STRATOVARIUS — Nemesis (review)

Album · 2013 · Power Metal

4/5 · 2014-06-15
UMUR

"Nemesis" is the 14th full-length studio album by Finnish power metal act Stratovarius. The album was released through earMUSIC in February 2013. Since the release of "Elysium (2011)", longtime member and drummer Jörg Michael has retired from the band (and the music business in general as far as I know) and has been replaced by Rolf Pilve.

Stratovarius was formed as far back as 1981 (under the Black Water monicker, which was changed to Stratovarius in 1983), and is widely considered one of the leading Euro power metal acts. Especially the mid- to late nineties and the early 00s albums and tours established the band´s reputation. Sadly main composer/guitarist Timo Tolkki´s struggles with bipolar disorder and his erratic behaviour because of the disease created a lot of turmoil within the band and in 2008 he left Stratovarius. The rest of the guys opted to continue though and brought in Matias Kupiainen. While Tolkki´s influence, songwriting and playing style were always going to be hard to replace, Kupiainen has seemingly lifted the burden with ease and both "Polaris (2009)" and "Elysium (2011)", have proven that Stratovarius are still a force to be reckoned with. Something that wasn´t as obvious on the last couple of releases where Tolkki participated.

The increase in quality trend continues on "Nemesis", which might even be a little better than it´s two direct predecessors. The songwriting is particularly strong on this one and I found myself humming along to most tracks on the album and even after only one listen, I remembered several tracks. So the memorability factor has been improved greatly on "Nemesis", which is something I´ve often critisized the band´s releases for lacking. Way too many of their albums feature unremarkable tracks and only a handful catchy and memorable songs. The power metal element has also been turned up a notch here and the traditional heavy metal element down. Not that the music on "Nemesis" is all out double pedal Euro power metal (those days are long gone), but there is a bit more bite, speed and neo-classical elements in the music that make this a more power metal sounding release.

The greatest thing about "Nemesis" is the performances though. These guys are on fire here. Timo Kotipelto delivers one of his most varied performances (I didn´t know he could hit anything but really high notes) and the band are incredibly tight. New drummer Rolf Pilve does a great job replacing Jörg Michael (and those shoes are hard to fill), guitarist Matias Kupiainen plays his riffs with bite and performs blazing solos as well as lead neo-classical tinged themes shared with keyboard player Jens Johannsson (who is allowed the occasional more experimental playing approach on this album). Bassist Lauri Porra is the glue (along with drummer Rolf Pilve) that ensures all elements work together.

The sound production is clear, powerful and features bite and provides the tracks with the possibility of sounding a little more aggressive when that is needed. So while the core musical style of Stratovarius hasn´t changed on "Nemesis" (this is still Euro power metal with generally high pitched vocals, epic choir vocals, neo-classical inspired keyboards/guitars and a pounding tight rythm section), it´s the details in the songwriting and the powerful sound production that set the album apart from the less interesting releases in the band´s discography. This is simply through and through a quality release and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.