Stratovarius set sights on Eternal release

By Scott Munro
( Metal Hammer )
published

Album no.15 due in August after time off following trilogy release

Stratovarius will release 15th album Eternal on August 14, they’ve confirmed.

They took a break after their Polaris, Elysium and Nemesis trilogy and keyboardist Jens Johansson says they’re now ready to deliver with the new record.

He says: “Since Polaris we have released a new studio album pretty much every two years. But after 2013’s Nemesis we all decided to take a little bit of time off after we finished the world tour.

“Now we’re all tanned and rested and it’s about fucking time to get back into the saddle. Everybody has been busy the last few months writing lots of new songs – and only the best has been recorded for Eternal.”

The record will be released via earMusic and further details will be made available in due course.

Johansson, vocalist Timo Kotipelto, bassist Lauri Porra, guitarist Matias Kupiainen and drummer Rolf Pilve will play this year’s Wacken Open Air, Germany on July 30 and have lined up a European tour which kicks off in Estonia in October. It includes one UK date at London’s O2 Academy Islington on November 3.

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.