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'Stratovarius' are a Finnish power metal band, who formed in 1984 and are still active today. They have been a major influence for many metal bands.
| Contents |
| Biography |
| Impact |
| Band members |
| Past members |
| Discography |
| Studio Albums |
| Live Albums |
| DVD |
| Compilations |
| Singles |
| Music videos |
| External links |
Biography
Stratovarius was founded in 1982 in Finland under the name Black Water. They went through a number of personnel changes and changes in style before the band found its own voice. The founding members were Tuomo Lassila, Staffan Stråhlman, and John Vihervä. By 1983, the name had changed to Stratovarius (a portmanteau of Stratocaster and Stradivarius) An idea of Stråhlman's. In 1984, Timo Tolkki joined the band replacing Stråhlman on guitar and taking up vocal duties as well. Tolkki became the driving force and mastermind of the band, assuming relatively complete control of the song-writing. He brought along not only strong rock influences, but also a neo-classical tinge. The band released a demo to various record companies by 1987, finally being picked up by CBS Finland. In 1989, their debut album ''Fright Night'' was released, following two singles.
After being dropped by CBS, the band went through several member changes, but they managed to release the album ''Stratovarius II'' on Bluelight Records, which was re-released as ''Twilight Time'' through Noise Records. In 1994 they released their third album, ''Dreamspace'', featuring new bass player Jari Kainulainen, who joined the band when 70% of the new material was already recorded. Tolkki decided to stop singing for the band, and they hired a full-time singer, Timo Kotipelto. The release of ''Fourth Dimension'' in 1995 was a huge success for the band, but internal differences, particularly of the style the band was going for, prompted the departure of long-time drummer Tuomo Lassila and keyboardist Antti Ikonen. Two new non-Finnish members were recruited: Swedish keyboardist Jens Johansson, of Yngwie Malmsteen fame; and German drummer Jörg Michael. With the fifth release ''Episode'', Stratovarius had finally found its sound and had a strong, diverse line-up. Episode was a grand project, featuring a large choir and a string orchestra. It was another huge success.
This line-up released three rather successful albums over the years: ''Visions'' in 1997, ''Destiny'' in 1998, and ''Infinite'' in 2000. With every album, their fame and fan-base expanded, and they started gaining a stronger following outside Scandinavia, particularly in Japan.
In 2003, the band released its most epic project yet, the two album suite named ''Elements''. With these albums, they reached a peak in their progressive and symphonic style of power-metal. The first album, ''Elements, Pt. 1'', was released in early 2003, followed by a world tour. ''Elements, Pt. 1'' was followed by ''Elements, Pt. 2'', also released on Nuclear Blast records in the same year.
In late 2003, the band broke up, with Timo Kotipelto and Jörg Michael leaving after a very vaguely explained conflict. Tolkki hired a new singer, Katriina "Miss K" Wiiala, and Anders Johansson of Hammerfall (Jens' brother) temporarily on drums. The rest of 2004 saw virtually complete silence from the band.
However, despite the break up, the band still had to finish off their Elements tour. During a show, a crazed fan, angry over the break up, jumped on stage and stabbed Timo Tolkki in the stomach. Tolkki was hospitalized and during his time in hospital, recovered from a mental illness he was going through. In January 2005 it was announced that Stratovarius had reunited with the former line-up. In June 2005, Tolkki announced that the band's bassist, Jari Kainulainen, had left the band due to personal reasons. He was since replaced by Lauri Porra.
Stratovarius then released the self-titled album ''Stratovarius'' in September 2005. During this time, Stratovarius began a world tour, starting in Argentina, which included a North American leg, where they toured the United States and Canada for the first time in the band's history. They played at such events as Atlanta's ProgPower, and in well known venues such as "B.B. King's House Of Blues" in New York and Philadelphia's "Trocadero Theatre". The tour also included European and Japanese cities. The band is set to release a new studio album (Currently codenamed R.... R.....) [1] in early 2008, which eleven tracks have been written for it. Timo Tolkki has stated that the album will be released before a "massive world tour."
