Artist: STRATOVARIUS
Album: "INTERMISSON + A MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY (2CD)"

Year: 2001/ 2006
Media type: CD

Undeniably led by erstwhile ROAD BLOCK and THUNDER guitarist Timo Tolkki, STRATOVARIUS originally formed as far back as 1979. Their grandiose style of elaborately polished Metal has not only brought enormous rewards internationally for the Finns but has inspired a whole new genre of Rock Music known as Symphonic Metal. However, the classic line-up of the band was dealt a severe blow, due to the highly publicised mental distress of its leader, which came close to destroying their entire career.

The first incarnation of the group included Staffan Strеhlman on guitar, John Vihervд on bass and vocalist / drummer Tuomo Lassila, this Helsinki trio having operated previously under the BLACK WATER banner. Subsequently, ROAD BLOCK bassist Jyrki Lentonen was introduced in 1984. The following year a disgruntled Strеhlman bowed out just one week prior to a concert in Aalborg, Denmark. Turning to Timo Tolkki, the band asked him to learn the set and after a successful show the guitarist joined the band. Shifting shape, the group decided Tolkki might be better suited to lead vocal chores and in this formation STRATOVARIUS rendered its first demo in 1987, comprising the tracks 'Future Shock', 'Fright Night' and 'Night Screamer'.

A showcase performance at the Tavastia Club in Helsinki would lead to signature with CBS Records. The May 1989 debut, 'Fright Night' preceded by a brace of 7" singles 'Future Shock' and 'Black Night', was a straight-ahead Heavy Metal album that, despite studio keyboard parts being donated by Antti Ikonen, had very few of the neo-classical stylings to be present on later works. The whole albums theme and look was dark and the lyrics dealt with themes of horror and darkness with three of the songs having the word 'night' in the title. The artwork used for the album was a piece done by renowned British fantasy artist, Patrick Woodroffe, perhaps his most famous piece was the cover of JUDAS PRIEST's 'Sad Wings Of Destiny'.

Live work across Finland in 1989 included a spot at the 'Giants Of Rock' festival in Hameenlinna, bassist Jyrki Lentonen left the band. Having been dropped from CBS Records, the corporate having rejected proposed second album demos, the band signed to the tiny Finnish label Blue Light Records who released their second album simply titled 'Stratovarius II' in 1991. These sessions had been totally self-funded.

Written entirely by Tolkki, the sophomore effort demonstrated some early examples of his evolving, neo-classical style became evident in his playing and composition. Lyrically the band still worked predominantly within the refined horror genre. Although bass player Jari Behm appeared in the line-up photos, in fact all bass parts on the album were performed by Tolkki. The band mentor also handled lead vocals and all the guitar parts with Antti Ikonen on keyboards and Tuomo Lassila on drums. The 'Stratovarius II' album was released by Blue Light in two versions, the first with cover art depicting a pair of feet, the second simply a band photograph.

In October 1992 things started to pick up for the band with the album being reissued in Europe on Shark Records. Imported versions began to flood Japan, the album impacting to such an extent that it became the highest selling foreign album of 1993. That July the giant JVC Victor concern licensed the record for official release in July. Both versions had new cover art, the now familiar 'outer-space' scene, and changed the title to 'Twilight Time'. The original Finnish pressing of the second album, which featured a simple photo of the four members on the front, is now a rare and sought after collectable.

Berlin's Noise Records were quick to move in to sign the Finns for 1994's 'Dream Space', although the album marked the debut of yet another bassist, Jari Kainulainen, previously a member of late eighties Hair Rock bands HEAT and CHRISTINE, having joined the group prior to recording. Tuomo Lassila suffered a severe stress injury in his both his hands, effectively putting him out of action. To complete the record STRATOVARIUS enlisted Sami Kuoppamaki, from well known Finnish Progressive Rock act KINGSTON WALL, to finish the remaining five songs.

Released in February 1994 'Dream Space' gave the musicians their first chance to tour Japan that June. As another STRATOVARIUS album was prepared, TIMO TOLKKI released a solo album, 'Classical Variations And Themes', through Shark Records.

At this point Timo Tolkki decided to concentrate solely on guitar playing, necessitating the recruitment of Lappajarvi native Timo Kotipelto, claiming prior membership of FILTHY ASSES, to the fold for the next record. Issued worldwide in March 1995, 'Fourth Dimension' doubled the sales of 'Dreamspace' as the music was taken to stages in Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Finland, Greece and Japan.

