the land of ice and snow
Singer: stratovarius
Album: stratovarius
Lyrics: The land of ice and snow
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Where the midnight sun blows
Hundred thousand lakes glow
In the land of ice and snow
Nothern lights guide our way
Come whatever may
Forest god protects our day
In the land of ice and snow
Where Koskenkorva flows
Where the freezing wind blows
Summer nights are white and warm
In the land of ice and snow
Some night say that we are cold
Don't believe all that's been told
Our hearts are made of gold
In the land of ice and snow
We didn't bow under oppression
We fought and we died
Redeemed in blood
The land of ice and snow
Here I was born and here I've lived
And one day here I will die
Under nothern starry sky
In the land of ice and snow.
Stratovarius(Lingyun)
Style: Heavy Metal (Heavy Metal) Power Metal (Energy Metal) Scandinavian Metal (Scandinavian Metal)
Introduction:
Stratovarius was founded in 1984 by three young people from Finland and Helsinki. They are drummer and vocalist Tuomo Lassila, bassist John Vihervaauml and guitarist Staffan Straaringahlman. The trio performed under the name Black Water before officially taking the name Stratovarius.
Stratovarius's early music was very different from today's. At that time, the band was deeply influenced by Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, and guitarist Staffan introduced classical music elements to the band. Bassist John then left the band at the end of 1984 and was replaced by Jyrki Lentonen, who had previously performed in a band called Road Block with Timo Tolkki.
In 1985 Staffan no longer wanted to stay with Stratovarius, so he left the band a week before Stratovarius was scheduled to perform in Aalborg, Denmark. So Tuomo Lassila called Timo Tolkki and asked him if he would join the band. Timo agreed and learned all the band's songs from cassettes. After a few rehearsals, Stratovarius went to Denmark. At that time, Tuomo was still serving as both drummer and vocalist, and the band soon discovered that due to the limitations of Tuomo's vocal range, the band had to find a new vocalist. However, excellent singers are always rare, so Timo Tolkki took over as lead singer. After this change, Stratovarius's music began to develop into its current style - melodic with strong classical music elements.
After intense rehearsals and performances with Stratovarius in Helsinki, the band finally completed its first demo with this lineup in 1987, which included "Future Shock", "Fright Night" and "Night Screamer".
The demo was sent to many record companies in Finland, and was finally picked up by CBS Finland during a performance at Tavastia Club in Helsinki. At the same time Stratovarius found a new keyboardist Antti Ikonen. The band's first single, "Future Shock/Witch Hunt", was recorded in 1988, followed by another single, "Black Night/Night Screamer", released in 1989. Stratovarius finally debuted in May 1989. He entered the metal music scene with the release of his debut album "Fright Night".
In the summer and autumn of 1989, Stratovarius experienced another intense performance life, and also performed on the same stage with Anthrax and other metal bands at Haauml's large outdoor show Giants Of Rock. Then bassist Jyrki Lentonen left the band, but Stratovarius was still writing new songs and completed a new demo in early 1990, but CBS lost interest in releasing Stratovarius' new record. Despite this, the band did not give up. They continued to rehearse, and after composing new songs, the band was finally able to record a new album "Fright Night". Since the band did not have a release contract this time, they could only rely on their own financial strength. Although there is a photo of Stratovarius' new bassist Jari Behm on the album, in fact it was Timo who performed all the bass playing on the album this time. Jari was soon kicked out of Stratovarius because his playing style was not suitable for the band at all.
Stratovarius' second album, titled "Stratovarius II", was released in Finland in early 1992. At that time, the band's overseas market situation was becoming increasingly clear. The band sent its cassettes to the world. Shark Records signed a contract with the band after listening to Stratovarius' "Hands of Time". The final cover of "Stratovarius II" was reworked and released throughout Europe in October 1992 under the new title "Twilight Time". Soon after, the imported version began to be released in the Japanese market, and stayed in the top 10 of Japan's imported album rankings for 5 months, and finally became the best-selling imported album in Japan in 1993. Stratovarius also received a major contract with Japan's JVC Victor Entertainment and re-released "Twilight Time" in July 1993. That month Timo Tolkki also flew to Japan for the first time for promotion and witnessed Stratovarius' enthusiastic fans in Japan. The band's popularity also soared rapidly in Japan. While looking for a new recording company, the band used their free time to continue writing new songs, and spent the entire year of 1993 recording these new songs. At the same time, when the record was 70% complete, new bassist Jari Kainulainen joined the band. At this time, Tuomo Lassila also suffered serious injuries in both hands due to an accident. He was unable to play the drums for 8 weeks. When recording the new record, he had to hire Kingston Wall. It was completed together with the drummer Sami Kuoppamaaumlaki, who recorded 4 singles in one album.
