Search - Stratovarius :: Twilight Time

Oooh the early days

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 01/11/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Groundbreaking 2nd album

AAK | Lapland, Finland | 07/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Huge improvement over their debut Fright Night. Songwriting is almost as good as on Dreamspace even though more straightforward. Production also head above better but still lacks a bit. Twilight Time isn't as melodic or powerful as for example Fourth Dimension. It combines carefully crafted melodies and hooks (typical for Stratovarius' later albums) with more traditional and straightforward heavy metal creating very unique sound that was early Stratovarius. The strong aspect of this album is the fact that there ain't really any weak songs even though few of them might be not-so-likeable at first.



"Break the Ice" is a great hard rocker with surprisingly strong vocals from Tolkki (and his English pronounciation is actually better than Kotipelto's).

"The Hands of Time" is the most groundbreaking song (and also one of their all time best) with mindblowing beginning that clearly inspired many musicians like Edguy's Tobias Sammett (listen to the song "Vain Glory Opera", very similar beginning isn't it).

"Madness Strikes at Midnight" is the first of two more traditional metal tracks with eerie melody in the beginning, somehow catchy with nice solo.

"Twilight Time" also one of all time best, quite varied with changing tempo, nice slow chorus and heavy riffing and again nice solo.

"The Hills Have Eyes" a bit similar with "Madness..", eerie beginning but afterwards turns out as a nice rocker with catchy groove.

"Out of the Shadows" sounds very happy and light after few heavier songs, slightly similar with "The Hands of Time" with very catchy chorus.

"Lead Us in to the Light" fantastic and almost hypnotic slow-tempo epic-ballad-thing, one of the most succesful compositions from Tolkki.



Very underrated album and one of Stratovarius' finest moments. This album clearly shows that Tolkki had vision that he succesfully continued to fulfil on Dreamspace. It's creative in certain limits, not like Dreamspace which is creative as a whole. This is the last Strato album where you can still hear traditional 80's heavy metal influences elsewhere than just in solos. I'll give this one 4.5 stars!"