How easy can it be to write a couple of lines for one of the top and “trademark” bands of the melodic power genre, especially when your favorite member has already departed since the previous album? “That’s a tough one” as the Americans say and I can’t help but agree.

When Timo Tolkki keeps doing his thing with Revolution Renaissance (quite successfully I might add), the once-upon-a-time legends of the Finish power metal declare that they continue to twirl around their own Strato-sphere under the banner of the most recent “Elysium”, ready for the “Seven Sinners” tour beside Helloween, which we will be fortunate enough to welcome to our little part of the world pretty soon.

Does Elysium cover the expectations of the average power metal fan though? This coin has (as it should) two sides. On one side, the name of Stratovarius is clean of mediocre attempts for the past 27 years of their existence. Doing the math, we see that what we have here is an album consisted of 9 tracks, very well composed, accompanied by an excellent production and all the epic, melodic rhythm that the band has accustomed us with up to this day. On the other side, there is a drop in speed, compared to their past, although with the excellent performance prevailing. However, just three “fast” tracks are here. This might be a drawback for the ones we referred to as average power fans, but it is the undisputed truth. The die-hard Stratovarius fan will not stick to this and he will pass this fact as a small detail, granted the pluses mentioned above.

In Elysium, Kotepelto’s voice comes to successfully compete against top personalities of the genre, like Kiske’s and Lione’s, while the guitar work sticks to the traditional Finish sound, also leaving the key spot for the keyboards. Listening to songs like the opening “Darkest Hours” and “The Game Never Ends” (personal favorite), one immediately realizes  what’s going onm while “Event Horizon” unfolds the competence in exchanging solos between the guitars and the keyboards and is, by right, declared as the album reigning song. The wish to evolve, though, is obvious throughout the album and this is evident when listening to the remaining six tracks, even if they could sound as ballads to the ear of a haed-banging-metal-freak fan.

Occasionally people complain that metal masterpieces are rare in our day. I could not place “Elysium” into that category that easy, however it contains the songs that will last through the years and that are well worth listening to live.

Stratovarious without Tolkki? Well they tried it with “Polaris” and they can confirm with “Elysium”. Can you think of anything harder?