CD Single Review: Stratovarius - Maniac Dance/United

A couple of weeks back, Stratovarius released their 11th studio album, and the pair of songs on this disk were the first I had ever heard from them. I like what I hear.

Of course, I had heard of the group, and I had always heard good things about them. The thing is, the name never stuck in my head while out browsing the music shelves for whatever reason. Plus, I never new quite where they were supposed to fit into the world of music. This disk gives me that brief sample I needed in order to determine if they would fit into my musical worldview. The answer to that was yes.

The first track is "Maniac Dance." It is a melodic dance-rocker wih an upbeat groove. It struck me as a crowd pleaser type of song, I can almost picture the crowd bouncing to the beat. It has a nice arrangement, a power-pop track with a slightly heavier guitar riff leading the course. Reminds me heavily of 80's style metal.

Next up is "United." This brings the keyboards into a stronger place in the mix, it is slower paced than the lead in track and plays up the dramatic singing. Again, it is heavily groove oriented and would probably lead to much head bobbing and fist pumping in the live setting.

The sound has a combination of chugging guitars with melodic keyboards, a dancy rhythm section, and a dramatic lead singer. Definitely a breath of fresh air amongst the throngs of pop-punk, nu-metal, and manufactured females clogging the airwaves.

As an introduction to the band, this pair of songs seem to do a pretty good job at doing it. Groove oriented, highly dramatic, I can only imagine what they would be like onstage. For some reason I picture a Queensryche type band. This is good stuff, and I am definitely look forward to trying out an entire album. It is rare to hear this power-pop metal sound these days, and often when you do hear it, it is done as an homage to the bands of the past, or it is the pastbands trying to relive old glories. Stratovarius seems more genuine than that, and they pull of the sound well. Of course, I am basing this on only two songs, but I am definitely intrigued.