What style is this album? Well, I have broadly defined it Heavy Metal, but in fact it contains many different styles and approaches. As many of you know Timo is the main songwriter and guitarist in Stratovarius.
This is his first real solo album; the previous one was a guitar/classical-orientated release.
Interestingly, he also sings on most of the tracks, which works pretty well. His voice is very clean and has some cool variations, not especially melodic though. Timo also performs the bass and it's an important instrument in the songs, very much in front, creating a tight rhythm section.
His main instrument, the guitar, is not as dominant as could have been predicted.
The style of the rhythm guitar is pretty simple at times which soothes the songs. It still displays some great riffs, while the leads are of high quality and very melodic.
Mika Ervaskari takes care of the keys, which sound pretty melodic through the record, while Anssi Nykänen handles the drums with a solid performance.
This is the short of album where each instrument does its job without exactly displaying an abundance of varied and technical parts. This is not meant in a negative way, and here and there some more detailed passages are created. On to the songs then...
Many tracks come out a bit simple, relying on straight melodies and choruses, an ex.
Fresh Blue Waters. A very good and relaxing song with a down to earth chorus, and a nice acoustic/lead guitar fundament. The melodic guitar solo fits nicely into the calm mood. The drums follow their own very calm soothing style.
The album has a very personal profile; the songs evolve around finding out of your feelings, trying to heal difficult experiences, coping with an insane world of hate and questions that have no answers. This said it also has a more positive perspective about the living life with love and enjoying inner peace. Some can seem a bit simple, but most of them are pretty interesting and fit well with the music.
The great opener
Key To The Universe featuring great vocals from
Michael Kiske is a slow grooving mid-tempo track. The melodic chorus is very catchy and I get a great positive feeling when I listen to the song.
Divine has a dreaming atmosphere created by an in front keyboard and a very central bass rhythm. The slower main part of the song breaks into a heavy ending, a very original track.
In
Are You The One Sharon Den Adel handles the vocals with great passion. The way the track shifts away from very symphonic elements, into a harder chorus with a really heavy guitar riff sounds great.
The background keys become a bit too much because they are almost constantly repeated.
In
Father a very aggressive and dark style is used with goes hand in hand with the extremely angry
lyrics. The ultra slow but very hard rhythm is very unique and the song has some interesting experimenting, but also odd parts.
Hymn To Life has a huge and very powerful chorus; on the other hand I find the slower part of the song a bit tame and standard. The piano parts are fitting nicely in and gives the song more atmosphere, the extremely long ending is stretched out over the limit though.
The reason for the modest rating is the shortage of really great songs, and the ones that seems a bit standard. A song like
Dear God displays some good slow parts and keyboard arrangements,
the rhythm is at times a bit strange and the song seems slightly unstructured as a whole, making it more average.
Now I Understand has a pretty melodic edge, but comes out a bit simple in its main rhythm. As mentioned above, the keyboard is used a bit too much in some songs, but fits perfectly in others.
Summing up Hymn To Life is a very interesting, at times strange, but mostly very melodic and varied album.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, May 6, 2003
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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