Customer Reviews

Waiting for the Dawn

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a huge Symphony X/Michael Romeo fan, I bought this cd to hear Michael Romeo's guitar work. As always Michael Romeo gives a stellar performance of mind-boggling, yet melodic, guitar wizardry. It is interesting to hear him in a more relaxed, standard time signature effort. His rhythm tone is a little lighter, but this is still some good stuff. The other guitarists are quite good too. Kotipelto gives a solid performance...I would put him in the same class as Mark Boals, but I think he is better. The songs are interesting and the supporting drums/bass/keys are impressive. Any fan of melodic metal would do well to have this in their collection. Fans of Michael Romeo/SyX should pick this up as well, although it is not on par with the epic stuff SyX puts out.

Often when a someone does a solo project, you wonder why they bothered because all they've done is churn out some carbon copy that their band could've easily done, no new ground covered. Well, I have to say I think Timo's been held back a little in Strato (no tragedy that he's left or been kicked out??)since he wrote everything on this album and all the songs are great-not one mediocre tune in the bunch. What makes this so much better is he wisely decided to forgo the familiar power metal genre, which I'm not so crazy about outside of Strato anyway, and make a more straightforward (but not run-of-the-mill) metal album. So what you get here is a killer melodic metal album with a who's who of metal musicians playing backup and none of the aspects that can make some power metal a little repetitive. I was awfully disappointed when I heard a couple of months ago that Timo was no longer in Strato, but now I can see why! I can barely wait until next month when his new album comes out. Actual rating: 4 1/2 stars.

Timo put a great one together here! I am impressed with the quality of his song writing skills. His singing is excellent, the music is phenominal, and his choice of Michael Romeo was brilliant! This album is not as symphony-based as Stratovarius, but has more balls and chunk. Romeo plays on 5 of the tunes, which happen to be the best songs on the album. The other guitarists are good, but they don't hit you like Romeo. All said, every song is excellent and I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Symphony X, Stratovarius, or both. 10 stars!!!

P.S. - Michael Romeo kicks major butt!

Being a huge fan of Stratovarius I though that this album will be pretty disapointing,I thought it will be very stratovarius,but no! it is just amazing,Kotipelto work is great,music and lyrics are great,with an Egyptian style is a beautiful work.
Songs like "choosen by re" and "travel through time" with that beautiful intro are powerfull.
"beauty has come" is a beautiful balad that blows you away,especially in mi case.
"book of the dead" has a very powerful intro.
"The movement of the Nile" is a beautifull song,a journey.
Kotipelto's powerfull,beautiful and some times sensual voice makes this album a masterpiece.
buy it!enjoy it!

Do you like Stratovarius? If you do, but haven't heard about Timo Kotipelto's side project, you're missing out on a monster of a group. Principally, the lineup of the band is as follows: guitarist Mike Romeo (Symphony X), one of my favorite power/prog metal guitarists ever, bassist Jari Kanulainen (Stratovarius), another big influence on me as a bassist, keyboardist Janne Warman (Children Of Bodom/Warmen), perhaps the greatest keyboardist in headbanging history, drummer Mirka Rantanen (Tunnelvision), who has some monster blast beats, and of course, Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius) on vocals. Overall, the album is better than any Stratovarius album (but not by a whole lot.) It features an overall better lineup, and a somewhat more progressive sound.

And now of course, the highlights of the album: opener "Intro/Travel Through Time" is pure speed metal pandemonium with a keyboard solo to be reckoned with. "Beginning" is the best song on the album, with a middle tempo and one of the greatest intro solos ever to be heard. And "Chosen by Re" is an epic, 7 and a half minutes, not as long as most epic songs, but still a masterpiece nonetheless. The whole album is awesome and great for Strato-fans.

"In life I have no religion...besides the heavy metal gods!"-Dream Evil

I love Stratovarious and in particular the voice of Timo Kotipelto. Considering that Timo Tolkki of Stratovarious writes almost all of the lyrics and music, I really didn't expect much from this solo release.

Well let me tell you I have been completely blown away by this album. The quality of ALL songs is excellent, almost every chorus is catchy, and I dig the Egyptian god theme of the album. Without hesitation I would put this one up against ANY Strato. CD. Yes, it's that good.

The only thing that devastates me is the fact that it took 8 years to stumble across this gem! This CD gives me new-found hope for the new Stratovarious CD coming out this year (2009)!

In short BUY THIS CD! I promise you will enjoy it!

After readind the reviews on this album i didnt know what to expect but being the kotipelto fan iam i decided to get it ,and wasnt let down. Yes some of the songs aint great but over all this is a fantastic cd.Great guitar playing and great vocals this cd is simply put fantastic.If your a kotipelto fan buy this cd iam sure you wont be let down . I hope this review was helpfull to you.

Stratovarius fans were all wanting to hear this. So what do we get? Well, truth be told, a bit of a lightweight take on Stratovarius, who hadn't been that heavy themselves just prior to Timo Kotipelto putting out this effort. The main instruments on this album are keyboards and Kotipeltos' acquired taste of a voice which don't make for an outstanding work. However the fact that he has had the intestinal fortitude to put out what almost amounts to a concept album for a first effort shows someone with self-belief and you can almost sense the joy and happiness that was part of the process of creating this album. My tip - skip straight to his second album and if you like that then think of picking this up.