Following a European tour with label mates ENOLA GAY keyboard player Antti Ikonen and drummer Tuomo Lassila both quit. With the drummer's defection, STRATOVARIUS now found itself in the rare position of having no original band members left. In order to record the 'Episode' album, at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, ex-YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and DIO keyboard player Jens Johansson and drummer Jцrg Michael were added. Michael's credits read like a who's who of German Metal having racked up credits with AVENGER, RAGE, MEKONG DELTA, HEADHUNTER, LAOS, GRAVE DIGGER, AXEL RUDI PELL and RUNNING WILD amongst others. 'Episode' took the STRATOVARIUS sound into new vistas, Tolkki's vision of Symphonic Metal now coming to solid realisation with the employment of a 40 piece choir and a 20 strong string assembly.

A proposed tour in 1996 with VIRGIN STEELE to coincide with the new album's release was cancelled after the American band's vocalist David DeFeis was injured in a car accident. In the autumn STRATOVARIUS hit the road with RAGE before preparing to lay down the new 'Visions' record, again enlisting Jens Johansson and Jorg Michael. The highly polished 'Visions' arrived in April 1997, hitting number 4 in Finland and considerably raising appreciation for the band globally. A mammoth tour of the European mainland ensued, after which STRATOVARIUS hit Brazil and Argentina. Touring Europe in November, the band took out ELEGY as support. A March 1998 live album recorded at concerts in Milan and Athens the previous November, 'Visions Of Europe', followed. The summer months would be spent on the European festival circuit.

Tolkki made a guest appearance on the 1998 EDGUY album 'Vain Glory Opera'. Tolkki also busied himself with production, handling the 1997 album from fellow Finns THE 69 EYES amongst others.

October 1998's studio record 'Destiny' gave STRATOVARIUS a prestigious number 1 in their homeland, gave the group its debut chart presence in Germany and opened up an even wider international market to the band. Lead single 'S.O.S.' scored a number 3 placing on the Finnish charts. Upon release of the album the group undertook a headline tour of Finland before hopping over to Japan for shows to close the year. With demand increasing, 1999 gave rise to a sustained live campaign, opening on January 15th at La Laiterie in Strasbourg, France and also winding up in the same country, at the Elysйe Montmartre in Paris on October 17th. Between these book end concerts STRATOVARIUS visited Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Portugal. The band was ready to take another step upward and as STRATOVARIUS switched labels to Nuclear Blast previous label Noise issued an obligatory "best of" titled 'The Chosen Ones' that included tracks previously only available in Japan.

'Destiny' would still be selling strong into 2000 as the group’s next tour de force 'Infinite', another Finnish number 1, was delivered. STRATOVARIUS responded by launching into a second stretch of global trekking, spending almost the entire duration between March and December on the road, re-visiting many countries for the third or fourth time and putting in second stops in Japan and South America. A run of 82 shows was only to be broken when Timo Kotipelto burnt his hand in a pyrotechnic explosion at the ‘Wacken Open Air’ festival, forcing a re-scheduling South American gigs.

2000 found Michael sessioning for HOUSE OF SPIRITS on their 'Psychosphere' album. Jari Kainulainen too would be employed on outside activities, guesting on the WARMEN 'Unknown Soldier' opus.

The band announced a period of self imposed exile during 2001 predicting a new studio album for 2003. As such, they entered Finnvox Studios in April 2002 and would hammer out their next set of recordings over a lengthy period, finalising in September. At this juncture Kainulainen forged side project MESS in alliance with guitarist Petteri Hirvanen and the AJATTARA and VERENPISARA credited Atte Sarkima on drums. Timo Kotipelto would record his debut solo album, the KOTIPELTO credited 'Waiting For The Dawn' for the Century Media label. A conceptual piece rooted in Egyptian mythology it would prove a much harder edged affair than expected. Meantime, Johansson made his mark on four tracks as guest contributor to SONATA ARCTICA's February 2003 album 'Winterheart's Guild'.

In the interim Nuclear Blast would issue the 'Intermission' collection which combined foreign rarities with cover versions of JUDAS PRIEST's 'Bloodstone' and RAINBOW's 'I Surrender' and 'Kill The King', the latter with lead vocals by Timo Tolkki.

