Survive

After more than half a decade, the Timo Kotipelto solo project he continues to call Stratovarius came out with a new album called "Survive." I could fill this review with ironic jokes about this band surviving solely on the name Timo Tolkki built, but I'll spare you. Now, before you roll your eyes at me, I will say that this is one of the best post-Tolkki Stratovarius album. It is LEAGUES better than "Eternal," and is probably only topped by "Nemesis." However, problems that have plagued the band since Tolkki's departure remain across this album and drag it down. As an example, Kotipelto still sounds insanely artificial. I now have no doubt that he has lost most of his voice, because on every single song on this album, he has effects on his voice to pick him up. On a few songs in particular, it's crystal clear that the production team used bags of tricks to fix his voice. It's almost sad how obvious it is that his voice needs to be glued back together after the fact.

The other thing that made me shake my head is that "Survive" starts out incredibly strong as an album, but then can't keep the pace up. It's almost like they threw their best tracks at the listener out of the gate to leave a good first impression before trying to slip in various filler tracks and poorly patched together slop to fill out a track listing. The album sounds like they had a few good ideas that they made into very enjoyable tracks but quickly ran out and slapped a few more half-assed ideas into songs so they could sell a new album since it has been so long since the last one. It's honestly hard to tell if this album was just a half-hearted cash grab or if this is really what this lineup of Stratovarius is capable of. I wouldn't say this album is without passion, but it has a smell of desperation to it.

Starting with the best of the best, "Demand" is probably the second best post-Tolkki Stratovarius track ever made (behind "Higher We Go" from "Polaris.") Everything from the riff to the energy to the way Jens' keyboard work is harmonizing with the riff and drum beat screams of Strato's older days. And I don't mean that they're COPYING older Strato. The guitar work, chorus style, and general energy of the song is absolutely unique to this lineup, but still keeps the same feel of the classic era so you know the band you're listening to. "Broken" is not a track that personally does it for me, but it's a unique song that showcases what this band does really well. The verse melodies have matching parts from the drums and guitars while it leaves Jens' keyboards to lead the way and also set the mood for the song. The rhythm section is driving the power behind the track while Jens is giving it a very cool atmosphere for Kotipelto to sing over. The chorus, again, doesn't quite do it for me, but it's definitely a powerful and decently epic one to satisfy. "Broken" is a well made track. Even though it doesn't scratch the itches I need scratched, I still enjoyed it.

"Firefly" is a very basic power metal track that this era of Stratovarius has done a bunch of times, but there's JUST enough unique and catchy about it that it elevates it above their average presentation. The structure of "Firefly" is as simplistic as power metal gets, which makes it pretty boring, but the chorus is extremely catchy. The chorus also has great keyboard work, and the beat and riffing behind it is enough of a breath of fresh air that helps it stick out more. I wouldn't call "Firefly" a classic, masterpiece, or even all that amazing in general, but it's good enough to be a serviceable track that doesn't discredit this record. The title track is probably the second best on the record behind "Demand." Matias breaks out the very rare good riff to set the table. The song is still pretty simplistic, but it builds nicely. Like on "Firefly" the chorus is catchy enough to mask the formulaic nature very well. I wouldn't add either of these songs to my collection, but they're very good for what they are, and that's honestly all I ask for.

That's where the good of "Survive" ends, though. Once you make it past the first four tracks, it's all downhill. "Before the Fall" is almost a carbon copy of the title track. From the beat to the guitar playing to how the song moves along...even the MELODIES are almost identical. This song genuinely feels like they just remade the title track and changed the verse and chorus around some. And they clearly didn't have a second set of good ideas for the same song, because "Before the Fall" is flat and boring in every other way. It's an astoundingly blatant filler track, and I honestly had to check and make sure this song wasn't a demo I played by accident or something. Why Stratovarius keeps trying to do power metal epics escapes me, as well. Again, it feels like they're doing this out of requirement more than out of having a good idea for one. "Voice of Thunder" feels like the band was called out for not having enough double digit length tracks, so they tossed one in to quiet those people down. It has a snooze-worthy acoustic intro that really tries to have some emotion, but sounds far too forced. What follows is absolutely nauseating. It is once again an insanely formulaic and predictable song very similar to "Before the Fall," only they stretch it out as long as they can get away with it. Nothing changes as this song goes on. They just keep repeating the same few simplistic and boring parts until they scratch the ten minute mark, and then throw in a minute long outro of rain to try and disguise that. I was pulling my hair out BEGGING for this song to end. It's HORRIBLE.

"Glory Days" is far and away the worst vocal performance of Kotipelto's career. This is the track that makes it so obvious that there's a lot that is artificial about his voice on the record. He tries to cap off each line of the verses with a range that he very clearly can't hit anymore. It's not even all that high. It's like...a high medium range that he can't find, and it's very noticeable. They should have just reworked the song to give him something more manageable. Instead, they mechanically fix his voice, which further makes Stratovarius look like a sham of the band they once were. The intro riff is fairly solid, and might give you hope for the song, but after that one riff, "Glory Days" has nothing more it can offer besides absolute embarrassment. "Breakaway" does a poor job at trying to be a darker or moodier track, but it winds up being nothing but a waste of time to pad the album's runtime. It has a very boring stomping intro that isn't awful, but isn't great, and then the main portion of the song is a bad acoustic track. It tries to build and tries to capture emotion, but it really is just pretty dull. Then they follow the textbook formula of trying to add some bare bones heaviness to follow to try and crank it up. It really just made me roll my eyes. They had so few ideas that they just followed the same formulaic and generic steps to power metal songwriting to make a track. These are tracks bands with a third as much experience and talent fall into. Stratovarius should not be pulling boring tracks like "Breakaway."

"Survive" is genuinely half an album. Even the half that is enjoyable isn't their best work, but it is absolutely good enough to get a pass. This honestly should have just been an EP, but they probably threw another half an album of tracks together because EPs don't make the sales a full length album does. If you're not a ride or die Tolkki-era Strato fan like I am, I think there's enough going right about "Survive" that it'll leave you satisfied. No matter what your stance is, though, there's no denying that Kotipelto's really starting to embarrass himself with the near Ozzy levels of post-production that is needed to put his voice back together again. "Survive" still cannot hold a wet candle to Strato's work with Tolkki, and as an album, it's still pretty boring, but there's nothing wrong with cherry picking the few of the better songs from here to add to your collection. I'll still be over here hoping for a Tolkki reunion before they get to old to make it happen.