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Stratovarius
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Finland (1981 – present)
Stratovarius is a power metal band from Finland. They became popular in the 90’s, and throughout their career have widely inspired newcoming power metal bands with their baroque arranged keyboard solos & Ritchie Blackmore-like guitar portions.
Stratovarius was founded in Finland in 1981 under the name Black Water. They went through a number of personnel and musical changes before the band found its own voice. The founding members were Tuomo Lassila, Staffan Stråhlman and John Vihervä. In 1983, the name was changed to Stratovarius (a portmanteau of Stratocaster and Stradivarius), an idea of Stråhlman’s. By 1984, Timo Tolkki entered the band, replacing Stråhlman in the guitar. He took up the vocal duties as well. Tolkki became the driving force and mastermind of the band assuming almost complete control of the song writing. He brought along not only strong rock influences but also a neo-classical tinge. The band released a demo to various record companies by 1987, finally being picked up by CBS Finland. In 1989, their debut album Fright Night was released followed by two singles.
After being dropped by CBS the band went through several member changes but they managed to release on another label and they also toured a bit. In 1994 they released their third album, Dreamspace, featuring new bass player Jari Kainulainen, (who joined the band when 70% of the new material was already recorded) which was a great success. Tolkki decided to stop singing for the band and they hired a new full-time singer, Timo Kotipelto.
Stratovarius was founded in Finland in 1981 under the name Black Water. They went through a number of personnel and musical changes before the band found its own voice. The founding members were Tuomo Lassila, Staffan Stråhlman and John Vihervä. In 1983, the name was changed to Stratovarius (a portmanteau of Stratocaster and Stradivarius), an idea of Stråhlman’s. By 1984, Timo Tolkki entered the band, replacing Stråhlman in the guitar. He took up the vocal duties as well. Tolkki became the driving force and mastermind of the band assuming almost complete control of the song writing. He brought along not only strong rock influences but also a neo-classical tinge. The band released a demo to various record companies by 1987, finally being picked up by CBS Finland. In 1989, their debut album Fright Night was released followed by two singles.
After being dropped by CBS the band went through several member changes but they managed to release on another label and they also toured a bit. In 1994 they released their third album, Dreamspace, featuring new bass player Jari Kainulainen, (who joined the band when 70% of the new material was already recorded) which was a great success. Tolkki decided to stop singing for the band and they hired a new full-time singer, Timo Kotipelto.
Top Albums
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Visions
Stratovarius
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Infinite
StratovariusBuy- Download Album
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Destiny
Stratovarius Buy- Download Album
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Episode
Stratovarius Buy- Download Album
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Deep Unknown
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Destiny
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Falling Star
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Higher We Go
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Shoutbox
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Quispiam wrote:
I was really scared about Polaris and didn't try it until now... Why oh why did I wait?
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Lionheartattack wrote:
Yeah... Winter Skies actually reminds me a lot of the 'leftover ballads' released on Intermission. Only that it's more epic. And the it gets to the solos... Awesome, Matias! Just plain a-w-e-s-o-m-e-! :´)
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DenSvyrydenkov wrote:
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Stratovarius/+images/178436 VOTE,PEOPLE,VOTE UP!!!
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Rebel4o wrote:
The most underrated band EVER.
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Jul_der_Germane wrote:
Higher We Go is an Eargasm
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Tordah wrote:
Great gig yesterday! I filmed some stuff that I just uploaded to YouTube. I think the quality turned out relatively good considering my cheap-ass equipment. http://www.youtube.com/user/Tordah87
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ElRazi wrote:
WINTERSKIES!! :-)
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Breedumb wrote:
fucking awesome :)
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WMP157 wrote:
One of the greatest Power Metal and Finnish Metal bands of all time..Winter Skies on Polaris is just epic!
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DundalkChild wrote:
Pity that I don't like the voice, the music itself is great.
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Rebel4o wrote:
I can't wait to see them in the end of january next year!
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ProgresiveLanD wrote:
a Kraftwerk song is called Stratovarius. lmao.
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Montslaveden wrote:
I like Stratovarius, they are great power metal band, but Helloween and Gamma Ray are much better, Stratovarius have a Visions but they haven't The Dark Ride or the Power Plant...
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Reincarnation14 wrote:
will the sun rise! actually, one of the best power metal bands in the world
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ProgresiveLanD wrote:
i dont like this band now, but they save me from the crappy techno and cumbia music when i discovered stratovarius at 13 years old,that was the beggining of discover GREAT music in next years until today.
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keskiyontuli wrote:
Night Time Eclipse should be spammed into the top 15 as it clearly belongs there.
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Braincreator wrote:
Before the winter, and the no1 of their songs ^^ hunting
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Rebel4o wrote:
We're FOREVER FREE!!!
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Rebel4o wrote:
Always is,was and we'll be in my top 3.
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SchonerTeufel wrote:
I like them so much (:
Videos
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Events
-
Jan
7
Stratovarius
Zeche, Bochum, Germany
2 shouts
| 15 attendees
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Jan
8
Stratovarius
Hof Ter Lo, Borgerhout, Antwerp, Belgium
Add shout
| 10 attendees
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Jan
9
Stratovarius
Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2 shouts
| 25 attendees
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Recent Activity
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obusco tagged Stratovarius with ‘power metal’. 3 minutes ago
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Schmidtmensch, CzarnUla84, Crimsun74 and 9 other people added Stratovarius to their libraries. 41 minutes ago
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lonellyone tagged Stratovarius with ‘power metal’. 8 hours ago
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mixiMarie and shonaaa added Stratovarius to their libraries. 8 hours ago
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SerRed tagged Stratovarius with heavy metal, melodic metal, finnish and 2 other tags. 12 hours ago
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L1quidF1re, tecpatlixcuahua, FNFmack89 and 10 other people added Stratovarius to their libraries. 14 hours ago
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x-TheLastSong-x tagged Stratovarius with ‘power metal’. yesterday evening
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juasjuas3, LORDuchiha7 and 11 other people added Stratovarius to their libraries. yesterday evening
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astarothakr tagged Stratovarius with ‘power metal’. yesterday afternoon
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metanoesta, kalatha, valekdmog and 2 other people added Stratovarius to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
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Groups (346)
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Timo Kotipelto
50 members
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Timo Tolkki
27 members
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Revolution Renaissance
37 members
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Elisa C. Martin
45 members
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Stratovarius
666 members
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