Stratovarius
Elements Pt.I

Year 2003: the masterpieces that made them famous like "Visions" or "Episode" are long past for Stratovarius, but who said they're no longer capable of composing good albums? One of these is "Elements Pt. I", a airy and well-structured album starting from the beautiful cover, designed by Derek Riggs, famous author of Iron Maiden's covers and inventor of Eddie.

It starts off quite well with "Eagleheart", a cheerful speed metal piece with a touch of catchiness for the market. Indeed, it's one of the most commercial songs of the album, but not a bad one for that reason, very lively. As always, the good melodies and guitar/keyboard duets that characterize Stratovarius' work stand out, along with the consistently excellent vocal performance of Timo Kotipelto, for me the best singer in the power metal domain. Heavy and "heavy" riff for a really excellent "Soul Of A Vagabond" in terms of structure, rhythmic cadence, and beautiful introductory melody created with keyboards that really enhance the majesty of one of the best tracks, Kotipelto is superb to say the least, and the anthem-like chorus enriched with choirs, in its 7 minutes and 20 seconds is a true masterpiece. Choir with a certain sacredness and epic organ serve to introduce an excellent speed/power metal song like "Find Your Own Voice", which approaches the fast and speedy rhythms of their early sound. Timo Tolkki's (guitarist and leader of the group) love for epic compositions grows ever stronger with "Fantasia", a beautiful piece entirely based on melody and strong use of keyboards. After its 9 minutes and 52 seconds, you recover from a truly magical and exciting song, with its chorus reminiscent of a certain '70s/'80s melodic rock.

Another majestic introduction for a great speed/power metal track like "Learning To Fly", which undoubtedly approaches the sound of the album "Destiny", another anthem-like chorus and beautiful melodies. Still the scent of "Destiny" in the song "Papillon", an introduction entrusted to the beautiful voice of a woman, followed by a Kotipelto who amazes as never before, showcasing a slow and melodic singing that increasingly engages until the textbook high notes of the chorus, noteworthy is the good guitar work. A beautiful instrumental full of guitars and keyboards, with speed rhythm drums is "Stratofortress", perhaps a bit needless at this point in the album, but very enjoyable, because with its beautiful melodies it lets us savor the following colossal song, the very long (11 minutes and 56 seconds) title track, which makes epicness a watchword, the pinnacle of the album with its choirs, cadenced rhythms, fitting riff, and its beautiful lyrics based on the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water, a simple word: masterpiece! It concludes with the acoustic "Drop In The Ocean", where Kotipelto demonstrates again being a singer with a capital S.

The album is excellent, the only reproach is for Jorg Michael's drumming, which is indeed an expression of very simple and banal lines and passages. "Elements Pt. I" may not be a masterpiece, but it presents truly beautiful songs, with a really in-form Kotipelto, it is an album that manages to highlight the best side of Stratovarius, as its successor "Elements Pt. II" will not.