STRATOVARIUS Survive | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by earMUSIC on September 23rd, 2022

Quick Background

Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1985. Since their formation, they have released fifteen studio albums. In its history, the band has gone through many lineup changes, and after founding guitarist Timo Tolkki's departure in 2008, there are no founding members left. However since then, the line up has been quite stable. Currently, the longest standing member is singer Timo Kotipelto, who appeared first on Fourth Dimension (1995), the band's 4th album. Episode (1996) and Visions (1997) are my favorite albums and I remember when they were released, so as you can see I am long time fan. They have been very important for power metal and specially Visions is considered a milestone in power metal music. 

Survive

Seven years after the release of their last album Eternal, Stratovarius return with one hour of new power metal music in the form of Survive, their 16th studio album featuring 11 songs in just under one hour. 10 of them being straightforward power metal as we come to expect from them. But the closer "Voice Of Thunder" is a bit different as it is an eleven-minute epic. The title track opens the album with a very heavy guitar tone and riff, I was quite surprised. While the heaviness is somewhat muffled by the production values as the keyboards and vocals join in, it is still a quite dynamic and catchy song. 

"Demand" is a fast tempo and catchy track with one of the coolest choruses, it is a very Helloween-like song. "Firefly" is on the same veins, it's a super up lifting and fun 80's like song. "Frozen In Time" goes a bit more progressive which I really appreciate. It closes the 1st half of the album with a flavor of Visions and some very nice melodies. It is one of my favorites on the album. Talking about Visions "Glory Days" intro really bring us back to the 90's with a cool guitar and keyboard duo riff. The big and epic chorus is another love letter to the band's past. 

As we have seen in some of their other albums, again Visions included, Stratovarius close the album with a long epic song, namely the 11-mnute long "Voice Of Thunder". It's a nice song that gives you the feeling even in the first listen that you have heard it before. Epic and anthemic.    

The Picky Guy

It's a long album for power metal and my problem with it is that the album is not consistent from begging to end. Some choices do not always work for me. For example "Broken" has some good movements, but the mid tempo and overly sugared chorus are a barrier for me to enjoy it fully. "World On Fire" is about climate changing destroying the planet, while that's not the kind of lyrics I expect in power metal, the song is quite ok. But it's really the ballad "Breakaway" followed by "Before The Fall" that makes the album loose points with me.

Wrap Up Opinion 

A comeback album from one of power metal’s most seminal bands, Survive is Stratovarius as we know it. And actually the strong points of the album are when they stay truthful to their 90's roots. Melodic, with strong drum beats, the heavy guitar and keyboards duo, and high pitched vocals singing catchy vocal lines. It's mostly fast tempo and direct power metal anthems, but there's also some progressive touches and dynamic moments with mid tempo songs. It's nothing new for long time fans and while not as good as their classic album, it's a good sample and maybe their best album of this new era of the band. 79/100 and worth checking it out. 

SCORE: 79/100

Genre: Power Metal

Released by earMUSIC on September 23rd, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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