Finnish metallers
STRATOVARIUS will release their brand-new self-titled effort in late August/early September via
Sanctuary Records. The track listing for the effort is as follows:
01.
Maniac Dance 02.
Fight 03.
Just Carry On 04.
Back To Madness 05.
Gypsy In Me 06.
Götterdämmerung (Zenith of Power) 07.
The Land of Ice and Snow 08.
Leave The Tribe 09.
United A video for the album's first single,
"Maniac Dance", was shot last week by director and guitarist
Timo Tolkki's old schoolmate
Antti Jokinen (
BEYONCÉ,
WYCLEF JEAN,
KORN,
MISSY ELLIOT,
NIGHTWISH,
SHANIA TWAIN,
CELINE DION).
"The songs are a few years old,"
Tolkki told
Sonera Plaza. "I didn't plan the album to be like this. The songs wrote themselves. I just compose and later see what I have come up with... All music on the album is done by me, but
Jens (
Johansson, keyboards) and
Timo (
Kotipelto, vocals) have contributed some lyrics.
"Every artist praises their new album, but I just really like this CD,"
Tolkki continued. "And of course I'm very happy that we managed to make it in the first place!"
One track that has made it to the album's final track listing over
objections from the group's record label is
"Götterdämmerung (Zenith of Power)" (formerly
"Hitler"), which features a sampled speech by
Adolf Hitler.
Tolkki has previously described the track as "as strongly against
Hitler as a song can be."
STRATOVARIUS will be teaming up with
INTO ETERNITY for a North American tour beginning in mid-September.
