Stratovarius live in Athens 2013

It’d been a couple of years since the last stand of the erstwhile Finns, when they last played Athens along with crowd favorites Helloween. But this time it was their time to steal the limelight as proper headliners.

A couple of local power metal bands, had then to play the supporting role, in this particular case, “The Silent Rage” a local quintet, that performs a mighty loud brand of European flavored Power Metal, or at least that very night tried to. (I wasn’t able to see them perform their entire show, since trying to find a place to park, is a bit of a challenge sometimes, but I managed to check out, a decent portion of their set. Having, changed a good portion of their membership, including their singer (now sporting Steven Bernardo, formerly with Epicsters, Airged Lamh) as well as at least one of their rhythm player recently if I am not mistaken if not both?! They were not bad, but they were a little rough around the edges, I guess, sounding, a little too relentless, too much, pedal to the metal, unrestrained. Which normally should have been great, but they probably need a little more refinement and a bit more honing. I guess, they’re not clueless guys, I’ve seen them before as solo musicians and they’re pretty good, so it’s either, getting more shows, under their belts or maybe the fact that, the sound they had wasn’t good at all, probably the aporia, of not having a soundcheck?! They performed most of the material from their 2 EPs that should I guess end up being the body of their first album?! Should be interesting to see them again, in the near future, both with a new album, and under better circumstances, having “gelled” a bit better?! It’s was an alright performance, but all things considered, it could and should have been better, since they seem to have it in them.

Next up were Secret Illusion. Another local power metal band, but this time quite different, as they are more inclined to perform a more neoclassic inspired flavored power metal, but of the mid 90s, northern European variety. So no Yngwie cloning here, we’re talking a bit of Tolkki cloning, with bits and pieces of the “Italian” school of “Romanticism” hehe. I have to give it to them that they were exceptional. One of the better and most professional live Greek bands that I have seen, really not trailing far behind any by most of their European counterparts. In fact, I’m pretty sure, they’d be head and shoulders above a good number of them. If I were to consider something against them, I’d have to say they were rather static on stage, but that’s a minor quibble and something that they could easily work on and correct. Their songs are rather nice, bringing to mind, pretty much Stratovarius and Skylark, but you know, Antonioni, could at times be pretty bad (as much as at times he could be pretty good, he usually was bad...), yet S.I, are in their 1 album and 1 EP, fairly decent, pretty damn good. If they manage to keep this consistency yet again, it should prove that they have staying power. And they could potentially maybe make a smart move and take the next few necessary steps towards maybe a career?! They impressed the crowd that was by that point half filling Gagarin (about 500 ppl) and cheered for them at each song (“Endless Flight”, “Hold on Forever”, “Echoes in the Shadows”, “Point of No Return”, “Beauty of a Lie”, “The Light on Your Way”, “Illusion”, “Silent Voices”) and won their applause more than valiantly! Bravo! Obviously the sound in their case was great, crystal clear and helped them to avoid the pitfalls that doomed The Silent Rage.

Finally after an about half hour wait, that seemed like an eternity and gave me the chance to visit the lil’ boys room, as well as the foyer – where I got the top secret info that helped me – turn a childhood dream into reality… to meet the MAN – THE LEGEND – the most legendary pornstar of Greece, none other than the profesor himself – KOSTAS GOUSGOUNIS, who the fuck knows – why he was there! But his might baldness – gave me power to go one and blessed me with inner peace to go forth and give ladies more loving! Blessed be – Grandmaster!!! Anyhow after the half hour that it took for the technicians to change the drums, put on Strato’s backdrop up and setup everything else, Stratovarius, or what’s left of the most “popular” line-up of the group, as none of the original members is now featured in the band, took the stage and proceeded for the next hour and the half to feed the crowd with power metal, dittos, both from the past as well as from today in a well-balanced and thought out set-list that seemed to cover most bases, of the Finns quite long discography.

After a short symphonic intro “Abandon” and “Speed of Light” set the pace up and the crowd seems to respond quite enthusiastically to everyone, including new drummer “Rolf Pilve” who’s pretty much getting a bit of a baptism of fire, I guess, as he’s still quite green with the band. “Halcyon Days” took things one step beyond, but it wasn’t until “The Kiss of Judas” the first true, Strato-Classic, that things got really, fired up! “Dragons” also got quite a good reception and then Pilve, did a quite frankly, boring as #@%@ solo... which wasn’t gonna be the first. Apparently, well, the band was going to play for quite a bit, indeed, but out of all that time, not all of it was “song” time, as pretty much 3 different solos were “laid down” to give a chance to Koti – to catch his breath. Ah and Koti, while he’s decent – time has taken – his top notes, off pretty much, making the band, tune significantly lower, I’d say surely a whole step, if not more! But quite weirdly, it didn’t sound terribly bad. Some of the songs, actually sounded better if they were originally done like that, plus, one would have never – ruined his voice, by straining it! The drum solo, in turn led into “Eagleheart” one of the better and most uplifting songs that were to be found on the “Elements” album. Then it was the turn of “Fantasy” & “Destiny” hehe and a “bass solo” hehehe! Which fortunately was a tad more interesting than the drums one and a little shorter. At least, the band also had the good mind to also put a good song after each solo to erase the fact, from our minds “quickly”. So this time it was the turn of another old nugget to be pulled from the bucket with “Distant Skies” making some of us, quite nostalgic I guess! And the band asking how many of us were at Rodon at the first gig! Hehe. I was actually there! Well about 10 hands were raised I guess. Time, time, how time flies.... and it was then time for the mad scientist/inventor/keyboard god/ known as Jens Johansson, the man with the illuminated Ducks on his keyboard to do a “keyboard Solo” Ho hum! It was actually interesting! I have to say and it segued quite nicely into… the also quite excellent and classic as hell “Black Diamond” one of the bands most popular hits ever.

The band then did bow out briefly, but soon returned for its first encore of the night, which consisted of “If The Story is Over” – the massive “Against the Wind” another oldie – possibly one of their first hits with Kotipelto(?!), and a newer one “Paradise” (a song that I personally think to be one of their worse ever – at least-in a few ways – as for example its lyrics seem to be so bizarrely intonated – just to get to rhyme, that it becomes obnoxious... but people seemed to enjoy none the less) then took another shorter bow – to come again out almost instantly to perform “The Nemesis”, the single “Unbreakable” – a song that’s bizarrely disco-flavored and not too originally titled either – but what the hell and finally to say farewell to all with another classic staple – of Strato-power in the form of “Hunting High and Low”.

Well… all in all, one can’t fault the band for existing and putting out music. Maybe, keeping the name was not the smartest move when it’s not 100 % the sound, as Tolkki was a big part of that sound, it’s a case very similar with Queensryche I guess. Sad, bizarre stories, crazy people. Good music, bad music.

Love, Hate, 2 sides, the same coin. Hmm... I suppose for the fan the best thing is to savor each moment they can. Think later, enjoy while you can. And if you did, that’s all that matters. I know I left quite carefree, which means, I must have been quite mildly entertained overall, even with all the critical thinking going into this. If I had to look into them objectively, they were very very good, indeed, the best band of the night, not as good as they were in their golden ERA, but still a force to be reckoned with.

People, go to gigs! That’s all I have to say. It’s your loss, If you don’t fill your heads with rock...