Subsequently, Stratovarius' third album "Dreamspace" was released worldwide in February and March 1994. The album was widely praised after its release and once again enhanced the band's reputation. "Dreamspace" includes some of Stratovarius' most classic songs, such as "Dreamspace", "4th Reich" and "Chasing Shadows". In September, the band went to Japan to hold Stratovarius' first tour in Japan, and met Japanese fans face to face in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. In Helsinki, Finland, Stratovarius held a show at the famous and now closed Shadow Club - and then went to Japan, which was Jari Kainulainen's first live performance with the band.
Stratovarius has been writing new songs from the spring to the summer of 1994. With the passion that has not faded from performing in Japan, the band once again entered the recording studio to record a new record. Timo Tolkki also finally realized his long-standing dream - he recorded a solo album "Classical Variations and Themes".
These include "Fire Dance Suite", originally written in 1986, "Lord Of The Rings" and many other seminal classics. The album was released in October 1994, and Stratovarius spent a whole summer recording his fourth album.
At this stage of history, Timo Tolkki decided to end his vocal career. In order for Stratovarius to continue to develop in the future, the band must find a new vocalist. Just when the band placed an advertisement in the local music newspaper, Stratovarius suddenly remembered Timo Kotipelto, a man who had come to contact the band a year and a half ago. So then Timo Kotipelto received a call from Timo Tolkki asking him to come and audition. The band prepared songs for soundcheck, and when Timo Kotipelto opened his mouth, everyone knew he was the perfect choice for the band.
The band's fourth album "Fourth Dimension" is entirely led by Timo Kotipelto. The title of this album is also quite revealing. The music in the album has been greatly improved from the previous one, but it still retains With Stratovarius’ pure metal origins. "Fourth Dimension" was released in March 1995 and outsold "Dreamspace".
Stratovarius then launched a series of grand tours in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece and Japan. When these performances ended, Stratovarius informed the old members Tuomo Lassila and Antti Ikonen to leave the band. This time the band There are many reasons for the personnel changes. The main factors are differences in musical opinions and interpersonal relationships. The two people just cannot accept Timo Tolkki's ideas.
After the great success of "Fourth Dimension", Timo Tolkki and Timo Kotipelto wanted to further develop Stratovarius' music. At this time, new drummer Jooumlorg Michael and new keyboardist Jens Johansson also joined the band. .
The recording and mixing work for the band’s fifth album began at Finnvox Recording Studio in Helsinki. This album once again promoted the musical development of Stratovarius, adding Johansson and Michael’s refreshing musical performance and work attitude, making Stratovarius' music has developed towards dramatic, melodic and symphonic metal music. This is also the band's first attempt to use a 40-person choir and a 20-person orchestra to participate in music production. This album also includes many of Stratovarius' classics. Songs like "Father Time," "Eternity" and "Will the Sun Rise?"
Stratovarius' next album "Visions" was released in April 1997. Once released, it immediately reached the fifth position in the Finnish album rankings and stayed in the top 40 for 24 weeks. The promotional tour of "Visions" was also grand and unusual, and it not only traveled to Finland, but also to Japan, Europe and many countries in South America. "Visions" sold more than 20,000 copies in Finland, and the band held a small party at the Tavastia Club in Helsinki on June 10, 1998 to celebrate this victory.
While the band was holding a promotional performance for "Visions", they recorded the band's first live album, the 2CD "Visions of Europe", which was subsequently released at the end of March 1998. The songs were over 100 minutes long, and the album was a commercial and critical success.
In April 1998, Stratovarius began writing and rehearsing for their next album, their seventh album - "Destiny", which was released in the spring and summer of 1998. It was recorded at Finnvox Recording Studio in Finland and officially released on October 5, 1998. The first single of the album was made into an EP called "SOS", which was released on August 17. After its release, it quickly climbed to the third position in Finland's EP chart. What's even weirder is that "Destiny" climbed to No. 1 on the Finnish album charts on Thursday, ahead of its official release.
The following year, in 1999, Stratovarius once again broke through 20,000 gold sales with "Destiny", but this was just a signal, and good things had not really come yet.
In the same year, Stratovarius was named Finland's best group of the year in a reader survey in the Finnish metal music magazine "SFP", and their "SOS" was also named the best domestic MV. Two Timos were selected as "Wondeful Person" - —In short, Stratovarius received numerous honors that year.
At the end of 1999, Stratovarius began working on a new album. This album was released on February 28, 2000 by Nuclear Blast. And the story of Stratovarius will continue like this - never ending...
