Search - Stratovarius :: Elements Part 1

Very Underrated! There was only three songs that I didn't li

08/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off I am not a kid. Amazon for some reason is requiring someone to purchase an item inorder to review it now so I can't review it under my account. I purchased the CD elsewhere and know what I am going to be talking about. If you want to know who I am off Amazon I'm Clay (the your average night owl person)and 17.



This CD is highly underrated. I was listening to this CD prepared to bein disapointed and I pretty much loved it. I can't believe how everyone rated this CD. This atleast deserves a few stars instead of one. This CD does indeed have it's boring moments but there are relatively less boring parts over the fun parts. The CD has an operatic style on some of the songs which might have also contributed to the low album rating. Also there are three soft songs off the CD. I only liked one of them. The rest are pretty heavy. Don't believe me? Listen to Eagleheart. That sounds nice. Also Find Your Own Voice. Sounds heavy enough yet? That song even reminds of a Visions album song. Elements.. Yes... that song is plenty heavy and it just builds up as it rolls along. It's not heavy in a death metal kind of heavy it's in a power metal kind of heavy. I was not disapointed by this CD at all unlike many of the other people here. When it ended I felt very spacey and atmospheric. A pleasant musical adventure.



Here are the song ratings. They rate for 1 to 10 in my opinion.



1. Eagleheart: 10/10 Don't understand why the person who calls this their favorite album says this is the album's worst song. I prefer to disagree. This is my 2nd favorite off the album. I love this song. It's very atomospheric with asstounding bass beats. The vocalist is at his best on this song. Probably one of the band's most unique song.



2. Soul Of A Vagabond: 7/10 This song is indeed repetative but it makes up for it in heaviness. Also not only is it repetative but it has a very slow beggining. Every song except Eagleheart and A Drop In The Ocean has a slow beggining off this album. Once they started up though it sounds awesome. This song is no exception. If you think 7 is a low number it is not, it is still a great song.



3. Find Your Own Voice: 10/10 3rd favorite. This song sounds like something you'd hear in the Visions/Episode/ or Destiny era. Very slow beggining but the AMAZINGNESS of this song definitly reverses the thought of it even having a slow beggining. A perfect score 10.



On a side note... the album slows down dramatically for the rest of the album. The first 3 songs were the really fast songs off the album. The only time the album will speed back up again is on Stratofortress bridge instrumental.



4. Fantasia: 4/10 The most disapointing song off the album (even though it's not my least favorite). Just listen to the first couple of mins or so and you'll see why I feel it is so disapointing. The beggining is absolutely amazing and I loved it so much. When I first heard it I was thinking this could be the greatest song the band has ever made. But no they had to slow it down into something so boring and so annoying I coundn't stand it. Plus the lyrics annoy me even more. If the entire song kept up a pace just like the beggining did then this could have turned into the best Stratovarius song ever. They ruined the greatest oppurtunity they ever had in their career and the chance to make people feel this album is asstounding. Really deserves a 5 but I gave it a 4 out of disapointment. The Beggining is good and there is one minute in the middle of the song that I do like. It's when the heavyness increases for just a brief moment and the ending is average.



5. Learning To Fly: 6/10 This song has no direction in it with drumming. It stays the same. The guitars have some talent in it I guess. The vocalist is horrible at the ending of the song. The song also has a very slow beggining and ending which makes the song also boring for a heavier song. It's average but definitly bad for Stratovarius standards. Good song after listening to Fantasia though so that's why it gets a 6 instead of a 5.



6. Papillion: 2/10 I don't like this at all. It is slow all the way through, soft all the way through, and it just repeats the boringness of the song over and over. Just skip past Fantasia, Learning To Fly, and Papillion fore they are all fillers and might have led to the album to be criticized as "boring". Would be good for an opera though.



7. Stratofortress: 7/10 Great instrumental. It's exetremely powerful with great guitar playing and even better drumming. The last 58 seconds of it though ruins the instrumental for me though. It's got a really annoying guitar beat with it on the last 58 seconds. I just tend to skip the last 58 seconds but the rest is outstanding.



8. Elements: 10/10 I love this 11 mins long song. I can't really figure out a way to describe it though like the rest of the album. Mmm lets just say that it just builds up as the song goes along and the last portion of the song, after the continous builing up, made it my 1st favorite song off the album. It talks about the elements of the earth and the emotions of the earth.



9. A Drop In The Ocean: 9/10 Another soft song. Actually I wasn't annoyed by this song for being soft like Papillion and Fantasia. The reason why is because it's highly atomospheric and has an oceanic feel to it. Once it ends I feel ummm just fantastic.



6 good songs 3 bad songs. Really it deserves less than 5 stars but this album is so poorly underrated I'm gonna give this a 5. Plus since Eagleheart, Find Your Own Voice, Elements, and A Drop In The Ocran are some of my most favorite Stratovarius songs ever, I don't see why I shoundn't be prasing this album. I have yet to check out or even listen to anything off of the Elements Part 2 album so I can't provide the answer on if this is better than Elements Part 2. Most of the other people on here say yes. That'll be awesome if Part 2 is better than Part 1 cause I already love this album enough. But anyways I am just rambling now. Ready for some of the best Stratovarius songs you'll possibly ever hear (and some of the worst also!!!) then come on by and check this out. Your about to discover what Stratovarius sounds like at their best and at their worst! Also recommended is Visions, Episode, and Destiny.

(ps if this helps to see my views of Stratovarius I wasn't a big fan of Fright Night and have yet to check out another album by the older Stratovarius, I will one day though cause I didn't terribly hate it)"