in the audience... if you get my drift. And later after the gig the Sabaton guys were invited to some after party at some underground skinhead bar, or was it illegal club or whatever.. we (strato guys) didn't go, I had the distinct feeling that the people in this place might not take too kindly to long haired hippie type people like us.. if you get my drift.

I don't think that Sabaton have any connections to the skinheads or their ideas, having a song about 6 Day War - Counterstrike from Primo Victoria album (they are popular here because of that, just like they are popular in Poland because of 40:1 and Uprising) and AFAIK their bass player lived here for a short time (worked in kibbutz or smth like that).
Songs about real wars and battles can evoke feelings of national pride, nothing wrong with that. If I were Polish, I would feel something while listening to 40:1 (great song even if you are not Polish) or Uprising. That wouldn't necessary make me pro-war, skinhead or such ...
I also don't think they are glorifying wars, having songs like Cliffs Of Gallipoli and Price Of The Mile. I do agree that these themes and imagery can be taken the wrong way by various nationalists and such, but there's nothing much to do about it ...

BUT I was a little bit uncomfortable when I saw the promotion for the gig (I think it was in Bydgoszcz). It was something like "tonight only, three pro-war bands, Proletarya, Stratovarius, Sabaton".

That's some very dumb promotion by people who probably never heard or read Stratovarius and Sabaton lyrics. Do you generally have a say in these things or the poster design is left entirely to the promoters?

But what if some new "pro war" go a bit bolder and make a song called "Entifada" or "Glory of Jihad: 9/11".. ?

Well, there is this:
http://www.nsbm.org/bands/
So it's not a big stretch to think that some dumb fuck somewhere out there would write a song praising 9/11. The excellent documentary "Global Metal" has an interview with some idiot from an Indonesian grindcore band (yeah, there are people in Indonesia who play grindcore) who says that Israel should be wiped off the map.
The point is that there are boundaries that should not be crossed, and so far Sabaton haven't crossed them ...

It was something like "tonight only, three pro-war bands, Proletarya, Stratovarius, Sabaton".

That's one of funniest things I have ever seen in this forum. Maybe those persons, who organized that happening have never heard Stratovarius song.

Pro-war band. Yeah Infinity for example sends off some sick pro-war messages! Oh wait...

I discovered them at Hellfest this year, and damn, I such a big fan of them now!! Of course, they're not Strato, or Kamelot, but I really love them!!!

EDIT:

"tonight only, three pro-war bands, Proletarya, Stratovarius, Sabaton".

Damn, yes, songs like Infinity, Paradise, Destiny or Mother Gaia are definitly pro-war.

I dont think Sabaton is pro-war too... I see'em more than bards singing about history, gloryfing it, but not approving it... (and apart from the singer, all Sabaton members are hairy! ^^).

Anyway, what you said Jens did cold a little bit my enthusiasm for them. But well...

What did I wanted to say already? Oh yeah: WTF? Strato opening for Sabaton????? What the hell is that??? Should be the other way round, dammit!