Stratovarius – Polaris

site | label | buy

Many metal fans will be prepared to write this album off immediately as the first attempt to continue Stratovarius without founder, guitarist and chief songwriter Timo Tolkki, who left under much public argument and legal action in 2007, eventually signing over all rights to the name and music to remaining long-time members Timo Kotipelto, Jens Johansson and Jörg Michael. However, minimal use of really pretentious keyboards and a strong focus on vocals and guitar riffs work to the benefit of the record, making it (shield your eyes, Stratovarius fans) one of the best albums of the band’s career to date. New guitarist Matias Kupiainen fits the band perfectly, contributing a lot of first-class playing and riffs (see Forever Is Today), and fans should not be concerned about their sound drastically changing with Kupiainen replacing Tolkki on guitar. As for the song-writing responsibilty falling to Kotipelto and the others, again there doesn’t seem to be much to worry about. The songs here are mostly as good as many of the band’s older tracks. One or two (Falling Star) sound like they could have come from one of Kotipelto’s solo albums, but otherwise this material shouldn’t jar against the old in a live setting at all, particularly the brooding King of Nothing, blistering Blind and excellent two-part epic Emancipation Suite.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Power Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Stratovarius