ALBUM REVIEW: Stratovarius – Survive


 

It’s been seven long years since Finnish power metal act Stratovarius released their previous studio album, Eternal. With so much happening in the world since then, it really does feel like an eternity. Although far from the Utopian dream, 2015 was just a much more pleasant place to live. Two hugely polarising world leaders/scandal enthusiasts were yet to come to power, pandemics only affected other people, and we still had David Bowie, Prince, and (for most of it anyway) Lemmy.

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Ghost – Live at Royal Albert Hall, London


 

Back in June when Swedish retro/goth/prog rock act Ghost announced a one-off show at the Royal Albert Hall, the news caught many off guard and swiftly caused the internet to burst in a torrent of bitterness. Triggered instantly, a horde of permanently enraged keyboard warrior types leapt into battle with Caps Lock buttons at the ready, proceeding to inform the internet in the strongest possible terms that, “they’ll never sell that many tickets”, “they’re nowhere near that big”, and “it’ll be hilarious when they cancel”. Oh, and of course, the now almost delightfully traditional war cries of “they’re shit”, and “they’re not metal!!”Continue reading