Stratovarius have announced their new album, which will be titled “Survive” and will be out on September 23rd, 2022 via earMUSIC. An official music video for the song “Survive” premiered yesterday and can be seen below.
Seven years after the release of their last album “Eternal”, Stratovarius once more prove their status as Symphonic Metal flagship and come back with a big bang. Not only musically the band is once more at the pulse of time – The environment and humanity’s future have always been an important and reoccurring theme in Stratovarius’ music and so the title of the new album “Survive” as well as the accompanying artwork don’t surprise – especially in the view of the current global situation. A blistering comeback from one of heavy metal’s most seminal bands, Survive is full of dynamics and drama, feeding on a wide range of emotions along the way. But the core message that this triumphant endeavour conveys is one of struggle, defiance, hope and victory. Best exemplified by its profoundly rousing title track, Survive is the Stratovarius spirit in exquisite musical form, with all the darkness and light that goes with it.
“We spent five or six days solid, trying to come up with the lyrics for that song,” notes Jens Johansson. “When we finally settled on that punchline for the chorus, it was a good song about survival and it all just seemed to fit. It fits with the history of the band too, because we managed to survive as long as we have. This band has been through some strange days! The original line-up formed in 1984, so it’s been a long story. It was the middle of the summer, there were forest fires everywhere, there was a global pandemic and all kinds of crazy shit going on. Some of the lyrics are perhaps less uplifting than they could have been, but that reflects our mood at the time. There’s a lot of positive stuff on there as well!”
*** Stratovarius – the Scandinavian flagship of Symphonic Metal and one of the most famous bands of their genre in the world, managed to establish themselves as one of the top names in the Metal scene and have since influenced bands all over the world. The Finnish band gained international success with albums like ‘Fourth Dimension’ (1995), ‘Episode’ (1996) and their epic project ‘Elements, Pt. 1’ (a peak in their Progressive and Symphonic style of Power Metal) and ‘Elements, Pt.2’ – to name just a few of the band‘s milestones. In 2009 ‘Polaris’ marked a fresh start for the band as guitarist and band leader Timo Tolkki left the band. Instead of being a difficult restart, ‘Polaris’ showed Stratovarius in top form and perfectly able to captivate people all over the world: The album became a hell of a comeback and charted higher than the previous releases around the globe. Since then, Stratovarius continue to walk the path of success, inspiring fans and other bands, young and old, all over the world.
“Survive” tracklisting
01. Survive
02. Demand
03. Broken
04. Firefly
05. We Are Not Alone
06. Frozen In Time
07. World On Fire
08. Glory Days
09. Breakaway
10. Before The Fall
11. Voice Of Thunder
