Heavyweight STRATOVARIUS has released their new CD titled “Polaris”. They should have called it,” Hold On To Your Seat.” The boys in STATOVARIUS really put this one in overdrive.

“Deep Unknown” the first song on the CD puts you in hyper-drive. Finely blended vocals, unstoppable cannon like drums and great guitar work make this a real ear pleaser. .

“Falling Star” the second cut, is a nice change of pace for the Power metal team. The tune is more or less mainstream metal. Solid thumping rhythms and nice backing harmonies make this an overall great sounding tune.

Keyboardist Jens Johansson displays wizardry throughout the whole CD. He demonstrates taste, style and chops. While most keys recorded in today’s world are either over played or way to noisy with out of the box standard effects that are not controlled or the keys are just completely lost in the mix... not in this case. Johansson puts his classical aggressive touch on this extremely well recorded masterpiece of a CD.

“Blind” picks up the pace that we are accustomed to hearing from STRATOVARIUS. Drummer, or should I say “Hammer man” Jörg Michael puts the pedal to the metal with nonstop thundering double bass playing and tasty fills. Turn it up because after the welcomed ballad “Winter Skies”,” Forever Is Today” just rips everything apart. Matias Kupiainen shows why he is one of the best guitarists in the business. Like I said, they should have named the CD, “Hold On To Your Seat.”

Bass player Lauri Porra holds things together rather nicely. Porra and Michael are locked in cruise control. The entire band is extremely tight, well balanced and a joy to listen to.

“Higher We Go” is another stellar performance by STRATOVARIUS. Catchy chorus, fast driving rhythms, makes this my favorite cut on the CD. The next two, “Emancipation Suite Part 1 and Part 2” lets vocalist Timo Kotipelto lay his cards down and show you what he’s all about. Kotipelto is demonstrating power, range, and feel. Remember that word ??

If you’re a STRATOVARIUS fan, you love this. If you’re a power metal fan, you’ll love this. If you want a kick ass, balls to the wall CD, you’ll buy this. “Polaris” is incredibly well mixed, arraigned, and produced masterpiece.

Hats off to another fine performance!!

See ya in N.Y C