Stratovarius: muziek met diepgang

Ik heb nog een leuke videoclip waarin de drummer zit te stunten en z'n stokjes laat vallen btw, dat is wel grappig.

Destiny vind ik ook het mooiste nummer

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Op zich zijn ze wel goed, maar af en toe gaat het me een beetje vervelen.

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Ze zijn in Japan ongelovelijk populair.

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Volgend jaar komt de nieuwe cd Elements Part 1 uit!

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Op zaterdag 15 juni 2002 22:45 schreef Seborik het volgende:
Ken ze wel, leukste nummers vind ik Father Time, Black Diamond en nog een paar waarvan ik eventjes de naam ben vergeten. Op zich zijn ze wel goed, maar af en toe gaat het me een beetje vervelen.

[..]

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Maar Stratovarius is zeker kewl!

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:03 schreef Liezer het volgende:
Stratovarius deed me denken aan stradevarius, zo'n vioolmerk.. hahaha

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Heb drie cd's van ze. Toen ik op Pinkpop met een Stratovarius t-shirt liep heb ik een aantal maal uit moeten leggen dat Stratovarius eigenlijk helemaal niets met die viool te maken heeft

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:13 schreef Vectra het volgende:
Heb drie cd's van ze. Toen ik op Pinkpop met een Stratovarius t-shirt liep heb ik een aantal maal uit moeten leggen dat Stratovarius eigenlijk helemaal niets met die viool te maken heeft

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:03 schreef Liezer het volgende:
Stratovarius deed me denken aan stradevarius, zo'n vioolmerk.. hahaha

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:24 schreef Seborik het volgende:

[..]

Stradivarius.

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^{Tip: als je stratovarius goed vind, moet je ook synergy es proberen!}

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:51 schreef ToMaSZ het volgende:
Ik vind het net iets te powermetal.. Sonata arctica is meer in mijn straatje dan.

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:55 schreef Kipman het volgende:

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Huh, is toch bijna hetzelfde

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:24 schreef Seborik het volgende:

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Stradivarius.

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:30 schreef Kipman het volgende:
De naam Stratovarius is dan ook helemaal niet afgeleid van Stradivarius. Strato betekent zoiets als 'door de lucht' en varius was er aan toegevoegd. Al met al een coole naam

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 17:27 schreef Witchfynder het volgende:

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Nietes

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He! Das die kerel met die hakbijl Die altijd 20 tubetje en potjes over zijn gezicht smeert

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 17:53 schreef ThE_ED het volgende:

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Nee 'witchfynder'; dat is leuk..

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 18:19 schreef Witchfynder het volgende:

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Ik bedoelde dat het er wel van is afgeleid, stomme nep-allochtoon.

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das meer heavy metal ala iron maiden

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 18:19 schreef Witchfynder het volgende:

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Ik bedoelde dat het er wel van is afgeleid, stomme nep-allochtoon.

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 15:01 schreef ToMaSZ het volgende:

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Is idd wel zelfde stijl, maar ik vind op de een of andere manier stratovarius soms te snel gaan en sonata arctica weer niet... kan ik ook niks aan doen, is mijn gefreakte stel hersentjes wat dat verzint denk ik

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Op vrijdag 21 juni 2002 14:46 schreef Ulx het volgende:
jakkes, muziek met diepgang.

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Op vrijdag 21 juni 2002 15:21 schreef MetalMaupio het volgende:

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ja dan liever britney spears of K3 lekker oppervlakkig hoef je ook niet bij na te denken bij die muziek

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Overigens ben ik niet zo gecharmeerd van de muziek van K3 of La Spears.

Leuk bombastisch gedoe etc.

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Op zaterdag 15 juni 2002 22:43 schreef Rexonium het volgende:
Stratovarius is een finse metalband die zeer goede muziek maat. Stratovarius - vroeger bekend als Black Water - maakt muziek waarbij de Black Sabbath en Ozzy Osbourne invloeden goed te horen zijn.

Nu wou ik eens weten wie deze band kent en er weleens naar luistert. zelf ben ik nogal een Strato fan die alle CD's bezit.

