Stratovarius – Nemesis (2013)

After their critically acclaimed and totally excellent release “Elysium”, one could wonder how Stratovarius will top such a great release. Two years later, “Nemesis” arrives with a darker edge, but an equally impressive assortment of songs. In this release the band delivers 11 tracks of their signature Melodic Power Metal with a more serious tone to things. Another answer provided in this release is that the loss of long-time drummer Jörg Michael was greatly alleviated by newcomer Rolf Pilve.

As in Stratovarius tradition, the band kicks off with an epic track titled “Abandon”. In this song we can instantly appreciate the band’s killer songwriting kills and excellent placement of epic vocal sections. This upbeat tempo is kept in the highly addictive “Unbreakable”, a track that features very catchy keyboards and a superb chorus section. Interestingly enough, this track sounds a bit more ‘mainstream’ than one would expect, but it is also super catchy and very well crafted.

“Stand My Ground” goes back into more traditional Power Metal waters, and features intricate guitar riffing that shows how well Matias Kupiainen has integrated with the band since his arrival in 2008. The whacky keyboards in this song also remind us a bit to more ‘acrobatic’ bands like Warmen and such. The best song of this release comes under the name of “Halcyon Days”. In this track, the band puts forward some very dark atmospheric elements that are greatly contrasted by Timo Kotipelto’s gifted pipes. The drumming is very solid and quite elaborate in this track as well.

If you are a fan of elaborate solos, “Out Of The Fog” is one track that you should not miss. For the people looking for mellower ballad-esque songs the album has “Castles in the Air”, “One Must Fall”, and the melancholic “If The Story is Over”. As you imagined, this release has something for everything and will surely not disappoint any of the fans of the band. The closer “Nemesis” leaves things in a high note with incisive guitar riffs and that little something that makes all Stratovarious releases just magical.

If you are a fan of the band, you should not miss “Nemesis” by any reason. This release is as impressive as “Elysium” and any track you listen to from it is clear evidence of this. We are sure this album will be in the top 10 Power Metal releases of 2013 and it will receive an obscene amount of play time on our regular playlists. In case you skipped all the way to the end of this review to see the score, we can’t recommend this album enough, so go ahead and pre-order this gem.

Release: February 26th, 2013 (USA)

Genre: Power Metal

Country: Finland