STRATOVARIUS would break their silence in late November with the single 'Eagleheart'. The album, 'Elements Part I', would see a January 2003 release, Japanese variants on JVC Victor label hosting the traditional extra track 'Into Deep Blue' whilst variants released in France included a French language version of 'Papillon'. A limited edition of 'Elements Part I', housed in a 3D design box, hosted an exclusive second disc comprising 'Run Away' and demo recordings of 'Soul Of A Vagabond' and 'Find Your Own Voice'. Collectors also sought out a mail order only release, this coming with a second disc featuring the entire album in demo form.

Overall, reception was cool, many fans believing STRATOVARIUS had overreached themselves, losing the core of good songwriting in a march towards complexity and excessive soloing, particularly on the ten minute, disjointed, 'Neverending Story' inspired ‘Fantasia’. The record was heavily keyboard dominated and also found room for choirs, orchestration and accordion. The album duly debuted on the Finnish national charts at number 2.

STRATOVARIUS announced Far Eastern dates in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong during June. However, these dates were curtailed when the Finnish foreign office advised the band of the threat from the S.A.R.S. virus. Following delivery of the October 'Elements Part 2' album STRATOVARIUS switched labels to Sanctuary Records with a bizarre press release claiming the three album deal was to be signed in elk's blood. Indeed, the band did make their marks upon the contract with the unfortunate animal's blood, in a deal purportedly to be worth over $3.5 million dollars, apparently the biggest ever for a Finnish artist.

This rapid ascendancy was to be halted in spectacular fashion. The band's fan base would be dismayed to learn from a post by guitarist Timo Tolkki on the STRATOVARIUS message board that the band was "in a severe crisis". Intriguingly, Tolkki suggested that, although he was in discussion with individuals, he was "95% sure that 3 band members have to leave". In late December it was indeed revealed that STRATOVARIUS had trimmed down to a trio of Tolkki, Kainulainen and Johansson and rumours of the induction of a new female singer were proved true when AURORA K's Katriina Wiiala stepped into the fold. This latest recruit not only boasted a three octave vocal range but had also been crowned Finnish gymnastics champion twice over. Official induction photographs of Wiiala smeared with blood caused consternation with longstanding fans, more familiar with a far more refined approach. However, the surreal nature of the band’s transformation had only just begun.

Anders Johansson, the YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BLUE MURDER and HAMMERFALL credited brother of Jens, was to man the drums for an album with the provisional working title of 'Popkiller'. However, as STRATOVARIUS endured a huge backlash in the media regarding its new line up, Anders Johansson quit within a week of joining. Rumours, sparked by Tolkki's admission he had his eyes on a female percussionist, then focussed on Simona Bressi (a.k.a. Jill Ward) from the Los Angeles based BALLISTIK and the BLACK SABBATH cover band MISTRESS OF REALITY. Bressi swiftly denied the speculation.

Tolkki's re-shaping of the band had business ramifications behind the scenes as the guitarist revealed Sanctuary Records had asked for a return of a one million euro advance, claiming this was based upon a contract with the previous roster of members. The label also issued a statement maintaining that the ex-members were still under contract. These restrictions extended deeper too, as the previous version of STRATOVARIUS was legally obliged to make their last live appearance on 28th February 2004 at the Piorno Rock festival in Spain.

Ousted sticksman Jцrg Michael's first port of call would be a guest appearance on a solo project of FEUERENGEL frontman Boris entitled DER BOTE. Matters became increasingly strange, after the official website administrator publicly distanced himself from the guitarist, Tolkki posted a "statement" stating he had heard voices in his head, going on to describe it as "Kabbalah, Kabbalah, Kabbalah. I believe it was the voice of Jesus Christ". Accompanying the verbiage was a picture of Tolkki smeared with blood.

Despite all of this, the Piorno Rock festival went ahead, the band's last with its 'classic' line up. Local reports suggested Tolkki, brandishing a bottle of vodka onstage, was obviously drunk. Quite incredibly the show included Jens Johansson, in full audience view, urinated on Timo Tolkki during the opening notes of the song 'Forever'. Matters got much worse for the guitarist the following day. Whilst taking a walk in the Granada central plaza he was assaulted by an unknown assailant, punched in the face and stabbed twice in the arm with what was believed to be a box cutter knife. He would be admitted to emergency care in the local hospital but released that same night. Tolkki later commented "I do not want to end up like John Lennon. I don't know if I want to continue STRATOVARIUS anymore".

