Hunting High and Low

This is a somewhat confusing single because it clearly hints that Stratovarius starting to get a little too formulaic for their own good, yet the song that headlines this little pre-album teaser is one of the better examples of turning a few simple ideas into a great song the band has ever done. It is widely imitated by bands cut from the grain of both Freedom Call and Masterplan, among several others, and definitely points towards the introduction of even more AOR elements into the power metal genre. Nonetheless that incredibly catchy chorus, which just screams live fanfare from its very first past, combined with that infectious principle keyboard and guitar line just makes this an irresistible song despite its radio friendly attributes.

The rest of the songs on here are a little less interesting, but as a whole this single listens well from start to finish. “Millennium” is an even more formulaic and shorter version of the quasi-epic sounding speed elements heard on “Anthem Of The World”. The principle riff is fairly solid, although it definitely bears a lot of similarity to the main riffs of older speed classics like “Legions” and “Father Time”. The non-album track and ballad “Neon Light Child” is one of the band’s better ballads post 1999, reaching a little bit into the “Parallels” era of Fates Warning for many of its ideas, something which Labyrinth and a couple others had already done with a little bit more success. The two demo versions of the first two songs are interesting in that they substitute and omit some instrument parts, which were likely added in later, and sound pretty different from the original versions.

While definitely a sign of the coming decline in the band, this single is a pretty good pick up for the demo songs and the extra song. It might be a little hard to come by, but barring a future release of a collection of rarities, which this band already did once soon after “Infinite” and didn’t include any of the extra stuff on here, this is definitely something to look for if you’re a steady fan of the band.