Aanraders:

Hunting high and low
4000 rainy nights
Forever
en het nummer dat volgens mij het mooiste is: Destiny

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Ze traden afgelopen week op in 013 tilburg. (overigens ook hun enige nl tour dat ik weet voor dit jaar tot voorlopig).

11 April komen children of bodom daar, is wel niet helemaal zelfde stijl, maar ook goed kaartjes zijn al gekocht

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Op zaterdag 15 juni 2002 22:43 schreef Rexonium het volgende:
Stratovarius is een finse metalband die zeer goede muziek maat. Stratovarius - vroeger bekend als Black Water - maakt muziek waarbij de Black Sabbath en Ozzy Osbourne invloeden goed te horen zijn.

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Op zondag 16 juni 2002 14:54 schreef Yokozuna het volgende:

Zelfs Children of Bodom, de meest melodieuze uithoek van het melodic death genre uit "fucking finland"!

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andere powermetal aanraders zijn trouwens oratory en dreamtale

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Op woensdag 2 april 2003 11:08 schreef Seborik het volgende:
Wel meer diepgang dan de meeste powermetalbands die over riddertjes, paardjes en eeuwige glorie zingen. Stratovarius is toch een band die veel zingt over wereldvrede en de natuur.

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Op donderdag 3 april 2003 23:01 schreef Tokus het volgende:
Rhapsody een samenpluksel? Leg eens uit

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Dit is de cover van het nieuwe aankomende album met de meest originele naam ooit: "Elements Pt. 2"

Ik vind hem mooier dan de vorige cover.

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Op dinsdag 1 april 2003 23:51 schreef nibble het volgende:

Ze traden afgelopen week op in 013 tilburg. (overigens ook hun enige nl tour dat ik weet voor dit jaar tot voorlopig).

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zeer goede muziek

ben heel erg benieuwt naar hun nieuw album...

is daar al een appart topic over?

Duurt nog wel eventjes tot pt 2 maar goed dat moet dan maar.

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Op vrijdag 8 augustus 2003 23:11 schreef Rhapsody het volgende:
heb ze dit jaar al 3 keer gezien (teller staat nu op 4) en vind ze toch wel ontzettend geweldig.
Ook live zijn ze supergoed!!

Duurt nog wel eventjes tot pt 2 maar goed dat moet dan maar.

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Zelfs de bewegingen van de zanger enzo, nooit iets unieks.

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Op vrijdag 8 augustus 2003 23:33 schreef TheFallenAngel het volgende:

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Ik heb ze dit jaar 2 x gezien (teller staat nu op 2 ) en ik vond ze allebei de keren zwaar zuigen.
Ze missen iets waardoor ze t er live niet zo goed vanaf brengen, helaas.
IMHO dan, voor ik weer commentaar krijg

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Enne hoezo commentaar het is toch zeker je eigen mening, ik kan alleen zeggen of ik het met je eens ben of niet.

Wat wel jammer is, is dat tellen in het fins, dat heb ik nu al wel genoeg gedaan (un ka ko pee ofzo )

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Op woensdag 19 juni 2002 14:30 schreef Kipman het volgende:
De naam Stratovarius is dan ook helemaal niet afgeleid van Stradivarius. Strato betekent zoiets als 'door de lucht' en varius was er aan toegevoegd. Al met al een coole naam

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Sowieso leek het me gewoon een combinatie van stratocaster en stradivarius, maar dat strato zullen ze wel los verzonnen hebben dan.

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Op vrijdag 8 augustus 2003 22:56 schreef TheFallenAngel het volgende:
Alleen jammer dat ze 't live gewoon niet kunnen.......
Maar thuis zet ik met plezier een cdtje van ze op

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Ik vond ze eigenlijk toch live wel stukken beter dan HIM of Type O Negative wat daar ook speelde!

