Frontiers
2013
1. Avalanche Anthem
2. A World Without Us
3. Enshrined In Memory
4. In The Name Of The Rose
5. We Will Find A Way
6. Shine
7. The Magic Of The Night
8. To The Edge Of The World
9. I'll Sing You Home
10. The Land Of New Hope
I'm not really sure how much I expected going into a new Timo Tolkki project. There was a time when I probably would've been excited by the prospect, but that was before Tolkki kinda went off the deep end and there was all the Stratovarius drama. Not to mention nothing he has done since Stratovarius has been very noteworthy, while that band has continued on to make some good albums. Still, there was a time when I really enjoyed his neoclassical style and songwriting so I felt the need to take a look into this. The vocal power he's enlisted in Rob Rock, Elize Ryd, Sharon Den Adel, Tony Kakko, Russel Allen, and Michael Kiske is also intriguing.
I have to say this is much better than I was willing to hope it would be. The Land Of New Hope is exactly what Timo Tolkki can do well in that it's focused on good melodies and in kind of a happy power metal style. There is some backing symphonics, but it's really the melodic guitar and good vocal performances that make this album. This just sounds like a good ensemble of musicians that complement each other well and it makes me want to sing along. All in all, I think this kind of metal opera project suits Tolkki and is a very worthy comeback by him. I would not mind at all him continuing in this vein and it is nice to hear something I like from the man again. Back around Visions through Infinite particularly I really did enjoy this man's songs and maybe now I can again. I think this is the kind of album that could be pretty satisfying to Stratovarius fans of old as it does show a lot of the trademarks that made his better albums with the band memorable. This isn't the showiest thing in the world in terms of neoclassical shredding and the like, but I do hear a lot of the catchiness of Stratovarius. As far as the vocals go, I do find Elize Ryd steals the show and her powerful female vocals suit this kind of catchy, light-ish power metal beautifully. Rob Rock also turns in a very worthy performance though and I like the vocal variety here.
I wouldn't have predicted it, but I'd say this album is actually more solid than the last release by Stratovarius. I think if you take anything away from this review though, it should be that there is room for both to succeed. The best case scenario from a band split is you get two good products out of it and that seems to be what's happening now. This is one album, and I'm not quite ready to call it yet, but this is an extremely promising restart for Timo Tolkki. A nice debut from an old favorite.
Highlights: Enshrined In Memory, Shine, We Will Find A Way, The Magic Of The Night
Rating - 4.0/5
2. A World Without Us
3. Enshrined In Memory
4. In The Name Of The Rose
5. We Will Find A Way
6. Shine
7. The Magic Of The Night
8. To The Edge Of The World
9. I'll Sing You Home
10. The Land Of New Hope
I'm not really sure how much I expected going into a new Timo Tolkki project. There was a time when I probably would've been excited by the prospect, but that was before Tolkki kinda went off the deep end and there was all the Stratovarius drama. Not to mention nothing he has done since Stratovarius has been very noteworthy, while that band has continued on to make some good albums. Still, there was a time when I really enjoyed his neoclassical style and songwriting so I felt the need to take a look into this. The vocal power he's enlisted in Rob Rock, Elize Ryd, Sharon Den Adel, Tony Kakko, Russel Allen, and Michael Kiske is also intriguing.
I have to say this is much better than I was willing to hope it would be. The Land Of New Hope is exactly what Timo Tolkki can do well in that it's focused on good melodies and in kind of a happy power metal style. There is some backing symphonics, but it's really the melodic guitar and good vocal performances that make this album. This just sounds like a good ensemble of musicians that complement each other well and it makes me want to sing along. All in all, I think this kind of metal opera project suits Tolkki and is a very worthy comeback by him. I would not mind at all him continuing in this vein and it is nice to hear something I like from the man again. Back around Visions through Infinite particularly I really did enjoy this man's songs and maybe now I can again. I think this is the kind of album that could be pretty satisfying to Stratovarius fans of old as it does show a lot of the trademarks that made his better albums with the band memorable. This isn't the showiest thing in the world in terms of neoclassical shredding and the like, but I do hear a lot of the catchiness of Stratovarius. As far as the vocals go, I do find Elize Ryd steals the show and her powerful female vocals suit this kind of catchy, light-ish power metal beautifully. Rob Rock also turns in a very worthy performance though and I like the vocal variety here.
I wouldn't have predicted it, but I'd say this album is actually more solid than the last release by Stratovarius. I think if you take anything away from this review though, it should be that there is room for both to succeed. The best case scenario from a band split is you get two good products out of it and that seems to be what's happening now. This is one album, and I'm not quite ready to call it yet, but this is an extremely promising restart for Timo Tolkki. A nice debut from an old favorite.
Highlights: Enshrined In Memory, Shine, We Will Find A Way, The Magic Of The Night
Rating - 4.0/5
No comments:
Post a Comment