2004-05-12
While it seems that his original band, Stradovarius, is shrinking into a sad memory, its ex-vocalist, Timo Kotipelto, the man who’s face always reminded me of Agent Mulder, is quickly establishing himself as a successful solo artist.
His last album, Waiting For The Dawn, was an excellent metal album, fast and melodic, his new album is a direct continuation, with some added twists and turns.
The line up he...well...lined up, is first class, it include, among others, talented keyboardist Janne Wirman, of Children Of Bodom fame, and of course, one of the genre’s greatest axe grinders, Mike Romeo, of symphony x.
When compared to his last album, this one is a bit of a surprise, no more power metal, heavily reminiscent of Stradovarius, but a multi rhythm based album, based upon a more hard rock approach.
The change is for the better; it allows Timo to express his unique voice in a much more varied and interesting fashion.
The opening track is a power metal song per-se, raging double bass, Stradovarius like keyboards, a good song, but not great, it will certainly remind Strado fans of past glories, but its not that good on its own terms.
Track two, Reasons, is a more typical example of what awaits further down the line, middle tempo hard rock, crunching guitars, somewhat reminiscent of Sentenced, a good track, also the album’s first singe.
Two good, solid songs after that, Around is another hard rock track, Timo doing some high tonal bits that rock, and there’s Can You Hear The Sound, another fast track, but much better then the opening one.
The album’s strongest cut is, I think, Snowbound, epic sized metal track, a driving riff, definitely a winner.
The sound is good, also much closer to hard rock than to power metal, the double bass isn’t plummeting your ears till they burst, the guitars sit well in the mix, not too close or too loud to be heard, another phenomenon, is that the band members do not rush in showing off their considerable technical talents, but rather play well, and let the tracks speak for themselves.
Even mike, a true virtuoso, holds himself back; with just a few times of cutting loose with some neo classical super fast lead.
To surmise, a great album, if Mr. Kotipelto will continue in such a fashion, we might enjoy his work in a different sense than what he does (did?) in Stradovarius.
Alon Miasnikov