Impact
Stratovarius's musical arrangements, lyrical themes, and other things greatly influenced modern heavy metal music. While many will say Helloween added in things like guitar solos and high pitched epic vocals to power metal, many cite Stratovarius as adding the signature drumming, time signatures, and most importantly the epic feeling to the music. They are also credited with reintroducing keyboards to heavy metal as a routine instrument, not one merely used for backing sounds, and also reinvented its use as a solo instrument, something first pioneered by Van Halen.
Most recently, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom cited Stratovarius as a huge influence on their music and heavy metal in Finland in general. Alexi has stated;
''Basically, without Strato, you would not have Children of Bodom. I mean, maybe you would, but it would definitely be different. We would not be doing the complex guitar and keyboard arrangements that we do, also with the volleying of those leads between the guitar and keyboard would not be done if it wasn't for Stratovarius coming along and pioneering that art of guitar/keyboard volleys. Even the guitar playing that they did, that has an influence on me and Roope, not so much as others but it definitely is there.''
Strangely enough, Timo Tolkki has even gone as far as to say Children of Bodom ripped off Stratovarius in 1999, due to the very classical like sound on their album Hatebreeder, which was released two years after Stratovarius released their highly successful concept album Visions. Recently however, he has withdrawn these claims and has cited Children of Bodom as a "very powerful band filled with highly talented musicians."
Band members
★ Timo Kotipelto - Vocals (1995-2004, 2005-)
★ Jens Johansson - Keyboards, Piano (1995-)
★ Timo Tolkki - Guitar (vocals up to Fourth Dimension, bass on Twilight Time) (1985-)
★ Lauri Porra - Bass guitar (2005-)
★ Jörg Michael - Drums (1995-2004, 2005-)
Past members
★ Jari Kainulainen - Bass guitar (1993-2005)
★ John Vihervä - Bass guitar (1982-1984)
★ Jyrki Lentonen - Bass Guitar (1985-1990)
★ Antti Ikonen - Keyboards (1987-1996)
★ Tuomo Lassila - Drums (also vocals until Tolkki joined the band) (1982-1995)
★ Sami Kuoppamäki - Drums (1994)
★ Staffan Stråhlman - Guitar (1982-1985)
★ Anders Johansson - Drums (For a brief period in 2004 when Jörg Michael was out of the band)
★ Katriina "Miss K" Wiiala - Vocals (for a brief period in 2004 when Kotipelto was out of the band)
Discography
Studio Albums | Live Albums
DVD
Compilations
|
Singles★ ''Future Shock'' (1988) ★ ''Black Night'' (1989) ★ ''Break The Ice'' (1992) ★ ''Wings Of Tomorrow (Vinyl)'' (1995) ★ ''Father Time (Japan only)'' (1996) ★ ''Will The Sun Rise? (Japan only)'' (1996) ★ ''Black Diamond (Japan only)'' (1997) ★ ''The Kiss Of Judas (Japan only)'' (1997) ★ ''SOS'' (1998) ★ ''Hunting High And Low'' (2000) ★ ''It's A Mystery (Vinyl)'' (2000) ★ ''A Million Light Years Away'' (2000) ★ ''Eagleheart'' (2002) ★ ''I Walk To My Own Song'' (2003) ★ ''Maniac Dance'' (2005) | Music videos★ ''Future Shock'' (1989) ★ ''Against The Wind'' (1995) ★ ''Black Diamond'' (1997) ★ ''The Kiss Of Judas'' (1997) ★ ''S.O.S'' (1998) ★ ''A Million Lightyears Away'' (2000) ★ ''Hunting High And Low'' (2001) ★ ''Eagleheart'' (2003) ★ ''I Walk To My Own Song'' (2003) ★ ''Maniac Dance'' (2005) |
External links
★ Official Stratovarius website
★ The Stratovarius Network
★ Official Stratovarius Myspace
★ Stratovarius Americas Forums (Spanish and english)
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