Survive

I love my power metal community, but I am ever amused by the contrarian stance some take towards older bands that changed their sound drastically over the years. Obviously, Stratovarius is one of them. Personally, I don't care much for either their Tolkki-era or post Tolkki-era. But their 17th studio effort Survive is actually interesting, the modern sound likable. Certainly, I may not love Stratovarius, but I respect them for sticking with their modern sound. At least you could not accuse them of inconsistency, though it remains to be seen if they'd committed the sins of Sabaton.

Probably, I was impressed from the start by the title track: crispy riffing, dynamic drums and that instantly brainwashing chorus all worked well to grab my attention. And basically, the whole album follows such a formula. At least, Demand, We Are Not Alone, Firefly, and World on Fire are all catchy as hellfire. Whilst on Broken and Glory Days we have some slick synthworks. I really like the groovier Frozen in Time too, and I've had the chorus living inside my head rent-free in my head for days. The only track that falls short of mark is the 11-min Voice of Thunder. I've never really dug Stratovarius's slow, atmospheric intros for their epics and this one failed to interest me as well. And it's noticeable that they're doing short tracks better these days: Voice of Thunder is not bad in a songwriting sense, but the melody gets rather stale with its simplistic tune and repetition; besides, you cannot get a more blatant display of modern power metal with that solo. Kudos for ditching the obligatory ballads though. The closest they've gotten to such humdrum this time is the more mid-paced Breakaway, but that one soon picks up on the guitars; anyhow you gotta appreciate the meaty bassline.

Basically I think of Survive as more guitar-centric and less synth-driven version of Nemesis: it's just as catchy, just as tense and straight to the point, but it's just more enjoyable, perhaps for Pilve's solid smashing and Kupiainen's tight, smooth riffing -- Survive sounds a bit like something modern Helloween would've done, but with more of the Finn's melodicism. Not a bad mix all in all.

Highlights:
Survive
Demand
Firefly
Frozen in Time