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After his departure from Stratovarius in October 2007 Timo Tolkki has been all but lazy. He has composed his third solo album, ‘Saana-Warrior Of Light Part 1’, an ethereal Rock Opera with a message, and a project album called ‘Revolution Renaissance: New Era’, which included vocal performances from such legends as Michael Kiske and Tobias Sammett of Edguy. After his dramatic departure from Stratovarius, Timo Tolkki did not know if he ever wanted to have a band again. It was during the recording process of the New Era album when he decided that he still wanted to experience the magic of playing in a band. So he placed an advertisement on his Myspace page which attracted over 2000 applicants from all over the world. From these people he chose the current band members Gus Monsanto (vocals), Bruno Agra (drums & orchestral arrangements), Michael Khalilov (keyboards) and Justin Biggs (bass). It is a multinational band of different talents. Timo Tolkki was so thrilled about the orchestration skills of Bruno Agra (ex-Aquarius), that he was convinced that he had found something really new. Agra, although living in London, is Brazilian like the singer Gus Monsanto. It did not take very long when Tolkki realized what kind of goldmine he had found in these two musicians. In Stratovarius Timo Tolkki composed 95% of the music, melodies and most of the lyrics, for a total of over 100 songs in the 23 years he spent in the band, that’s why he assumed a total control of the songwriting process. This time, after realizing (maybe for the first time in his career) that there was a real possibility for a fruitful musical exhange, the trio locked itself in a cabin in Lapland, far away from the problems of the modern life and spent one month writing and demoing songs in September 2008. The results were demoed with the whole band at Sonic Pump Studios in Helsinki in October. The band’s feeling was fresh, filled with youthful energy and enthusiasm. It did not take a long time when everybody realized that there was magic in the air and something really special was in the making.
The band continued from the demos to the full production of the album, for a total of three months spent in Helsinki. Mastering was done by legendary Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios.
It is very difficult to describe Revolution Renaissance’s style. There are a lot of trademarks from Tolkki’s Stratovarius days, his guitar solos are more aggressive and fast than ever, the production is monumental and is enhanced by Agra’s orchestral arrangements. Gus Monsanto’s emotional voice varies from silent whispers to Ronnie James Dioesque power, giving the music a new face. There is a lot of drama on the new album, ‘Age Of Aquarius’, consisting of three parts: in the first one, the titletrack, ‘Sins Of My Beloved’ and ‘Ixion’s Wheel’ are more in the vein of traditional melodic heavy rock/metal, but other songs, like ‘Behind the Mask’, have quite a different approach: it might come as a total surprise to many Tolkki fans, but this song has it’s distinguished place on the album and a bit of a message too. ‘Ghost Of Fallen Grace’ acts as a bridge to three songs that are perhaps the biggest, darkest and most emotional in Tolkki’s career: ‘Heart Of All’, ‘So She Wears Black’ and ‘Kyrie Eleison’ (Greek for ‘Lord Has Mercy’). The production of these three songs extends far beyond the limits of what is considered to be a standard heavy rock/metal album.
Filled with huge orchestral arrangements by Agra, blistering leads by Tolkki, emotional vocals by Monsanto, punchy crystal clear and powerful drums by Agra and tasteful keyboard texturing by Khalilov up to the solid groundwork displayed by Biggs, ‘Age Of Aquarius’ is definitely a mixture of something old and something new. The album finishes with the optimistic anthem ‘Into The Future’, with its Celtic influences which give the album a positive and bright expectation of the years to come for this band.
Revolution Renaissance was already chosen as the “band of the year” by a Brazilian magazine Whiplash. A full world tour will come soon. |
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