Die drummer is echt ontzettend snel maar gebruiken ze ook wel eens een drumcomputer??

ik vind die drums soms zo kunstmatig klinken...
alsof het niet echt is...

misschien slaat het nergens op maar dat zal dan wel aan mij liggen

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Op vrijdag 8 augustus 2003 23:55 schreef Rhapsody het volgende:

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Ik vind ze live wel goed eigenlijk Maar misschien komt dat omdat ik beetje fan van ze ben.
Ik bespeel ook geen instrument, en dan kijk (en luister) je er ook anders naar denk ik.
Vriendin van mij vond die stem ook maar niets in 013, terwijl ik ze gewoon goed vond. Er zit wel verschil tussen de cd en live (duh) maar ik heb daar zelf geen 'last' van.

Enne hoezo commentaar het is toch zeker je eigen mening, ik kan alleen zeggen of ik het met je eens ben of niet.

Wat wel jammer is, is dat tellen in het fins, dat heb ik nu al wel genoeg gedaan (un ka ko pee ofzo )

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01. Alpha & Omega
02. I Walk To My Own Song (mp3)
03. I'm Still Alive (mp3)
04. Season Of Faith's Perfection
05. Awaken The Giant
06. Know The Difference
07. Luminous
08. Dreamweaver
09. Liberty
10. Ride Like The Wind (Japanese bonus)

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deze vind ik erg strakke nrs:
-Anthem of the World
-Black Diamond
-Glory of the World
-Rebel
-Twilight Symphony

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Finnish neo-classical metallers STRATOVARIUS have been forced to postpone the release date of their forthcoming DVD to April 2004 from the previously announced January. More information about the contents of the upcoming DVD will be made available soon.

STRATOVARIUS will release their new album, "Elements Pt. 2", on October 27 through Nuclear Blast Records.

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Op maandag 11 augustus 2003 22:21 schreef TheFallenAngel het volgende:

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Ik bespeel zelf ook geen instrument, maar ik vind de zang er gewoon niet bij passen (live dan). 't klopt totaal niet met derest. Ik heb ze op graspop en op wacken gezien en t klonk allebei de x-en precies tzelfde, even saai, langdradig en niet kloppend. IMHO

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Statement: The Future of Stratovarius by Timo Tolkki
23.11.2003 / Author: WebmasterStratovarius
Rating: 1.65 / 5 points (74 votes)
Viewed: 45132 times

I am in the process of talking seriously with each band member about the future of Stratovarius.

There are lots of rumours circling around and this statement is issued to clear some of those.

The band is in a severe crisis at the moment.

Looking back now, it is very clear to me why the situation has catapulted into crisis.

I have my own way to lead Stratovarius and since being in this band since 84 (almost 20 years) I have had a very clear vision about the musical direction of Strato. To put it short and simple, this is my band.
I decide what Stratovarius sounds like. Stylists might decide how Stratovarius looks like. I don´t give a fuck about that though, I love music and we are not some fucking Backstreet Boys. We eat metal and shit chains.

Before some of you start shouting "dictator", I would like to tell you that we have always shared the income from the band equally. Everyone gets the same from all income. I can tell you many bands when it´s not like this.

Up until very last weeks I though things were fine, there have been arguments, but nothing fancy. At this point I feel that my vision of where to take Stratovarius next is threatened. Along with many other things, which I cannot tell you due to legal reasons. Let me just say this: when the things get so heated that some people in the band enter into fistfight, then something is wrong, wouldn´t you agree?

I am talking with Kotipelto and Kainulainen here in Finland at the moment and next week I fly to New York to talk to Johansson. Then I fly to Germany to talk to Michael. And then I have to think.

So you guys have to wait for some more time for some more news.

At this point it seems 95% sure that 3 bandmembers have to leave. I really hope I can work things out with them, but if not, then they will have to go.

And to those who say I should leave Stratovarius I say, hmmm well, perhaps it´s better that I don´t say anything, so I just say Fuck Off! I am not leaving anywhere, we just signed this new deal and I am going to continue writing new songs and there will be more albums, no matter what the line up
will be.

Stay tuned for more...

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Drummer for the next album will be Anders Johansson, the brother of Jens Johansson.

