Fourth Dimension

by

Stratovarius

Edit

This album was right after Dreamspace and right before Episode. This is the first album that TK lead sang on. Their style is a little more open than Dreamspace, but much less commercial than Episode and what was to follow. TK certainly knows how to sing and it shows. Musically, there are good points on the album. They are as follows:

1. Against the Wind - very good melodic speed metal song. You can hear Strato playing very well here, but have no idea what is to come on following albums. There is a BIG difference.

2. Distant Skies - really does nothing for me.

3. Galaxies - I realyl like this song. Keyboard-wise, it is kind of sparse but a good song. As a keyboardist, I use many more layers in my music and so I gravitate toward that. This is good though too.

4. Winter - does nothing for me.

5. Stratovarius - instrumental song. Not bad and to me, the typical instrumental song.

6. Lord of the Wasterland - does nothing for mw.

7. 030366 - this song is neat and sounds very different than the other songs on the album. I like this one a lot.

8. Nightfall - I like this one too. It is slow and has a real Queensruche style to it and really works well.

9. We Hold the Key - I like this one too. It is slow, but has a great body to it.

10. Twilight Symphony - many people like this song, but to me, it is just okay. Lots of great musicianship in it though and certainly qualifying itself in the classical-metal genre.

11. Call of the Wilderness - does nothing for me.

Overall, I do like the album. As a musician, it is really neat to see where they were at the time. When I first heard them, I was already enjoying Episode and some newer material which is completely different than the first few albums. It is neat to hear them progress and mature as a band by listening to the albums in 'year-released' format. This is the last one they would sound like this. Episode is very power-metal in format and completely different than this one.