Stratovarius - Nemesis

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Haven't seen a thread for this and I think it's useful to have upcoming album threads for people to centre discussion on


The album, titled "Nemesis", will be released as standard 11-track edition as well as 13 track special edition on February 22nd, 2013. However, a taste of the new studio album will also be released as a limited edition EP, "Unbreakable", which will be released on January 25th, 2013. The album was produced and mixed by Matias Kupiainen and mastered by Mika Jussila from Finnvox studios, who has a long history with the band. The band will perform the new songs live for the very first time headlining the Radio Rock Cruise in Finland from February 9th to February 10th , followed by their first club show in Helsinki on March 3rd., 2013. On March 20th, 2013 Stratovarius will kick-off for their Nordic Nexus Of Nemesis Tour 2013 with fellow Scandinavians Amaranthe, before they return to Finland mid April to play 5 more shows, 2013 tour schedule can be found here.

Unbreakable EP Tracklist

01. Unbreakable (taken from the brand new studio album “Nemesis”)
02. Falling Star (taken from “Polaris”)
03. The Game Never Ends (taken from “Elysium”)
04. Freedom (taken from “Infinite”)
05. Why Are We Here (taken from “Intermission”)

Songs 2-5 remastered by Mika Jussila in 2012.

Album Art

Nemesis Tracklist

1. "Abandon"
2. "Unbreakable"
3. "Stand My Ground"
4. "Halcyon Days"
5. "Fantasy"
6. "Out of the Fog"
7. "Castles in the Air"
8. "Dragons"
9. "One Must Fall"
10. "If the Story Is Over"
11. "Nemesis"

Teaser



The first single, "Unbreakable" will be official released on January 25th, 2013 however it can also be caught on YouTube right now (though it might be taken down soon):

 

[1928]

Stratovarius is my all-time favorite metal band... I am really digging Unbreakable. Wow. I don't think the album art is as good as the previous two (Elysium was so beautiful) but it still looks cool, and the titles sound awesome.

I'm so pumped for this. If the rest ends up as good as Unbreakable, wow, we'll have another amazing Strato album on our hands. Matias was such a great addition to this band.

EDIT: Holy hell that key change rules!!

 

[Thematt202]

The music sounds great but I've never been a lover of Timo's vocals.
I'll get my coat...

 

[Gibbon]

Unbreakable - wow!

It feels like Stratovarius are getting better and better, like things are settling down with the new guitarist and all. Their last 2 albums were good. Polaris was good, but not great to me. Some good tunes to listen to but nothing extremely good. I didn't like Elysium much at all first, but it grew A LOT on me and now I think it's an amazing album. And now this; feels like they're just improving, Unbreakable sounds like the best I've heard from them in a long long time(though, as I said, I still like the other albums). I must say the album art is a bit boaring, but to be honest, it takes a lot to impress me in terms of album covers.

No matter what this sounds promising!

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22SCbzzycU

Have a listen while you can. Thoughts? Sounding pretty good to me if a little repetitive. It needs a keyboard/guitar solo! Not having as much of an impression as stuff from the last two releases but it's probably far too early to assume that.

 

[Free Spirit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22SCbzzycU

Have a listen while you can. Thoughts? Sounding pretty good to me if a little repetitive. It needs a keyboard/guitar solo! Not having as much of an impression as stuff from the last two releases but it's probably far too early to assume that.

Sounds repetitive to me too, and I dont like the keyboard/synthesizer sounds throughout the song. And no guitar solo either. thats just terrible, I really hope the rest of the album won't be like this.

 

[1928]

I think it sounds absolutely fantastic. A guitar solo would be cool but everybody knows Matias is a more-than-capable songwriter and guitarist and not everything needs a solo (in my opinion!). This album is going to rock my face off just like Elysium. Strato never fails to impress me.

 

[Astrolis]

Hell yeah! My next investment is of course NEMESIS!
And Strato is coming to Belgium in April, which will be AWESOME!

 

[Nickstervarius]

Sounding pretty, darn good!

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

So I assume everyone's had a chance to listen to this by now? What do people think?

I've had to give it a lot of spins to let it sink in and while it didn't bowl me over the way Polaris and Elysium did it is still a good album and I don't think new Strato have run out of steam by a long shot. What I will say though is there seems to be a little lack of sophistication and depth to this album. Things appear quite straight forward and the band hasn't taken any gambles. It also sounds like an album with a darker-mood (with the exception of cheery optimistic Fantasy) and - though this isn't exactly uncharacteristic for Strato - seems especially keyboard based as if Jens had a contribution to a lot of the song writing. Maybe it's this which makes it seem like Matias stepped out of the limelight because the shredding & soloing seems thin on the ground to me.

Anyway, a terrific listen but it doesn't join the soft spot I have for the 2 releases before it.

 

[1928]

I think there are plenty of gambles on Nemesis! The electronica portion of Halcyon Days, all the vocal effects, lots of technical/prog-sounding stuff which is really new and exciting for Stratovarius. I dig the whole album a LOT, I think it's the strongest since the Episode/Vision days, honestly. Lots of spins and I'm still in love with it. The band's really matured as songwriters and Matias shines once again, he's an incredible songwriter.

That said, I do think One Must Fall is pretty weak, but it's the only one. Still fun to listen to because it's Strato, but eh.

Also, really dig Rolf's playing, and how strong Timo's voice is - If The Story Is Over shows him at his best!

 

[Free Spirit]

I think there are plenty of gambles on Nemesis! The electronica portion of Halcyon Days, all the vocal effects, lots of technical/prog-sounding stuff which is really new and exciting for Stratovarius. I dig the whole album a LOT, I think it's the strongest since the Episode/Vision days, honestly. Lots of spins and I'm still in love with it. The band's really matured as songwriters and Matias shines once again, he's an incredible songwriter.

That said, I do think One Must Fall is pretty weak, but it's the only one. Still fun to listen to because it's Strato, but eh.

Also, really dig Rolf's playing, and how strong Timo's voice is - If The Story Is Over shows him at his best!

Personally, I wouldnt call this gambles guys, sounds a very inappropriate word to describe the musical direction on Nemesis. But to an extent it is somewhat a correct term in the way that the electronic effects are played......I dont think Ive ever heard these kind of effects on Polaris and Elysium. I dislike the overall progressive direction that the album is taking, but on the other hand it makes things more complicated and interesting which is a key element in progressive metal, a genre which I personally love so I really dont mind that they took this kind of direction on Nemesis.

Great album overall but it could've been much better if they refrained from using all the weird effects throughout the songs.

 

[Andiferum]

This album is awesome.

 

[Thematt202]

Agreed. Still not a fan of Timo's vocals and phrasing but that's personal taste. Great songs and fantastic musicianship all round.

 

[Free Spirit]

Agreed. Still not a fan of Timo's vocals and phrasing but that's personal taste. Great songs and fantastic musicianship all round.

Same here. I also dont really like Timo's vocals. Cant say he's a terrible singer, but there are better ones than him. Like you said though its a matter of personal taste.

 

[Symphony]

Still not checked this yet :-(

 

[1928]

Hope you hear it soon, Steve - I'd love to hear your opinion on it!

 

[Free Spirit]

Still not checked this yet :-(

You can check the songs out on YouTube if you get the chance. Im aware you're busy with your job and all that lately. And like Mike said, Im also interested to hear your opinion about Nemesis.

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

I'd love to hear Steve's opinion on the keyboards side of things. I think Jens had a field day on this album