Dus toch een zangerin

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Op donderdag 15 januari 2004 14:32 schreef Wezli het volgende:

Dus toch een zangerin

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ok, now i'm being pathetic

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With a 'golden hand shake', paying me a generous share from the money of the new record deal, Tolkki wished me luck and said goodbye. That is basically what happened. I have to say on top that I don't have any bad feelings regarding Mr. Tolkki or anybody else in the band.

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http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=18502

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STRATOVARIUS Webmaster Distances Himself From 'Completely Crazy' TIMO TOLKKI - Feb. 21, 2004

STRATOVARIUS webmaster Fred Derf has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"Today I received a phone call from [STRATOVARIUS mainman] Timo Tolkki.

"He sounded like being in a very confused state of mind and was talking about red Kabbalah ribbons and how when he was reading Madonna's biography he felt warm waves all over his body and that the spirit of Jesus entered him and that now he really has found something he has been searching for all his life.

"I am very worried about him, he sounded like completely crazy.

"From this day onwards I will not take the responsibility of whatever is being released on this Website.

"As long as my paycheck arrives, I will continue putting on the site whatever Tolkki asks me to put there.

"But there is nothing I can do about it.

"I just work here."

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It's Official: STRATOVARIUS' TOLKKI Loses His Marbles - Feb. 21, 2004

STRATOVARIUS leader Timo Tolkki (photo) has posted the following statement on the band's official web site:

"I really need to share this with all of you.

"2 days ago I had a panic attack, I lied down and tried to relax.

"Then a voice in my head told me repeatedly: Kabbalah, Kabbalah, Kabbalah. I believe it was the voice of Jesus Christ. I felt warm waves through my body and I felt secure and happy. The voice told me to take a bloody picture of myself in honour of HIS memory. Then the voice told me to go to my library and one of the books fell into the floor before me. I didn't even remember I have that book.

"It was about the teachings of Kabbalah. I believe I have now found the complete and only Universal truth. I understand that none of the things in my life matters really. It is all an illusion anyway.

"I will use this webpage and also the future STRATOVARIUS recordings to celebrate the beauty of this ancient teaching.

"Here is the Part 1

"Classical kabbala identifies four levels of the soul - called nefesh, ruach, neshama and neshama l'neshama. Nefesh is the animating principle of the physical body and the senses ruach is the force vitalizing the emotions neshama is the vitality of intellect and neshama l'neshama is the essence of life of the human soul. The Arizal refers to this fourth level of soul as chaya, signifying its function as the essence of life. However, all these four aspects of the soul he regarded as mere extensions of the essence of the soul, which he called yechida.

"Between the Creator and the created (i.e., the aspect of spirituality1 in general) there is an intermediate level - regarding which it states, 'You are children of G-d your Lord.,' for our Sages have declared, 'the Patriarchs are the merkava.' The intention here is that a tiny spark of G-dliness, drawn from the lowest level of the Creator, clothes itself in a single spark of the created in potentia, which is an extremely ethereal soul. Within this soul-spark, called yechida, are the roots of all the other four levels of spirituality - nefesh, ruach, neshama and chaya.2

"In other words, the soul is both part of the Creator and at the same time it is created - its luminous essence is "a tiny spark of G-dliness,' and the sheath in which it is clothed is a created being, albeit a spiritual being and not physical. As the soul emanates from the Ein Sof - the Infinite One - eventually to be clothed in the physical body, the soul descends via the four worlds mentioned above, leaving a root in each of the worlds3 - chaya in the world of Atzilut, neshama in the world of Beria, ruach in the world of Yetzira, and nefesh in the spiritual dimension of Asiya.4 All of this is then enclothed within a physical body.

"The soul enclothed within the body is a reflection of the Divine Form, called the tzelem, or tzelem Elokim. This tzelem Elokim may be described as the human mold of man's physical form, linking his body and soul. This mold derives from the configuration of the sefirot, which form the structure of the worlds through which the soul descends on its journey down into the body.

