 
In my opinion the most musically gifted and renowned
power metal legends Stratovarius had been on a
bit of an undeniable fall from grace over the
past few years, in the UK at least they haven’t
exactly been raking in the fortunes. They brought
out “Polaris” in 2009 which was absolutely
fantastic, “Elysium” in 2011 and now
fresh in 2013 we are having “Nemesis”
pushed upon us of which I have high hopes as always.
I think their problem is that everyone is beginning
to think they’ve done it all, they have
so many albums and have experienced such fame
they really have done it all musically and otherwise,
if they can really find a way to defy the odds
and bring out an album that has even a glimmer
of hope that they aren’t old dogs set in
their ways they may be able to rejuvenate their
career and reignite a passion with new fans and
such. Only question is right now, is “Nemesis”
going to be that blessed album?
“Halycon Days” hits, this track has
an extremely interesting ominous electronic presence
and it is actually a shocker as it’s not
a technique you would associate with these old
school veterans, it’s quite dark as well
in tone and the sinister harmonies extenuate that;
not only this but “Fantasy” and “Out
Of The Fog” continue off with this ominous
electronic presence that really gives that little
bit of added drama, this is a drastic yet phenomenal
step up to a different time in music. The first
couple of tracks on the album as well transition
from the last album with its upbeat style bit
by bit through “Abandon” and the tremendous
headbanger “Unbreakable” into “Halycon
Days”. Drifting away from the heavy metal
breakneck songs and into songs like “Castles
In The Air” which have that sort of face
a man would pull listening to some extremely groovy
southern rock, as it’s got the sort of dirtier
sounding distortion as opposed to crunchy alongside
a clearer lower tempo riff.
To sum up, after listening to all 13 tracks which
includes 2 bonus songs I can safely say that these
guys aren’t giving up without putting up
a fully fronted assault, power metal is a much
smaller scene than it used to be with gigs getting
smaller in size and bands selling barely anything
compared to what used to be. They’ve always
had the craft but now more than ever it appears
that they really do have the drive to keep the
flame alive and whether it pays off or not doesn’t
really bother me as I’ve seen them perform
in their prime and we’ve been gifted with
this material and that in its own right is worth
fighting for, to answer the question will the
be the quintessential album that marks the rejuvenation
of an icon? Perhaps not, but it’s definitely
a leap in the right direction!
4/5
Review by James Webb
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