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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Sophomore Effort, December 22, 1999
Stratovarius took me by surprise. For some reason known only to me, I was expecting a progressive metal album a' la Dream Theater. Wrong. Perhaps the name Stratovarius fooled me into thinking that they were going to show off their instrumental prowess in plenty of soloing. Instead, this is almost (I'll come back to this almost) a straight power metal album. Something that would make Gamma Ray, Helloween or Nocturnal Rites proud. Band leader and main songwriter Timo Tolkki has written a solid album of power/pop metal tunes. This came out in 1993, when I was not paying any attention to metal at all (I have since seen the light, heh heh), so it could be that this type of sound was innovative at the time. There is a significant amount of symphonic embellishment in the music, I can see where bands like Rhapsody may have gotten their inspiration from. That is the main function of the keyboards, providing lush backgrounds for the music, and this is where Stratovarius differs from bands like Gamma Ray. A notch against the album are Tolkki's vocals. They are adequate, but just so-so. Perhaps he knew so too, because he soon after hired a killer singer in Timo Kotipelto.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Oooh the early days, January 11, 2006
Yes the early days when Timo Tolkki was on vocals. Perhaps in a more forgiving time I'd love stuff like the ripping lead cut which psychologically is pretty mature stuff for a young rock band. And lets face it - these guys were just starting out at this point.
And that's just it - there isn't much here to tell you that these guys would later write stuff like Black Diamond or Hunting High & Low. And without the signature vox of one Timo Kotipelto it doesn't feel like Stratovarius to a later convert like me. And a poor mix doesn't really help but they probably had to hide the vocals a bit.... sorry Mr Tolkki.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twilight Time - Underrestimated masterpiece from Finland, February 1, 2003
Twilight Time is the second album of Stratovarius, released 1992. The album was awarded in Japan as "best foreign album" - and it surely went to right address.The band (Timo Tolkki-guitar/vocals, Jari Behm-bass, Antti Ikonen-keys and Tuomo Lassila-drums) didn't got a record deal in Finland, and they released on their own "Stratovarius II" as a successor to the debut "Fright Night". A finnish band Antidote heard the album and took it to Germany while touring in there. They gave album to Shark Records and the album was released again with name "Twilight Time". Jari Behm left the band for musical reasons and Timo Tolkki played the bass sections in the album. Soon after releasing the album Jari Kainulainen came to band and still plays in Stratovarius. For me the main reason of buying this album was the second track "The Hands Of Time", which is in my opinion one of the greatest songs ever. And the seven other tracks ("Break The Ice", "Madness Strikes At Midnight", "Metal Frenzy", "Twilight Time", "Hills Have Eyes", "Out Of The Shadows" and "Lead Us Into The Light") are also great songs. Tolkki isn't as good vocalist as the recent Timo Kotipelto (althought, there arent many better ones), but TT's voice fits to the songs. When Stratovarius released their compilation "The Chosen Ones", the fans had a change to vote the songs of the album. This album included three of 16 "most wanted"-songs: Twilight Time (2nd, only Black Diamond had more votes), The Hands Of Time (4th) and Out Of The Shadows (7th). In my opinion this album is the most underrestimated album of Stratovarius - one of the most underrestimated metal bands.
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