Age of Aquarius Reviews

Here you can talk about Stratovarius and related bands. Language used is English.
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exe knight
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by exe knight » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:10 am

I'll get it right away when I get to Oulu... :roll:

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Mormegil » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:58 am

Bathory Killcraft wrote:First, he does write/compose the songs really fast. That was the case with Stratovarius already but it is just getting out of hand. You cant just have a new album every year or every 9 say months and expect it to be good. One may say its due to a flow of "creativity" but I don't buy that.
1969: Led Zeppelin
1969: Led Zeppelin II
1970: Led Zeppelin III
1971: Led Zeppelin IV

1970: Black Sabbath
1970: Paranoid
1971: Master of Reality
1972: Vol. 4
1973: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

:P

Well I see your point and I think Rhapsody Of Fire -guitarist Luca Turilli has been guilty for doing the same (album from three different bands/projects within a year).
Tolkki certainly recycled a lot of ideas he has used before, but a lot less on AoA than in later Strato-albums. I really enjoyed this album, even though most songs are really not that special. Ghost Of Fallen Grace, So She Wears Black, Into The Future and Age Of Aquarius (gets a lot better after multiple listenings) are enough to make this album worthy.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by TimoTolkki » Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:46 am

You cant just have a new album every year or every 9 say months and expect it to be good. One may say its due to a flow of "creativity" but I don't buy that.
I usually dont bother to comment these, but there are few things that are just plain wrong factually.
The first album of RR was a project album consisting of songs I wrote for Strato back in 2006. The last writing session for Strato before that was 2002 for both Elements at the same time.
Third, this lack of progress showcases another fundamental problem. TT wants total control over his bands. RR is Tolkki's band. As expected no one is going to have much of a saying in the musical direction, pretty much what was happening in Stratovarius.
All the songs in "Aqe of Aquarius" were composed by me, Bruno Agra and Gus Monsanto together. Pretty much everything was done in a different way than in Strato. We also had a co-producer.
In Strato we found a way that was comfortable and working and yes, also succesful. This was agreed by everyone, which I'm sure Jens can verify.
As for what is good and progressed, well I gladly leave that debate for those who want to do it since I really feel I have done my "job" after the album has been done:)

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by RazielSR » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:31 am

Anyway If today we'd have AoA sounding like previous TT's works, then the people would say: "Oh, that's the same again", "TT is trying to copy the same over and over again", and all that kind of stuff.

EDIT: Anyway If some people don't like the album, it's ok. I mean everybody have preferences and it's normal. I prefer the old TT style too, but I can't say I don't like the album, cause I like it.
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Bathory Killcraft » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:42 am

Mormegil wrote:
1969: Led Zeppelin
1969: Led Zeppelin II
1970: Led Zeppelin III
1971: Led Zeppelin IV

1970: Black Sabbath
1970: Paranoid
1971: Master of Reality
1972: Vol. 4
1973: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

:P
Hmmm I hardly care about Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath so I wouldn't consider their albums any good anyway :-)

As for Luca Turilli...who is he? :-)

I won't say much more about RR. I just realised TT and Strato are in talking terms again so thats good. Let them both write whatever the hell they want as long as it is good.
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:22 am

Bathory Killcraft wrote:
Mormegil wrote:
1969: Led Zeppelin
1969: Led Zeppelin II
1970: Led Zeppelin III
1971: Led Zeppelin IV

1970: Black Sabbath
1970: Paranoid
1971: Master of Reality
1972: Vol. 4
1973: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

:P
Hmmm I hardly care about Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath so I wouldn't consider their albums any good anyway :-)
You're kidding, right?

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Bathory Killcraft » Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:55 am

Ragehead91 wrote:You're kidding, right?
No, seriously. These dinosaurs of a band make me wanna puke.
Black Metal is the game I play cos' no one shows me the right way...

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:02 pm

Bathory Killcraft wrote:
Ragehead91 wrote:You're kidding, right?
No, seriously. These dinosaurs of a band make me wanna puke.
But without these "dinosaurs of a band" most of the bands we listen to today wouldn't even exist. These Bands invented Heavy Metal. I mean, I can understand that you don't like the music that they made, but to give credit where credit is due. Without all these dinosaurs of the 60s and 70s there would be no Metal. Because if you cut all these Genres of Metal and Subgenres away, it all comes down to these dinosaurs.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Mormegil » Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:24 pm

I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Led Zeppelin myself but I have tremendous respect for them for the reason Ragehead just stated.
Bathory Killcraft wrote:As for Luca Turilli...who is he? :-)
Mormegil wrote:Rhapsody Of Fire -guitarist Luca Turilli
Or band formerly known as Rhapsody. Also has solo project under his own name and Luca Turilli's Dreamquest.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by fernandotcl » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:15 pm