However, the guitarist did manage to cut some new material during this period, travelling to Dortmund in late March to rehearse with drummer Jorg Michael, then recording at Soundtrack studios in Pitajanmaki in early April before these sessions were curtailed. The culmination of these recent bizarre set of events led to Tolkki's hospitalisation on 10th April, the guitarist entering the Mehilainen private hospital in Helsinki to treat what his official webmaster described as "suicidal feelings and chronic depression." Upon his release in early May Tolkki, revealing he had released Katriina Wiiala from her contract, issued a statement about the band's status declaring "STRATOVARIUS is Timo Kotipelto, Jens Johansson, Jorg Michael, Jari Kainulainen and Timo Tolkki. If this line up is not possible, then there cannot be any band called STRATOVARIUS."

Reconciling their differences, the band unit, including Kotipelto, stuck to their obligations to perform at the European festivals, 'Gods Of Metal' in Italy (although delayed due to a severe electrical storm), 'Dauwpop' in Holland and the 'Rock Hard' event in Germany. Jцrg Michael then joined veteran British Hard Rockers SAXON for their 'Lionheart' album. The drummer also found time to guest on Italian symphonic Power Metal band KALEDON's 'The Way Of The Light' opus. Making a surprise appearance, Jens Johansson joined NIGHTWISH for a cover of MEGADETH's 'Symphony Of Destruction' during the band's appearance at the B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City on 22nd August.

Steelborn Records collated a STRATOVARIUS tribute album in 2004, entitled 'Within Infinity - Tribute to Stratovarius'. Meantime, in a rather unique event, Timo Kotipelto, alongside female vocalist Maija Vilkkumaa, performed several classic heavy metal covers with Finland's HEAVY LILJA ORCHESTRA on 26th August at the Manala bar in Helsinki. Kotipelto vocalised on renditions of DEEP PURPLE's 'Highway Star' and BLACK SABBATH's 'Heaven And Hell' before encoring on a medley of 'Paranoid/Smoke On The Water'.

With the events of a turbulent year behind them, STRATOVARIUS members Timo Tolkki, Jorg Michael, Timo Kotipelto, Jari Kainulainen and Jens Johansson met in Helsinki during early December to discuss prospects for the band's future. As 2005 dawned the group released an official statement declaring that "after much talk, soul-searching and reflection" the quintet were set to forge ahead with a new album, , this simply going by the billing 'Stratovarius'.

By February the STRATOVARIUS camp was once more embroiled in controversy. A song intended for the new record, entitled 'Hitler' (subsequently re-branded 'Gotterdammerung (Zenith Of Power)'), including an intro made up of a genuine Hitler speech, was to be strongly objected against by record label Sanctuary. Timo Tolkki announced he had submitted the anti-Hitler song to the German Interior Ministry for clearance.

With recordings for the album complete, a promotional video for the album's first single, 'Maniac Dance', was shot in mid April by director Antti Jokinen. Despite the album being given a September release dates leaked tracks would be available on the internet as early as May. Japanese editions added an extra DVD featuring 'Stratovarius Rockumentary' and a live version of 'Break The Ice'.

Meantime, Timo Tolkki gained production credits for the Italian band VISION DIVINE's album 'The Perfect Machine'. STRATOVARIUS parted ways with bassist Jari Kainulainen, a longstanding member with over a decade's service to his credit, in June. Kainulainen duly re-forged his side venture MESS. The KOTIPELTO, WARMEN, GASHOUSE GARDEN, TUNNELVISION and SINERGY credited Lauri Porra soon stepped in as substitute. Meantime, Jens Johansson also made time to guest on NOCTURNAL RITES album 'Grand Illusion'.

'Stratovarius' landed at number 4 on the Finnish charts. A lengthy European tour in October through to early December had the band sharing stages with HAMMERFALL taking in Finland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Holland, France, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary. November shows saw SHAKRA as support.

TRACKLIST

CD1:
1. Will My Soul Ever Rest In Peace?
2. Falling Into Fantasy
3. The Curtains Are Falling
4. Requiem
5. Requiem
6. Kill The King
7. I Surrender (Live)
8. Keep The Flame
9. Why Are We Here?
10. What Can I Say
11. Dream With Me
12. When The Night Meets The Day
13. It’s A Mystery
14. Cold Winter Nights
15. Hunting High & Low (Live)

CD2:
1. A Million Light Years Away
2. Celestial Dream
3. Phoenix (Live)
4. Infinity (Live)

LINE-UP:

Timo Kotipelto (vocals)
Timo Tolkki (guitar)
Jaru Kainulainen (bass)
Jens Johansson (keyboards), Anders Johansson (drums)