Stratovarius

Stratovarius are a heavy metal band from Finland who started out with the name Black Water in 1984 led by singer and drummer Tuomo Lassila, bassist John Vihervä and guitarist Staffan Stråhlman who was replaced soon after by Timo Tolkki. Keyboard player Antti Ikonen made it a quintet ahead of their 1989 debut album 'Fright Night'. Players came and went until 1995 when the line-up settled into Tolkki and singer Timo Kotipelto with Jari Kainulainen on bass, Jörg Michael on drums and Jens Johansson on keyboards from 1995 to 2005. After several more changes, the current ensemble comprises Kotipelto, Johansson, bassist Lauri Porra, guitarist Matias Kupiainen and drummer Rolf Pilve. Their 2011 release 'Elysium' went to number 47 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums Chart with 'Nemesis' (2013) peaking at number 16 and 'Eternal' (2015) reaching number 25. In 2016 the band announced on the Stratovarius website that their 16 studio albums would be remastered and reissued along with rare live releases starting with 'Destiny' and the live album 'Visions of Europe' both from 1998. A 2018 concert set for Israel was cancelled but the band were due to perform in Finland in the summer.

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