Ragehead91 wrote:
Bathory Killcraft wrote:
Ragehead91 wrote:You're kidding, right?
No, seriously. These dinosaurs of a band make me wanna puke.
But without these "dinosaurs of a band" most of the bands we listen to today wouldn't even exist. These Bands invented Heavy Metal. I mean, I can understand that you don't like the music that they made, but to give credit where credit is due. Without all these dinosaurs of the 60s and 70s there would be no Metal. Because if you cut all these Genres of Metal and Subgenres away, it all comes down to these dinosaurs.
I've got to agree with Bathory Killcraft. I both dislike and not care about these bands and their albums, whether or not they contributed big time to genres that eventually became what power metal is.

There's a huge difference between the music I like and the music these guys produced, so it would be an hypocrisy to say I like them just because they created music that was used as an inspiration to create music I enjoy listening to.

And while you're at it, you might as well want to worship everyone before them who also influenced music in a significant way, since you can always "cut genres and subgenres away" recursively, and reach the source of inspiration of all genres, all the way back to the most basic forms of music, right?

My point is, it doesn't make sense to like a band just because your favorite band drew inspiration from their music or something similar. We need to respect musicians that work hard, as well as any professional that works hard, but that doesn't mean we have to pretend to enjoy their works.

But we've gone waaaay off-topic...

:beer: :beer: :beer:

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Mormegil » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:44 pm

No one talked about "worshipping" anyone, just giving them the credit they deserve. :)

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by fernandotcl » Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:30 pm

Mormegil wrote:No one talked about "worshipping" anyone, just giving them the credit they deserve. :)
I give them credit, that doesn't mean I've got to like their music. ;)

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:24 pm

fernandotcl wrote:
Mormegil wrote:No one talked about "worshipping" anyone, just giving them the credit they deserve. :)
I give them credit, that doesn't mean I've got to like their music. ;)
That was what I'm talking about. I can understand that you don't like them, but give them some credit. Because without them you propably wouldn't have the bands that you like to listen to.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Polaris » Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:09 am

The album is very good, my fave song is Into the future!
But the whole album is very good! & is different from Stratovarius previous albuns, is sounding more freshing & the drums are very powerful!
Gus also sings very good, this guy really is a great vocalist! :wink:

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Bathory Killcraft » Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:09 am

Mormegil wrote:Rhapsody Of Fire guitarist, or band formerly known as Rhapsody. Also has solo project under his own name and Luca Turilli's Dreamquest.
I was being sarcastic. I know who he is but I think he's funny. He even had an album out called "King of the Nordic Twilight" ffs. And he is from where, Sicily? :-)

As for the "old" bands debate, well I just hate them. They may have contributed the uttermost and well done etc but they are so irrelevant today. Like AC/DC or Motorhead. Just pack it up ffs.
Black Metal is the game I play cos' no one shows me the right way...

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by hiro23 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:07 am

Bathory Killcraft wrote:
Mormegil wrote:Rhapsody Of Fire guitarist, or band formerly known as Rhapsody. Also has solo project under his own name and Luca Turilli's Dreamquest.
I was being sarcastic. I know who he is but I think he's funny. He even had an album out called "King of the Nordic Twilight" ffs. And he is from where, Sicily? :-)

As for the "old" bands debate, well I just hate them. They may have contributed the uttermost and well done etc but they are so irrelevant today. Like AC/DC or Motorhead. Just pack it up ffs.
Like ragehead and mormegil have said, it's okay if you don't like them but don't discredit them.

I don't mean offense by this I'm simply just stating something here, but by calling them irrelevant you are automatically discrediting them.

It's almost feeling like the 70's punk mentality of "there is no past therefore there can be no future"
if you don't like those bands do it because you don't like their music, not because you think their "old".
metal feeds the beast

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Malteada » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:59 am

Ragehead91 wrote:
I can understand that you don't like the music that they made..

I really can't understand that.. mmm.. he/she doesn't like the music that they made :s..
well... in my country.. all these people who say that heavy/power metal bands and classic rock bands are.. hmmm. "gay" or don't like it.. are called "possers" generally these people are "blackers" who only listen to Black metal and they feels bad haha... generally these people, here in my country don't know nothing about music, nothing about metal... and think that Black Metal is the best music in the world xD.. haha

i think.. if you really love music... you really would like the music that is considered "good".. even if it isn't metal..

i recently downloaded the Yanni Discography, if you don't know him.. i strongly recommend you :p... i can't stop listenting the first album from him.. and also a Live Album called "Yanni Live! The Concert Event" which there's a DVD :p
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by fernandotcl » Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:45 pm

Malteada wrote:i think.. if you really love music... you really would like the music that is considered "good".. even if it isn't metal..
Bullshit. Who says what's good music and what's not? It's a subjective topic, a matter of personal taste.

