"Intermission" CD by Stratovarius

by Jürgen Tschamler (null) Stratovarius take a break and to fill the gap they present an album that will excite all die-hard-fans. Beside 4 new songs, "Will my soul ever rest in peace", "Falling into fantasy", "The curtains are falling" and "Requiem", but they are a little quieter. But furthermore there are plenty of rare tracks of Limited Editions, Japanese imports, etc. Even two cover-versions, "Bloodstone" of Judas Priest and "Kill the king" of Rainbow, are included, however they are already know from tribute albums. Completed is the album by some live-recordings of the last tour, highlight of those is for me "I surrender", another cover-version (Russ Ballard). Of the Japanese bonus tracks, especially "When the night meets the day", from the "Episode" release is worth a mention. A sensible mid-tempo-track featuring the band trademarks. A real ear-catcher is "It's a mystery", which had been released on a limited single before - just great. The mega-hymn "Hunting high & low" is featured in a storming live-version, recorded on the last tour in Paris. "Intermission" is a great album for the fan because he gets many rare tracks of the Scandinavian Metal-flagship.