Stratovarius
Episode

THE REVIEW

With Episode, Stratovarius present us with a gem of their precious and immense discography. The band, a quintessential power act, conveys a plethora of emotions through wonderfully melodic songs, accompanied by instrumentalists equipped with the technique necessary to deliver top-notch performances.
In my opinion, the ones who excel at their roles are Johansson and Kotipelto. I couldn't help but fall in love with Timo Kotipelto's splendid voice, a pleasant timbre to hear and quite extensive; he might be the best singer on earth. Jens Johansson is not a power keyboardist, he is THE power keyboardist, his virtuosity has inspired highly respected people, individuals like Tony Kakko, Mikko Harkin, Janne Wirman, and ME (ha ha ha!!!). Timo Tolkki is a guitarist endowed with incredible speed, but his solos are sometimes a bit TOO similar to those of Malmsteen; however, Tolkki's personality is evident in his role as the group's composer. Jari Kainulainen is a good bassist, perhaps a bit too focused on "fixed sixteenths," but he has enough creativity to compose his parts. Lastly, there's the great Jorg Michael, an excellent drummer, who rocks superbly.
I maintain my notorious habit of commenting on each track.
The CD opens strongly with "Father Time," a very catchy song. "Will The Sun Rise" is a very beautiful power piece, with an impressive technical demonstration after the second chorus: first a classically connected piece, then a call-and-response between Tolkki and Johansson, and finally a couple duet solo. It leaves you with your mouth and eyes wide open. "Eternity" is a very peculiar song; I myself cannot find the right adjectives to describe it (perhaps a bit haunting); listen to it yourself and tell me. The choice of assigning a short instrumental piece as the title track is quite odd: "Episode." It seems to echo "Destiny." "Speed Of Light" (the solos are worthy of the song's name), "Uncertainty," and "Season Of Change" together do not speak to me (at least I get rid of three songs). We arrive at "Stratosphere," a very fugue-like instrumental piece; unfortunately (for you) I have to say: it enchants me. It faintly recalls Malmsteen's "Trilogy." It calms down in the middle to resume the initial rhythm. Truly beautiful. We can admire a fairly successful oriental riff with "Babylon." I really like the part where Kotipelto hits a high note, while Tolkki and Johansson's solos begin. "Tomorrow" and "Night Time Eclipse" did not fully appeal to me. To conclude, we have "Forever," a beautiful, moving, poignant, calm, peaceful, graceful, emotional, and relaxing ballad, etc... With "Forever," Stratovarius shows us that they are not just 5 robots solely interested in showing off.
I have found two slightly criticizable aspects of this group; firstly, a somewhat similar technical-instrumental structure in all the songs: Stratovarius aren't very varius. Then the lyrics sometimes seem a bit too elementary to me (except for "Forever").
Episode is certainly among the best albums of their career along with Destiny.