Stratovarius: New Album Polaris Available For Streaming

[St Enigma]

Stratovarius: New CD Polaris available for streaming

Polaris, the new album from Finnish Stratovarius is available for streaming in at iLike.com. Polaris will be released in the U.S. on May 26 through Armoury Records.


Polaris hit straight #2 on the Finnish album charts after the first week. It's their best position on the Finnish album charts since Infinite landed #1 and Elements Pt.1 #2.


Polaris CD Reviews:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=30638&page=1

http://www.metaleater.com/albumreviews-stratovarius2009.php

http://www.baconmusic.co.uk/2009/05/14/reviews/3702/




After all the turmoil and soap opera, financal catastrophes and whatnot else was ripping the band apart in recent years, Stratovarius returns stronger than ever with a young and talented axeman/producer Matias Kupiainen on the lead guitar. This CD is a solid proof that Stratovarius is a band, for which loosing their main songwriter and leader for 23 years, Timo Tolkki, was not the perish like so many fans prophesied.

Polaris is more progressive, more keys oriented and more variable than any CD the band has released in a long time. Still, it is very much a CD that sounds like... Stratovarius!

Hit the link above and listen to Polaris yourself.

 

[PatrickHoyt]

well at least the artwork looks killer.

I never really paid much attention to Strato but I'm listening through a few of the songs and so far I think it sounds decent.

 

[AMBR]

A wise move to stream the album. Seems a few bands have latched on to the idea. That way people can hear it before they decide to buy it, which eliminates the need to illegally download for that advantage.

And don't forget Beyond Ear Candy's review. Planning for a radio interview before the NA tour.

 

[Metaldrumz]

A wise move to stream the album. Seems a few bands have latched on to the idea. That way people can hear it before they decide to buy it, which eliminates the need to illegally download for that advantage.

And don't forget Beyond Ear Candy's review. Planning for a radio interview before the NA tour.

Exactly! BTW great review!

 

[DTJeff]

I personally thought the album was pretty good overall. Certainly better than I expected, considering every other album to come from the Stratovarius/related camp in the last 5 years has been either bad or just incredibly generic and average. This albums proves that these guys definitely have some great writing talent between them and that Tolkki certainly wasn't necessarily the heart of Stratovarius. I also find it amusing that there are actually a couple of tracks on Polaris that actually sound like old mid-to-late 90s Stratovarius. For years they and Tolkki have been feeding us that "Really guys, this sounds like classic Stratovarius", but this actually does at times. That being said, I think there are definitely a couple of duds.

 

[Hal9000]

I like it. Nothing groundbreaking, but their best material since Infinite, IMO.

 

[VenomGA]

I like it. Nothing groundbreaking, but their best material since Infinite, IMO.

yeah, but that's not saying much!!

 

[DTJeff]

Was I the only person who generally liked the Elements albums?

 

[edgeofthorns]

I sampled most of the tracks via emusic and I agree that it sounds like mid 90's Stratovarius. This band might actually have some new life in them instead of falling by the wayside.

~Brian~

 

[General Zod]

A wise move to stream the album. Seems a few bands have latched on to the idea. That way people can hear it before they decide to buy it, which eliminates the need to illegally download for that advantage.

For what it's worth, I don't think streaming will diminish the number of downloads. Streams are typically encoded at 128Kbps, not 192Kbps which is typical of most torrents. If you're not familiar with the difference, 128Kbps sounds awful. Whenever I download 128Kbps MP3s by accident, I simply delete them without ever playing them. Aside from the quality difference, listening to a stream requires being connected to the internet... MP3s don't have such a requirement. Personally, I've never listened to a streamed disc, nor do I have any interest in doing so, regardless of the artist. Just my perspective.

Zod

 

[nailz]

For what it's worth, I don't think streaming will diminish the number of downloads. Streams are typically encoded at 128Kbps, not 192Kbps which is typical of most torrents. If you're not familiar with the difference, 128Kbps sounds awful.

Zod

To be fair, though, besides you and I, very few people can pick out the difference between 128k and 192k encoded files. I rip everything @ 320kbps myself, because even 192k sounds tinny to me. I'd rather stream music than download it illegally, at least that way it's easily available, and a good sample.

 

[Rycher]

Listening to the stream for the first time, and I'm not impressed at all

The last Stratovarius album I bought was Infinite. They'd have to put out something as good as Visions in order for me to be interested again.

 

[General Zod]

To be fair, though, besides you and I, very few people can pick out the difference between 128k and 192k encoded files. I rip everything @ 320kbps myself, because even 192k sounds tinny to me.

You think? I'm not sure I can tell the difference between 192 and 320. However, I can tell the difference between 128 and 192. And since I don't think of myself as having a great ear for that kind of thing, I would think most could tell the difference as well.

I'd rather stream music than download it illegally, at least that way it's easily available, and a good sample.

Really? Interesting. I've never found it difficult to find MP3s, so ease has never been an issue.

Zod

 

[actordude]

DT - I'm with you.....I loved both Elements discs. I've always liked these guys and look forward to buying the new one this weekend.

 

[nailz]

You think? I'm not sure I can tell the difference between 192 and 320. However, I can tell the difference between 128 and 192. And since I don't think of myself as having a great ear for that kind of thing, I would think most could tell the difference as well.

Well, I can generally hear the difference between 192 and 256, but not 256 to 320, but I have the space, so why not. But yah, there was testing on the difference hearing between 128 and 192, and most people couldn't tell the difference. I wish I could find the test online, but I came up with this post from Gizmodo. *shrug*

Really? Interesting. I've never found it difficult to find MP3s, so ease has never been an issue.

Oh, me either. I have mexican google (lol juan) for rapidshare links for albums, but in the interest of an immediate sound, if someone says "Hey, check out Cage's New Album!" I'm more likely to do it if it's streaming somewhere than having to put the effort into actively searching for it.