:beer: :beer: :beer:

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by icecab21 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:30 pm

It all depends on how we look at it, if "good" music is just the music that we personally like, then fuck what other people say. If good music is music that delivers quantifiable results to a set standard, than it is good no matter who likes it or not

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by fernandotcl » Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:33 pm

icecab21 wrote:It all depends on how we look at it, if "good" music is just the music that we personally like, then fuck what other people say. If good music is music that delivers quantifiable results to a set standard, than it is good no matter who likes it or not
And what's quantifiable about music? Record sales? Music charts? Mathematical analysis?

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by icecab21 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:15 pm

Math is. We can make a midi of what someone was trying to perform and than measure how close they were to that ideal. we can set different standards for different goals and then measure how close someone was to acheiving that goal. this way makes "good music" something too broad. but it allows for thing such as "a good opera performance of X singing method".

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:20 pm

But is being as close as you can to the original always something good? I mean, yeah, you should be able to recognize the song that the band/artist is covering, but adding a personal touch to the cover isn't something bad. I mean, why would we need cover versions anyway if they all would sound exactly the same like the original?

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Malteada » Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:31 pm

fernandotcl wrote:
Malteada wrote:i think.. if you really love music... you really would like the music that is considered "good".. even if it isn't metal..
Bullshit. Who says what's good music and what's not? It's a subjective topic, a matter of personal taste.

:beer: :beer: :beer:
well... actually there are music that really sucks!...

..... damn.. i forget i was going to type... but anyway

i don't know if have you ever listen to a "music" called "Reggaeton" here in latinamerica... that's and example of i want to say... that "music" really sucks, since the music is very boring, the lyrics are only things about sex and stupid things... and a lot of things more

now i remmembered that i forgot :P..

if we analize the concept of "music". it means that music is art.. and i think "reggeaton" and other many kind of music aren't art,


if music transmit something good, surely that music is good
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:37 pm

I disagree. I know what reggaeton is and I think it sucks. But it still is music and in this sense also a art form. Maybe not as complex as other forms of art, but still a form of art.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by black death » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:06 pm

I've just heard it a couple of times and I really like it :D

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Malteada » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:09 pm

Ragehead91 wrote:I disagree. I know what reggaeton is and I think it sucks. But it still is music and in this sense also a art form. Maybe not as complex as other forms of art, but still a form of art.
well, at least you said that reggaeton sucks :p... that was the point,
about if it's art or not, is only my point of view... haha
but everybody should know that there are music that isn't good, like reggaeton... really this music has nothing of good :s... since the music is created totally by a computer.
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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Babylon » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:15 pm

Star_Ocean wrote:I just don't like Gus's voice at all. It ruins every song that would be potentially good, in my opinion. Like Ixion's Wheel, Into the Future, Behind the Mask, etc.

He just ruins the entire album for me.
I haven't listened to the whole album yet, but I dislike this singer too, from what I've heard. No passion, no feeling, he sounds bored.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by Ragehead91 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:52 pm

Malteada wrote:
Ragehead91 wrote:I disagree. I know what reggaeton is and I think it sucks. But it still is music and in this sense also a art form. Maybe not as complex as other forms of art, but still a form of art.
well, at least you said that reggaeton sucks :p... that was the point,
about if it's art or not, is only my point of view... haha
but everybody should know that there are music that isn't good, like reggaeton... really this music has nothing of good :s... since the music is created totally by a computer.
Okay. A lot of music is created by the computer. For example a lot of Video Game soundtracks back in the day for example. Was that music bad? Is music that is created totally by a computer (which is wrong. You always need a human to make the music. Even if he just sits in front of a PC) always bad? I don't think so.

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by hiro23 » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:25 am

As far as the RR album goes I've liked what I've heard so far and look forward to getting my copy of the album.

As far as this music debate goes I just say listen to whatever you want, yet still have respect for those genre's that you don't listen to. Every band out there has to put effort into what they do, to tear it down just means that we are ignorant.
metal feeds the beast

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Re: Age of Aquarius Reviews

Post by icecab21 » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:23 am

That's not really how I sing when I am bored or apathetic. Emotions in music puzzle me because some people describe music as being full of emotion while others describe it as not having any.

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