Stratovarius is one of the most influential, successful and enduring power metal bands in the world; one of the top names thanks to their distinguished mix of fast progressive metal and a melodic approach to melodies.
What started in 1985 under the name Black Water and left a trail of 16 studio albums and ten Top 5 chart positions in their native country Finland (and more than 40 top chart positions all around the globe), found after a few bumpy steps and stones in the band's line-up its peak in Stratovarius' recent studio works Elysium, Nemesis and Eternal. All milestones in sound, creativity and song writing.
Now, it is time to collect the best of those milestones in Stratovarius' greatest and longest Best Of.
It happens rarely nowadays, especially in metal, that a band creates one magic song after the other. Stratovarius are one of the few exceptions. 29 of those exceptions (and there could have been more!) can be found on Stratovarius' longest and greatest Best Of. All hand-picked by the band and adding up to 2 ½ hours of pure Stratovarius bliss, the songs give metal fans and those to be a great selection on the band's impressive work, including classics such as Black Diamond, Hunting High And Low and Speed Of Light as well as more recent material such as the most streamed song in the band's history Unbreakable and Shine In The Dark from their recent studio album Eternal. All songs are remastered by the band's long-time companion Mika Jussila of Finnvox Studios.
Jens Johansson adds It's been 20 years since the Episode album, we're all getting older but this stuff sounds as fresh as ever. Could it be that Stratovarius has discovered the fountain of Eternal Youth!? You may feel younger, but we can't actually (legally) promise you'll be younger after listening to this best-of album, but we can guarantee one thing: when you put it through your speakers, it will play Until the End of Days!!
To me it's a testament to the fact that paying attention to song writing and production was expensive, but so worth it. The songs, the sound and the performances really have stood the test of time.
As a special treat, the Best Of includes the brand new song Until The End Of Days from the current band line up consisting of Timo Kotipelto, Jens Johansson, Mattias Kupainen, Lauri Porra and Rolf Pilve.