"At the same time that the soul's outer dimension reflects the configuration of the sefirot, the inner dimension of the soul reflects the Infinite Light that illuminates the sefirot. This reflection is called the demut Elokim (the Image of God).5 Thus man includes all of creation within him, from the loftiest spirituality to the most mundane physicality.6

"From the perspective of man's service of G-d, these levels of soul may be described as five ascending levels of awareness of, and communion with, G-d. Regarding these levels of soul, Zohar7 states that when a person is born, he is given a nefesh from the world of Asiya, the lowest world, representing the greatest concealment of G-d. If, through his divine service and proper action, he makes himself worthy, he is then given ruach on the plane of Yetzira. With greater effort, he can earn the revelation of neshama, paralleling the world of Beria. If he purifies himself greatly, he may be able to attain the level of chaya paralleling Atzilut, and even yechida - the G-d-consciousness of the level of Adam Kadmon and beyond. ('Beyond,' because the level of soul called yechida in essence transcends all the worlds, since it is never separated from G-d. It is described as being 'truly part of G-d above,' 8 the 'spark of the Creator clothed within a spark of the created' described earlier.)

"This setup puts man in a unique position, for through his spiritual and physical composition (soul and body) he is bound up with all levels of creation. His actions and behavior are therefore capable of affecting all the worlds and all the sefirot. Thus man is a microcosm of creation and his actions have cosmic significance. He is able to affect the balance of the universe, both spiritual and physical, by his kavanot (mystical intentions) and yichudim (unifications of the sefirot). The Arizal revealed an elaborate system of kavanot and yichudim designed to achieve this very purpose.

"In Metal, Timo Tolkki"

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STRATOVARIUS' TOLKKI: 'ADOLF HITLER Is Alive And Well' - Feb. 22, 2004

STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki continues to entertain the metal masses with his hilarious online postings. Check out the following masterpiece (dated Feb. 20):

"World peace, tolerance to other people's feelings and opinions, systematically refusing to cooperate with EVIL, world without armies, world without hate, love... My eyes have opened finally. These fucking things are just UTOPIA. They can never be achieved. I was once stupid because I honestly, wholeheartedly believed that these things could be achieved and that we human beings could learn from the past and just live in peace. I've got news for you baby, IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So why not just have good time, you never know when your days are numbered. It could be tomorrow you know! So don't wait ANY MORE! MAKE YOUR LIFE A MASTERPIECE! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! FUCK EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO STOP YOU!! ADOLF HITLER IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE WORLD. I FUCKED HIM LAST NIGHT. WE ARE ALL HITLER AND WE ARE ALL CHRIST. AND HITLER IS WINNING!!"

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Key to the universe is love?
HORSESHIT!
Love doesn´t help when you have someone like HITLER against you.
Sorry, I do not share your optimism.
Mankind as a collective has lost the way and is UNBELIEVABLY stupid.
Not that I care anymore.
Couldn´t fucking care less anymore.
My man Wilhelm Reich was right.
We humans are just animals, actually worse than animals.

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I wrote "we".
I am an animal too.
But I am well read animal.
I know more than you guys about life.
I know some secrets.

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Free will is an illusion.
We are driven by inconscious drivers and perhaps 2% of us are able to control those drives s o m e t i m e s.
Conscious mind is about 5% of human system.
Unconscious mind is 95%.
And there is our personal software planted by our parents, the evolution and society.
We are a neurotic mess, that tries to survive on this meaningless piece of rock that travels in the space.

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Trust me man.
I know more than you about things.
Just follow me and I show you the WAY.

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I might check it out.
Dalai Lama strikes me as a person who
has managed to shut out the everyday destructiveness that so directly hit everyone in daily life.
I don´t understand people who are able to do this and pretend that everything is happy, while at the same time all the facts and studies show for example the children and youngsters are living more destructive lives than ever before in the history.
When I remember the days when I was 14 and when I look at the world now, what kind of things people are capable of doing, it really makes me wonder who anyone can close their eyes from this madness.
Metalmaiden, book for you to check out:

