Review Summary: Boasting an accessible, but nevertheless refreshing approach to traditional Euro-Power, Eternal is arguably the best Stratovarius record since Tolkki's departure.
Stratovarius often seemed like going through some kind of identity crisis following the departure of guitarist and mastermind Timo Tolkki in 2008. It was keyboardist Jens Johansson and bassist Lauri Porra in particular who established themselves as the new driving force behind the legendary Finnish Power Metal quintet back then, steering the band into formerly unexplored Prog Metal territories. This somewhat sudden change in songwriting responsibilities resulted in two albums which evoked rather mixed reactions in the band's long-term fanbase, and understandably so: Polaris (2009) and Elysium (2011) might not have been bad records by any means, however, they derived from Stratovarius' traditional brand of Power Metal by quite a large margin. To be fair, there were some moments of true sonic grandeur on both of these albums - Elysium's title track might even come close to being the best Stratovarius longtrack up to now. Their general musical direction, though, was simply too unfocused for Polaris and Elysium to be regarded as anything but a strict downgrade when being compared to the material Tolkki had written during his time with the band.
2013 release Nemesis benefited from Tolkki's successor Matias Kupiainen intensifying his involvement in the songwriting process. The band still maintained some of the progressive elements that had been so prevalent on Polaris especially, but on the whole returned to a more accessible Euro-Power sound characterized by simpler song structures on one and the typically catchy sing-along tunes on the other hand. Nemesis was not only a major step forward in terms of what was on the record, but also in terms of how it sounded: The album boasted a splendid mix that might be described most accurately as sounding both modern and organic at the very same time.
This refreshingly unique Modern Metal sound is also evident on the Fins' latest release Eternal. In addition to keeping up the fantastic mix that was one reason for my enthusiastic praise of Nemesis, Stratovarius also avoided to stray from the songwriting tendencies they had began to establish with the latter album. Eternal sees the quintet shed their progressive influences even more than that had ben the case on its predecessor, marking somewhat of a full return to the linear yet technically challenging, accessible and yet oddly sophisticated style of their most glorious eras as a band (I am of course referring to the late 90s). There are no weird experiments on Eternal, and one might actually criticize the album for being played overly safe. That is, if the songs were just not as expertly crafted as they are. Eternal is a record consisting of nothing but real hits: Be it speedy Power Metal anthems (My Eternal Dream), techno-tinged midtempo tracks (In My Line of Work), the obligatory power ballad (Fire in Your Eyes) or the epic longtrack (The Lost Saga), Eternal has everything you could ever want from a Stratovarius record done in an equisite manner. It is an extraordinarily well written and extraordinarily well executed effort. Truly, Stratovarius seem to have finally found their new signature sound!
