STRATOVARIUS
Call me what you will, this was my first time listening to
STRATOVARIUS. I have a friend who is really into these guys, as well as
DREAM THEATER. I have to be honest though, I don’t get the big deal.
Yeah these guys are good musicians, I’m not taking that away from them,
but something is missing on this self-titled release. I’m not quite
sure what it is, and I’m not bashing the band at all, I just don’t
understand all the hype around Stratovarius. For years people told me
how they are so awesome and one of the best bands around, and I’m not
hearing it. The vocals are good, but they sound weak at times, nothing
very powerful about them, and they can get old after a while. The vocal
melodies are decent, but nothing exceptional, and the lyrics at times
are kind of weak, a little too predictable.
The first track on
Stratovarius is called “Maniac Dance” which I especially like the intro to, it has a very old school
Nintendo
sound, lots of little beeps arranged into a melody, which becomes the
melody for the songs crunchy riff. I got a little impatient with the
chorus of “Back to Madness,” the lyrics are, well, lame, to be honest,
and the vocals sound like [IRON MAIDEN frontman] Bruce Dickinson on a
really bad day. Oh, and the operatic male vocals during the interlude
sound more like a cat in pain than anything else. “Gypsy In Me” brings
back more of the Nintendo music, nothing more to say about this song,
but I’m beginning to think these guys played a lot of
Super Mario Brothers
in the 80s. “Gotterdammerung (Zenith of Power)” steps up in the song
intro department, sounding a lot like something Cradle of Filth or
Dimmu Borgir would use as a song intro, good work there guys! “The Land
of Ice and Snow” is better used as a lullaby.
Every song on this album is pretty much mid-tempo with almost the same
rhythm for most of the album. Some of the songs almost sound repeated.
All in all not a terrible album, but nothing I would recommend.