ERICH FROMM: THE ANATOMY OF HUMAN DESTRUCTIVENESS

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Kotipelto was the best yesterday, he sang everything perfectly, reaching all the high notes and, like always and giving everything to the audience.
Kotipelto and Jörg were clearly the best in the show.
Tolkki needs help. He is really good at what he does, but now he has lost the way...
After I Walk To My Own Song, Tolkki went behind the stage. Kotipelto was sitting on the drums waiting for Tolkki with a very sarcastic face. Suddenly Tolkki appeared with a bottle of vodka and drank half of it in 5 seconds. Everyone started to worry. Then Tolkki catched his mic, and started to shout "what the fuck is going on?! and in spanish "Qué coņo pasa?!". Some fools from the crowd were throwing bottles to him and some of them hit his guitar. At the moment I thought the worst would happen, Tolkki threw the mic to the air and fell on the floor. But suddenly he started to play Reign of Terror. Kotipelto got up from the drums and started to sing everything correctly. The song was going on without problems (excepting the really bad playing of Timo Tolkki, who was slow and without precision).
Then came Forever. I had a bad feeling. Tolkki was turning his head, seeing Kotipelto and smiling. Kotipelto sang it perfectly, and well, Tolkki played it well too, although he was slow and Kotipelto sometimes had to go faster to make Tolkki go faster too.
One note is that Tolkki used that acoustic guitar he used to play in Visions tour and on the back of the stage they put a huge poster of Visions cover! That was a good feeling from the beggining.
They played some new songs I weren't expecting, like I'm Still Alive and Season of Faith's Perfection.
During Forever, Jens pissed on Tolkki's back and in the next song, Tolkki stepped back and did a movement like falling on the floor, because of the wet floor with Jens' piss.
The show went on and everything OK, Jens playing OK, Jörg was really fantastic, hitting the drums with power and precision and Jari was good too.
After Phoenix the band went behind the stage and later Jari and Jörg came back and started Kiss of Judas. It was great. In the end of this song Tolkki saw a Finnish flag in the crowd, and, guys, he took it and well, while taking that flag and everything, he almost stopped playing the guitar while the song was going on! Shame on Tolkki. But it wasn't very noticed too. Anyway the guitar had been bad all the way from the beggining, because Tolkki was extremely drunk.
Then came Father Time. Tolkki really fucked this song. The beggining was awfully played by him, thank god there was Jörg to play it well and wasn't influenced by the bad guitar playing. Kotipelto sang it perfectly, as all the previous and next songs.
The last song was Black Diamond. Everything OK in this one, Kotipelto played Johansson's keyboard a bit, and it was funny that Jens started to play this song from the back of the keyboards! Everyone was amazed for this. And the show finished.
The goodbyes were divided in two parts. Kotipelto said "Thank you for your support all these years. Muchas gracias", and they went backstage. Then remained Tolkki, Jari and Jens on the stage. They took their hands and greeted the audience. Tolkki was with the bottle of vodka in his hand. Then Tolkki embraced Jari, and he kissed him in the mouth. Jari was king of disgusted as we could see in his face. And they went to the backstage too and everything finished.
I had a very good time (sometimes worried about Tolkki) and I think it was great though, but I understand some people who may think it was horrible.
I made a great lot of pictures from the show because I was at the first row.".

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STRATOVARIUS guitarist Timo Tolkki was assaulted in the center of Granada, Spain on Sunday (Feb. 29) as he was taking a walk, Finland's Sonera Plaza is reporting. According to STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson, who witnessed the attack, the alleged attacker was extremely agitated and had "a Hispanic looking appearance". During the assault, the attacker shouted "Tolkki." He was armed with what seemed to be a box cutter.

Tolkki was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was admitted to emergency care. He had two stab wounds on his left arm and a facial contusion. His wounds were cleaned and bandaged and he was released from hospital care.

Anybody with any information about the attacker is being asked to contact the police.

Tolkki commented that he is "shocked and horrified" by what happened. "Apparently this guy had been stalking me. The bastard attacked me from behind," Tolkki said. "I can take anything, but that was such a cowardly act, you know. He got me with the knife twice and punched me in the face. Then he ran away. The whole thing lasted just seconds. Now I am thinking that this might be the end of my career. I do not want to end up like John Lennon. I don't know if I want to continue STRATOVARIUS anymore".

