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Solid - but not for beginners

W87 | Australia | 03/22/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a strange beast. Most of the tracks are slower than one would traditionally associate with Stratovarius. Its also very dark. I understand the guitarist (who is the principle song writer) was having some uh, emotional difficulties (ie. went a bit mental). And actually if you listen to it with that in mind, it plays better - it allows you to see where he's coming from on tracks like Back to Madness and Maniac Dance. As with all Stratovarius I find the drums too heavy and pronounced, making the slower, softer songs a little disjointed. Listen to their old stuff first, when they were happy, before coming to this album."

Another U-turn. So how was it for you?

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 01/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It had to happen. After the dismal Elements Pt.1 sent a swift kick right where it hurst most to their legion of fans there has been a total return to rockin' by these likeable Finns. And that's just it. The actual likeability of these guys somehow permeates almost all their releases. How do they do it? They could make huge wads of cash if they could bottle their affability and sell it to other charisma challenged bands (Metallica would order it by the truckload).



But I digress. After the lead cut of Maniac Dance you can settle in for a solid, if not yet back to peak condition Stratovarius. After all the inter personal stuff that went on it's amazing this album got made at all. Perhaps not worthy of four stars musically but for sheer effort and determination to overcome barriers it's good to have this band back and making records together, instead of headlines."

Where?s the power?

Himmlisch | Mexico | 04/18/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, it?s not a bad album. But it?s not a really good one either.At least not what fans of this band are expecting. Don?t get me wrong, I like the album, in fact is more hard rock than power metal and of course i like hard rock, but this is not our good old Stratovarius. So if you want speed get Sonata Arctica, or get dissapointed with this cd."