Formation time: 1984
Nationality: Finland
Album: Timo Kotipelto - Waiting For The Dawn , Elements Part , Visions of Europe , Visions , Twilight Time ,The Chosen Ones , Intermision , Infinite , Fourth Dimpnsion , Episode , Dreamspace , Destiny ,
Elements Part II , Timo Kotipelto - Coldness
(Lingyun official report/Translated by Rock Empire) Please refer to the famous source for reprinting below
The following is the official confession book released by Timo, the soul of Lingyun, explaining the generation of Finnish metal rock king The whole process of fragmentation.
Dear fans and friends:
It’s time to stop being silent and announce the fact that you have been speculating for a long time. Stratovarius (Lingyun Band) will no longer exist.
In October last year, I announced the disbandment to the band members and informed them of the reasons. This letter is for the fans to thank you for supporting the band over the years. I was going to write a typical "music career" statement that didn't say anything. But in the end I decided to tell you the cause and effect and the truth. When you learn about all this behind the scenes, I hope you can understand the reason why I made this decision.
Since TK and J?rg joined the band, in-flight nervousness and denial have surrounded me, and the reason for Jari Kainulainen's dismissal is so ridiculous that I won't explain it here. If I ever get to publish a book, I will write it then. I think the seeds of (dissolution) germinated 12 years ago, maybe it was there at that time. There was so much mess, J?rg complained to me about TK, and TK complained to me about J?rg. It was a real mess and, of course, I never showed it in front of the fans. I'm not here to express disdain for TK and J?rg. They are both nice people, but the relationship sometimes develops to a point where we don't want it to develop. Also I want to tell you what happens behind the curtain. Everyone only sees the good side and doesn't know what is actually happening.
We had a magical time together, 14 records, 6 world tours and thousands of shows around the world. 3 gold-selling albums, 1 Finnish Grammy Award, and nearly 3 million albums sold. I came to this decision after a long year of careful consideration and I think it is the right solution for me.
I just feel like my time in "Lingyun" is starting to go bad, a lot of seriously wrong things are happening, and no one is paying attention. The countdown (to disbandment) really began in 2005 after the release of stratovarius's last album. The atmosphere at that time became extremely weird. Because in April 2004 I was admitted to the hospital and spent most of my time recovering from my mental stress, and that's when things started to change. Jens called me to support me and we made an album called Cloud, which I thought was a really bad album, but we started touring anyway and things started to go bad and no one noticed. I wanted to have a projection screen in the show, and the whole show was being planned, but no one had any interest in it, it was like, the less money [the band] spends the better. Lauri Porra joined the band, overwhelmed by what was going on. J?rg Michael came straight back from the Saxon show and wore the same tour clothes to perform at the "Lingyun" show.
For most of the tour, J?rg was always extremely arrogant towards everyone, especially me and TK. TK's attitude towards me was cold and polite, but I could smell hostility. Of course, we are very professional and always show our good side during performances, but the tacit cooperation of the band from the heart is very important to the performance! I think TK always wonders why his songs and lyrics are never included in Lingyun's albums. I don’t know if this is the reason why he formed his own SOLO band and went it alone.
I spent many years trying to tell him the reason why I didn't like his creation: the biggest difference between me and him in songwriting is that I want to write songs that are in line with "Lingyun", while he only wants to write songs that are in line with Kotipelto song. That means these songs can only belong to Kotipelto's album.
It's really hard to say something like "I don't like your music." Fans, you don’t like to listen to all the songs, neither do I, nor do TK. I'm not one to judge what's good music and what's not. But I can tell which music I like to listen to, but it's definitely not the type that TK wrote. I must say that he also wrote a lot of good songs when he was working alone, and maybe he also commented on my songs. We are completely different types. He and I don't feel the same way at all. The most amazing thing is that he is not a friend of the band. I have only visited TK five times in 12 years. And Jens is the closest, followed by Lauri Porra, they are all good people. But some of the band members are not real friends, and I have to tell you the truth.
The tour is still going on, and J?rg was told that he would leave after the show. The reason for participating in the tour is just because "he is a businessman." When I tell you the following fact, you may be shocked by J?rg's attitude. At that time, he told me: "The band is finished." We tried three times to go back to the studio and record a live DVD in S?o Paulo, but we couldn't find any suitable footage because he was so bad that the plan fell through. Although the audience was generally good during the 120-date world tour, it still seemed like "mission accomplished". What makes me sad is not only this, but also the fact that the band has become disorganized and is only operating for money.
The tour came and went, we continued to survive but J?rg never left. But this was the weirdest show I've ever done, and it was very successful, but I still felt like I had to face something, not happy, but sad.