When asked if he thinks that the attack has something to do with the resent changes in STRATOVARIUS lineup and the death threats he has received, Tolkki commented: "Of course I feel there is a connection to that. Why would anybody attack me like that otherwise? What possible other motive this guy could have had than that? I think he tried to kill me, but this time I was lucky".

STRATOVARIUS performed on Saturday night as a headliner of Piorno Rock Festival in Granada, Spain.

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

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TIMO KOTIPELTO: I'm Not Interested In Playing Another Show With STRATOVARIUS - Apr. 3, 2004

Ex-STRATOVARIUS singer Timo Kotipelto was asked by Skipmag.de last month if he has any intentions of performing with his former bandmates at their scheduled appearance at Germany's Rock Hard festival in late May. "Let me put it like this," Timo replied. " One and a half weeks ago I played a festival in Spain. I really tried to give my best to the fans and to sing as good as possible. [Drummer] Jörg [Michael] did the same. But the other guys, especially [guitarist Timo] Tolkki and [keyboardist Jens] Johansson, messed up the whole show. That really pissed me off! I don't know if you've already read it somewhere but after the first song Mr. Boss [i.e. Tolkki] left the stage and return later really drunk. And then Johansson did something that really shouldn't be done on stage (Johansson urinated on Tolkki's leg during the song "Forever" — Ed.). That's simply not fair. I try to give my best for those people who paid all that money for their tickets. And I really don't want all this shit to happen on the stage. That really sucks! It was already hard enough for me to go to the rehearsals and then on stage with those people. If they do such shit then, it's not fair. At the moment I'm really not interested in playing another show with these people. But this can change within one month. I also think that these shows will take place, though I heard that Tolkki has in mind to dissolve the band. But I think there are many fans that want to see us live and also people that want to see me sing live and never saw us live or missed the last tour. I think we should try to do all this [in a] professional [manner]. I don't have to talk to these people after the show and they don't have to talk to me, but I think if these gigs take place, that every one of us should play as good as possible instead of doing all this shit." Read the rest of the interview here.

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STRATOVARIUS Begin Recording New Album - Apr. 17, 2004

STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson has posted the following message in the band's official forum:

"This is a sort of informal update.

"I went to Helsinki, basically to try and help with anything I could. Am here now.

"Jörg Michael will play on the next STRATOVARIUS record (as he is very good of course, and there was no other good drummer materializing out of thin air.)

"He has finished most of the drums, whether Timo will like them or not when he is ready to listen we will see.

"The drums are being recorded in Helsinki. Timo disappeared right on the day they were starting the basic tracks. So for the week before I came, Jörg has been recording in the studio, ALONE, only with a click and nothing else to guide him, just remembering the songs in his head! He was the only guy slaving away in the studio and he's not even in the band! Yes, this is bizarre stuff but if anyone rises to such an occasion it is Jörg I think.

"The new singer Katriina ('Miss K') I haven't actually met yet. And Jari really seems to have dropped off the face of the planet.

"So let's see. So far I have: a singer I never met, a drummer who's not in the band, a bass player who is on another planet, and the main songwriter and producer went to a psychiatric hospital last week. I know all this looks very bad, but the strange thing is that I still very much have some hope left.

"Because I can say is that the songs are really killer, and the drums are good.

"This means anything is possible.

"There are many other things going on, I suppose everyone heard about a few of them already...

"I'm doing fine personally, I still have the hope that like many problems, these will right themselves given some time.

"I have collected my recording gear that was stored here. It all survived the winter and it works. I try to will record... something. I will help with anything that I can. Timo's studio is not operational quite yet, but it is pretty close I believe. [I can verify that his SSL is there, I saw it and I touched it, it's real! ]

"There is a sauna in the apartment me and Jörg are staying in. There are beers in the fridge. The songs and the drums are good. I am one of the worst pessimists out there. If I say there is hope, then be sure that there actually is hope!"