Stratovarius Community

the big picture size kills my screen and honestly, I don't believe so much in this Symfonia rumor. I just think that this is it, nothing more from TT. a new band would not work. a bit sad. TT reunion with Strato is the best I can think, though

But that won't happen because Strato doesn't need Tolkki anymore.

Rage1979 wrote:

mayhem-for-all wrote:Strato is fine without Tolkki but Tolkki is not fine without strato...

bullshit. I think that AoA is bettar than all Stratoalbum since Infinite.

I love AoA a lot and I wasn't talking about the quality of the music he has made but the way he is doing.

Ragehead91 wrote:But that won't happen because Strato doesn't need Tolkki anymore.

I'm not sure about that. If TT becomes better, everyone has a chance to contribute,write songs. Polaris proved that all members can write good song. if TT is not a dictator like before, then why not?

gnurt_gp wrote:

Ragehead91 wrote:But that won't happen because Strato doesn't need Tolkki anymore.

I'm not sure about that. If TT becomes better, everyone has a chance to contribute,write songs. Polaris proved that all members can write good song. if TT is not a dictator like before, then why not?

TT back to Strato would be the worst thing that could happen.

HOOOOOOLLLY WAARRRRRRSSSSSSSS

Rage1979 wrote:

mayhem-for-all wrote:Strato is fine without Tolkki but Tolkki is not fine without strato...

bullshit. I think that AoA is bettar than all Stratoalbum since Infinite.

I disagree. To me, AoA is the worst Album Tolkki has ever done. Apart from a few songs the whole thing bored me to tears.

The worst right after Saana. Yiiiiikes was that a piece of work.

Yes, forgot about that.

one of his problems is that I think he's too full of himself to work with another guitarist, but the genre he's really working in requires two lead players. His idol Ritchie managed to pull off proto-power metal in Deep Purple without another guitarist because he had Jon Lord, but the keyboardists he's found lately have been really lackluster. The Matos/Kusch project could work because those two guys are incredible in their own right, but I think he needs to suck it up and find a lead guitarist to share the stage with.

But that won't happen because Strato doesn't need Tolkki anymore.

IF that is true Ill be FUCKING AMAZING

Rebel wrote:His idol Ritchie managed to pull off proto-power metal in Deep Purple without another guitarist because he had Jon Lord, but the keyboardists he's found lately have been really lackluster.

You know who should Timo work with?
Mikko Harkin

Mikko is like a little Jens Johansson

I think with Bob he acutally found a really talented Keyboard Player.

HinatAArcticA wrote:

Rebel wrote:His idol Ritchie managed to pull off proto-power metal in Deep Purple without another guitarist because he had Jon Lord, but the keyboardists he's found lately have been really lackluster.

You know who should Timo work with?
Mikko Harkin

Mikko is like a little Jens Johansson

Facepalm incoming

Rebel wrote:one of his problems is that I think he's too full of himself to work with another guitarist, but the genre he's really working in requires two lead players. His idol Ritchie managed to pull off proto-power metal in Deep Purple without another guitarist because he had Jon Lord, but the keyboardists he's found lately have been really lackluster. The Matos/Kusch project could work because those two guys are incredible in their own right, but I think he needs to suck it up and find a lead guitarist to share the stage with.

I disagree. Tolkki was the only guitar player of Stratovarius almost 20 years and it worked very well and I think, that nobody needed second guitar player.

a

HinatAArcticA wrote:

Rebel wrote:His idol Ritchie managed to pull off proto-power metal in Deep Purple without another guitarist because he had Jon Lord, but the keyboardists he's found lately have been really lackluster.

You know who should Timo work with?
Mikko Harkin

Mikko is like a little Jens Johansson

The only one who is good enough to really pull it off would be Janne Wirman (aside from Jens, of course)

there are plenty of players that "don't pull it off" that are in bands that sell a lot more than stratovarius

I forgot to pull out

I'd like to point a few things that I think.

The first one is that I don't think there's better keyboard player in the metal scene than Jens Johansson, and I became sure about that after listening to his album Ten Seasons, which I just bought in iTunes.

The second, is that even when Age of Aquarius is not the best thing Tolkki has ever made, I think that somehow is simmilar to Sonata Arctica's UNIA & The Days of Grays. It's not music that you can just put to play and like it right as it comes to you. I think some albums (not just those 3) require sometimes you to sit down and listen what's going on there. How each note is played, how long is one of them, how soft and how is the singer performing in one song, how is the harmony created to feel the bass, the guitar and the keys each on it's own, how some little sounds were just placed there by the artist to inspire what he or she was feeling at the time. I think that albums which are hard to understand are usually the ones that are deeper, because I think human feelings are complicated, and when a good musician comes up with something he/she just felt needed to be done that way, I think it's fair to try to understand the music, and not just say... "Bleh, I want a very fast solo" or "This part is just flat".

