Stratovarius - Elysium
| Release date: | 12 January 2011 |
| Style: | Power metal |
|
Owners: |
398 have it 43 want it |
Disc I
01. Darkest Hours
02. Under Flaming Skies
03. Infernal Maze
04. Fairness Justified
05. The Game Never Ends
06. Lifetime In A Moment
07. Move The Mountain
08. Event Horizon
09. Elysium
1 - Part 1
2 - Part 2
3 - Part 3
10. Castaway [Japanese bonus]
11. Last Shore [collector's edition bonus]
12. Hallowed [collector's edition bonus]
Disc II [Digipack edition demo's]
01. Darkest Hours
02. Under Flaming Skies
03. Infernal Maze
04. Fairness Justified
05. The Game Never Ends
06. Lifetime In A Moment
07. Move The Mountain
08. Event Horizon
09. Elysium
01. Darkest Hours
02. Under Flaming Skies
03. Infernal Maze
04. Fairness Justified
05. The Game Never Ends
06. Lifetime In A Moment
07. Move The Mountain
08. Event Horizon
09. Elysium
1 - Part 1
2 - Part 2
3 - Part 3
10. Castaway [Japanese bonus]
11. Last Shore [collector's edition bonus]
12. Hallowed [collector's edition bonus]
Disc II [Digipack edition demo's]
01. Darkest Hours
02. Under Flaming Skies
03. Infernal Maze
04. Fairness Justified
05. The Game Never Ends
06. Lifetime In A Moment
07. Move The Mountain
08. Event Horizon
09. Elysium
Reviews 
Lyrics Timo Kotipelto - vocals
Jens Johansson - keyboards
Matias Kupiainen - guitars, additional keyboards
Jörg Michael - drums
Lauri Porra - bass, additional keyboards
Additional musicians:
Perttu Vänskä - programming
Riso Kupiainen - programming, additional keyboards
Choir: Arzka Sievälä, Jani Liimatainen, Aleksi Parviainen, Tipe Johnson, Anssi Stenberg, Hepa Waara.
Additional info
Matias Kupiainen
Release dates:
Asia - January 12
Worldwide - January 14
Deluxe digipack contains:
- A bonus disk with demos of the entire album.
- 5 postcards with album art and a personal message from every band member.
- Holographic CD case
The Japanese version includes one bonus track:
10. Castaway (04:40)
The Limited Edition has a bonus CD with demo versions of all the songs of the album.
The Collector's Edition is signed by the band and contains the demos of the bonus CD of the limited edition as mp3 files. It also contains a bonus 7" with exclusive songs:
Side A: Last Shore
Side B: Hallowed
Tracks 5 & 7 by Johansson
Tracks 6 & 10 by Porra
Track 2 music by Kotipelto/Kupiainen, lyrics by Kotipelto
Tracks 3, 4 & 8 music by Kupiainen, lyrics by Kotipelto
Tracks 1 & 9 music by by Kupiainen, lyrics by Kotipleto/Kupiainen
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
Stratovarius...That's that Finnish soap opera, right? Well, yeah, it's easy enough to chock this bands last few lack-lustre albums up to piss poor band chemistry and the downright cartoon-like drama that ensued because of it. So they "eliminated" the "problem", and came out with Polaris - an inching recovery, but a recovery nonetheless. Polaris, to put it lightly, was hit-or-miss on many tracks, but overall left most people, aside from perhaps the die-hard fans with an overall "meh" feeling. Fair enough, you can easily blame the new guy for that one, maybe the band chemistry just hadn't clicked yet? Well, the new guy is no longer the new guy, and there's been no reported in-fighting since Mr.Tolkki's days. I guess you could say every silver lining has a black cloud, because at this point they no longer had any excuse to release anything but their best. I'm not entirely sure what Stratovarius' "best" sounds like, but I can imagine it sounds something like this. Read more ›› |
Rating:
8.2
8.2
|
Rating: 8.2 |
After the surprisingly good Polaris and yes it is surprising since Timo Tolkki wrote most of the band's songs and hits, I had really high hopes that the new album would be even better but after listening to the single "Darkest Hours", I felt "Deep Unknown" was on a higher level. Well I was wrong! The album is as solid as it gets. Unlike Polaris which contains some of Stratovarius' best songs ("Deep Unknown", "Falling Star", "King Of Nothing", "Winter Skies"), but also had its share of mediocre moments ("Blind", "Higher We Go"), Elysium on the other hand starts with the fairly good "Darkest Hours" and continues to impress me with each passing track. The production is crystal clear and not over polished at all, the highlight being the sound of Lauri Porra's bass guitar. The groove he provides on "Lifetime In A Moment" and "Fairness Justified" is phenomenal and contributes positively to the overall sound. The absence of the typical fast double bass songs is eminent throughout but that's not to say that there are none. "Infernal Maze", being one of the finest tracks on the album, has the best vocal performance by Timo Kotipelto since the Infinite album. Perhaps the biggest surprise in Elysium is the presence of the 18 minute epic title track with its epic feel and changing moods which stands as one of the most impressive works the band has released to date. The admission of guitarist Matias Kupiainen was a good choice even though the change in the band's sound might be repelling to the Tolkki enthusiasts but Kupiainen is doing more than well in filling the big shoes of Timo Tolkki, his influence on the 18 minute title track brought some very inspiring moments and showcased what drummer Jörg Michael is capable of ("Elysium" Part II is worth mentioning). Read more ›› |
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Comments: 63
Visited by: 977 users
| Ørion Posts: 5  |
It isn't so good as classic albums, but it has a good feeling and a pure gold 18-minutes song.
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| Ruchesko Posts: 435  |
A return to form, simple as. The Elysium suite would've been better off separated into three tracks, though.
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| Siegfried Posts: 12  |
It's a hard album to evaluate for me, I'm really attached to this one because I was in a very emotional moment in my life when I listened my first time. However, coming back to listen a few years later I realize isn't that good. I still enjoy it, but now I can see it is far from perfect.
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