Unlike Red Hot Chili Pepper’s ‘Stadium Arcadium’, or Angels & Airwaves ‘I-Empire’, at least this band isn’t delusional enough to see that their album blows hardcore. Stratovarius’ guitarist/producer Timo Tolkki said in an interview in April 2007 that “He didn’t like this album because it wasn’t their style at all, and it was made totally wrong”. That’s probably the album’s biggest merit. Not really being a fan of Stratovarius in the first place (Elements is just corny to me), I was reluctant to listen to Stratovarius self-titled album after a friend recommended it to me.

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