Of course, not all songs work like that, some are just bad
But for someone like Tolkki, I think that when it comes to record a song, he really puts care an love to it until he gets the sound he really wants and the precise notes that must sound.
There was one video where he and Gus are recording the vocals for Kyrie Eleison, and Gus has to do it over and over again, until Timo said something like "There... that's it" and I think all the guys in Strato know about that search for the perfect sound of a single note, and that why I think that AoA deserves some justice, because remember. It's not the same saying: "I don't like it" than "It's bad"

What I didn't like about AoA was that it is so godamn sluggish. Every time I listen to the damn thing I'm wating for it to pick up pace but all I get is just another damn slow-to-mid-tempo song and it just goes on like this for the whole thing. There are some nice Melodies and ideas here and there (Ixion’s Wheel, Ghost of Fallen Grace, Into The Future) but overall the thing is just to slow for my tastes.

HinatAArcticA wrote:I'd like to point a few things that I think.

The first one is that I don't think there's better keyboard player in the metal scene than Jens Johansson, and I became sure about that after listening to his album Ten Seasons, which I just bought in iTunes.

The second, is that even when Age of Aquarius is not the best thing Tolkki has ever made, I think that somehow is simmilar to Sonata Arctica's UNIA & The Days of Grays. It's not music that you can just put to play and like it right as it comes to you. I think some albums (not just those 3) require sometimes you to sit down and listen what's going on there. How each note is played, how long is one of them, how soft and how is the singer performing in one song, how is the harmony created to feel the bass, the guitar and the keys each on it's own, how some little sounds were just placed there by the artist to inspire what he or she was feeling at the time. I think that albums which are hard to understand are usually the ones that are deeper, because I think human feelings are complicated, and when a good musician comes up with something he/she just felt needed to be done that way, I think it's fair to try to understand the music, and not just say... "Bleh, I want a very fast solo" or "This part is just flat".

Of course, not all songs work like that, some are just bad
But for someone like Tolkki, I think that when it comes to record a song, he really puts care an love to it until he gets the sound he really wants and the precise notes that must sound.
There was one video where he and Gus are recording the vocals for Kyrie Eleison, and Gus has to do it over and over again, until Timo said something like "There... that's it" and I think all the guys in Strato know about that search for the perfect sound of a single note, and that why I think that AoA deserves some justice, because remember. It's not the same saying: "I don't like it" than "It's bad"

+1
I also think AoA is something deep, a little depress. one have to listen to it for a while to sense the feelings inside.

a little bit off topic, about metal keyboard players what do you think about Tuomas Holopainen? I like him very much and think he is keyboard God

HinatAArcticA wrote: The second, is that even when Age of Aquarius is not the best thing Tolkki has ever made, I think that somehow is simmilar to Sonata Arctica's UNIA & The Days of Grays. It's not music that you can just put to play and like it right as it comes to you. I think some albums (not just those 3) require sometimes you to sit down and listen what's going on there.
"

You propably haven't heard about life outside your own little world of Sonata Arctica fanism but out there is a whole genre like this.

Ragehead91 wrote:What I didn't like about AoA was that it is so godamn sluggish. Every time I listen to the damn thing I'm wating for it to pick up pace but all I get is just another damn slow-to-mid-tempo song and it just goes on like this for the whole thing. There are some nice Melodies and ideas here and there (Ixion’s Wheel, Ghost of Fallen Grace, Into The Future) but overall the thing is just to slow for my tastes.

I love the melodies and the symphonic parts, but ofcourse, the album is too slow but still damn good

Trinity will be much faster... I really got high hopes here!

Rage1979 wrote:I love the melodies and the symphonic parts, but ofcourse, the album is too slow but still damn good

Trinity will be much faster... I really got high hopes here!

Let's hope: I don't want power metal bands to turn into progressive bands

Peace Warrior wrote:A really close friend told me he is starting a new super group called Symfonia, it will have Andre Matos on vocals, the other members are Uli Kusch, Jari Kainulainen and Bob Katsionis.

That would be a nice line-up I don't believe in until it is official. 2 great songwriters in Kusch and Tolkki and Matos on vocals.

a

mayhem-for-all wrote: You propably haven't heard about life outside your own little world of Sonata Arctica fanism but out there is a whole genre like this.

Well... I was making the comparison because they are very simmilar situations between new Tolkki and new Sonata. Both had us used to fast power metal music and then they give us albums that are totally different. What would be the point to compare AoA to a group that has made albums like that all the time?
I was talking about us, used fans to their usual music, digesting something new. Don't tell me it is not a good example, because reaction among fans was very simmilar, and both Kakko and Tolkki had fans used to something, so to compare the situations is just a perfect example. Don't think I just write the first that comes to my mind or that I don't know what I'm talking about.

HinatAArcticA wrote:

mayhem-for-all wrote: You propably haven't heard about life outside your own little world of Sonata Arctica fanism but out there is a whole genre like this.

Well... I was making the comparison because they are very simmilar situations between new Tolkki and new Sonata. Both had us used to fast power metal music and then they give us albums that are totally different. What would be the point to compare AoA to a group that has made albums like that all the time?
I was talking about us, used fans to their usual music, digesting something new. Don't tell me it is not a good example, because reaction among fans was very simmilar, and both Kakko and Tolkki had fans used to something, so to compare the situations is just a perfect example. Don't think I just write the first that comes to my mind or that I don't know what I'm talking about.

The reaction was similar as always when bands try something new. Some like the new stuff better and some hate it from the bottom of their hearts.