Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Band: Stratovarius
Title: Polaris
Year: 2009
Label: Edel/earMusic

This album was released on 15th of May 2009 so this review won’t tell you anything you don’t know about it yet… in case you are a supporter of Strato!
After Tolkki‘s departure from the band, its future was uncertain for many reasons and after a period of press releases, the band decided to go on, hiring a new guitar player, Matias Kupiainen.

So, what about Polaris? Well, it’s always difficult to separate reason from heart and if you love Stratovarius like me, it’s more difficult… maybe it’s an impossible task, so for sure my words will be influenced by this.
First of all I found Polaris a well produced album, a very nice come back for the Finnish band starting from the very interesting cover artwork to reach the audio production. Sounds are clear, powerful as the band used to be in its history and the technical skills of the musicians are out of the question.
The album starts with the first single Deep Unknown, where we can notice the virtuoso duo Johansson-Kupiainen and the very catchy vocal melodies. This song is somehow surprising but we will talk about it in a little while. The second track called Falling Star is a mid tempo which reminded me of their other song A Million Light Years Away for its mood and for some of the arrangements. After this one it’s time for a more slow, King of Nothing, song that combine the old Strato’s elements from albums like Fourth Dimension or Dreamspace to their new musical direction. Also the lyrical themes seem to be quite darker while Kotipelto‘s vocal lines are less extreme high pitched than before. A classical harpsichord introduces the next song and Strato geso back to a very fast song called Blind.
The rhythmic section made by the bassist Lauri Porra and by a German drummer Jorg Michael is fast, powerful and very very precise without to insist on useless technicism.

The melodies continue to be very catchy and easy to remember while guitar and keyboard solos will be very appreciated by shredders’ lovers. It’s time for probably one of the best song of Polaris: Winter Skies. This is a slow song that more than others reminded me of their Fourth Dimension album. Its majestic and heavy rhythm makes it one of the most strong song of this album.
The next song called Forever is Today brings us again towards the higher speed with a solid double bass drums and a nice guitar solo part. Probably this is not a very innovative song but it’s something Stratovarius do in a great way! This is a perfect live song to warm up the audience! After a melodic and fast song it’s time for…more melody with Higher We Go. Well of course it’s not the same structure or the same speed and I think it’s a more valid song than the one before. It’s more complex with some tempo changes and with a nice harmonic structure. The chorus is surely one of the strongest of this album.
Now it’s time for a ballad and also if it’s not extremely original this is a good one! At the first listening session I didn’t like Somehow Precious too much… I found it too boring…but I know that 99 out of 100 the first impression (especially in music) is the wrong ones so I listened to it few more times and I found that its chorus was stuck in my mind. There are some interesting chord changes that make this song unpredictable sometimes.
The next two tracks are a musical suite divided in two parts called respectively Emancipation Suite part 1: Dusk and Emancipation Suite part 2: Dawn. The first part is a mid tempo quite majestic full of orchestrations and choirs. The solo part is really emotional also it will be appreciated by shredders too. The second part starts with a guitar arpeggio to support the voice of Kotipelto. The guitar melody follow the vocal section to the end of the song with another emotional part. The regular version of Polaris ends with the next song called When Mountains Fall that could be a sequel of the famous Strato’s Forever. Kupiainen plays a classical guitar while a string quintet plays the main melody and the song runs away very quickly also if it recalls the Episode’s Forever a little too much.

The special digipack version of Polaris include also a bonus track of Deep Unknown remixed by Mirko Raita.

So, what can we say about Polaris? Surely it’s a good one and surely it’s a Stratovarius album. The magic touch of Tolkki is lacking quite often but somehow I prefer this because the new guitar player did a good job to give his fingerprint to the sound without trying to copy his famous predecessor. They’re not the same Strato of Visions or Infinite but anyway they’re a very good band very similar to those Stratovarius.

Bad elements? Well I told you that I’m a big Stratofan so it’s very difficult for me to find them eheh! Anyway I could tell you that I felt the lack of Tolkki’s presence! Maybe it’s the absence of his solos or maybe the different composing solutions but let me say that I’d notice it also without to know that he’s not in the band anymore.
The main mood is darker as I wrote before and it’s not a bad thing I think! They’re now more aggressive! Now in a little time we will listen to the new album scheduled for the early 2011 and listening few song they released to announce it, the new darker trend seems to be the new one again. So don’t search the oldest Stratovarius in this band right now and listen to their new evolution with unconditioned ears! You will like it!

TRACKLIST
1. Deep Unknown
2. Falling Star
3. King of Nothing
4. Blind
5. Winter Skies
6. Forever Is Today
7. Higher We Go
8. Somehow Precious
9. Emancipation suite: I Dusk
10. Emancipation suite: II Dawn
11. When Mountains Fall
12. Deep Unknown Mirko Raita Mix (bonus track Digipack)
RANK 7,5

Review by Giulio Capone