The next thing, I want to write a new real old-school power metal album. I think fans need this and it’s the right thing to do. It will be an obscure "RR" album. The melody part of the song is very rhythmic and beautiful, just like previous "Lingyun" albums. But I feel that the current situation of the band is very difficult to record an album. Although we completed a DEMO with 10 new songs in 2006, although I am not satisfied with this one, it still needs to go where it needs to go: the record company. I booked 12 days in March 2007 from Sonic Pump Studios in Helsinki. During that time J?rg kept saying that we urgently needed to record "Visions" again, but I don't think he had that urgent idea. No one did. . Everyone behaves as if they were not recording the album. With no one to review the songs, things went bad. I spent a week recording the drums and then gave up. I found it too difficult, and at this point I started to really think about whether I should continue the band. I can't remember how many times we've put our time, money, and energy first. The band could no longer progress beyond repeating its past trajectory. I also know that TK doesn't like this new album at all. This highlighted the differences between him and me. But for me the number one element of the band is the continuous innovation of "Lingyun", so I feel that maybe it's time to stop all this.
Last year, that is, 2007, was a turning point for me after so many years of experience. I felt better, but for Lingyun, I felt worse. There were disputes about everything. Including a lot of boring trivia that pissed me off. A lot of arguments (even physical fights), a lot. I had to put a lot of effort into trying to smooth things over, which was mostly between J?rg and TK. A lot of the stuff presented on this page is no longer available, but people are still ordering it. The SSL security information for the page expired a year ago. I tried to fix it, but I don't have permission to do it. The most popular products on the page were sold out, but J?rg refused to print more. I don't understand what's going on. At the same time, I felt happier with the birth of my rock opera Saana. I realized what "Lingyun" was missing: passion, innovation and joy, which had not been there all these years. Saana gave me hope, let me know some new knowledge to learn, and opened up a new world to start everything. I know that at work I can write some really new and cool metal songs.
We participated in 8 festivals in 2007, and then, when we stood on the stage at the Wacken Metal Festival in Germany, in front of 45,000 fans, I completely felt that the band had reached the end. I remember clearly that we played some of the same old songs that we had played countless times, but there was a feeling that the band had no soul. I looked around and felt like I was just a playing machine, without any fresh elements or excitement. The band looked terrible. Without anyone's heart in the song, the song is just an old song. J?rg's role in Wacken is simply that of an artistic performer and band manager. On the surface everyone is polite, but in reality there is no friendship left. All I could feel was that the bond between the band members was at an end. I only have one feeling: the band only exists for one reason, and that's to make money.
I feel like that's the main reason J?rg and TK are still in the band. So standing on the Wacken stage, I felt a deep fear in my heart and lungs. We were just doing the gigs for the money and that's why I decided I had to break up the band.
It was after this performance that I decided to disband the band. I had a lot of hesitations, but I felt this was the only way to go for our future. I don’t want to fire TK and J?rg because they are both important members of Lingyun and it would be unfair to the fans who love them. Then I made the decision to let the members take a break and leave this dead body (lingyun). I will inform members of my decision via EMAIL in October 2007 and explain my detailed reasons for doing so. I hope they can understand me and see the situation clearly. Only Jens and Lauri responded, while neither TK nor J?rg commented on the letter. Jens got my idea, but Lauri didn't. I understand that he didn't have a great feel for what it took to be a successful rock band on tour. It's not easy to give up, and he can't see it in my shoes. TK and J?rg were silent about this. Through my intuition, I really wanted to end the legend of "Lingyun". In February 2008, I wrote a new album for the band. After one more show, we would say goodbye to all the fans. I don't know more details about it. This time I got responses from TK and J?rg. I hope they're all well and get back to me, and then I don't expect us to do any shows. I'm happy with my decision, but I'm not sorry that it took me so long to announce it for no reason.
Then I thought that after writing so many excellent songs, I wanted to use some methods to get them released, so I contacted some friends and put Lingyun "RR session" in the place where it was originally born. Remastered, there's joy there, there's passion, the songs are great. My friends Michael Kiske and Tobias Sammet agreed to sing on the album. I decided to release a new album called: REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE. In this first album of mine, I will finally release these songs so that everyone no longer has to search the Internet for them. If anyone is interested, drop me a line as it will be released on June 6th, 2008 via Frontiers Records.
I am finally excited and happy now, for the first time in so many years. I can't wait to see my new band's records in stores. I'm very creative now, I have my own production company that doesn't just focus on metal, but anything that moves me.
I should thank J?rg, TK, Jens, Jari, Lauri, Tuomo, Antti and Jyrki for bringing the 22-year legend of Lingyun. I hope that Jens, TK, J?rg and Lauri can continue to live together in life. Come down time with the same success.
Finally, I would like to thank the fans who support Lingyun. Thank you for the love you have given us over the years. There will always be a chance to meet at some time, somewhere, and through some method in the future. I hope everyone will keep it in my heart. Remember us forever