Twilight Time

Twilight Time is an important early work on which Stratovarius deftly combines speedy riffs, fluid keyboards and Timo Tolkki’s guitar and vocals. From the hard, dark style of the debut, it begins steering greatly toward the clearer, more melodic power metal that would symbolize the later band. Compared to the later large-scale, grand style, there are still plain parts, yet its own outline already clearly appears in the clear melody and the powerful forward rhythm. In the momentum of the opener “Break the Ice,” the solemn title track “Twilight Time” and cuts like “The Hands of Time,” “Metal Frenzy” and “Lead Us into the Light,” a Nordic, somehow cold and beautiful melody and the straight power of traditional metal overlap naturally. Its major distinction is that, turning from the dark, uneasy previous album, the songs head toward a bright lift rather than darkness. You can hear the process by which the prototype of the melodic power metal leading to the later golden era steadily takes shape. Fresh and full of promise, it is a charming record of early Stratovarius.