KOTIPELTO
Kotipelto - Waiting for
the Dawn (Century
Media) 2002
1. "Intro" (:59)
2. "Travel Through Time" (3:57)
3. "Beginning" (3:41)
4. "Lord of Eternity" (4:04)
5. "Knowledge and Wisdom" (3:54)
6. "Battle of the Gods" (5:05)
7. "Beauty Has Come" (4:54)
8. "Vizier" (4:20)
9. "Chosen by Re" (7:16)
10. "Waiting for the Dawn" (5:20)
11. "Arise" (6:20)
12. "The Movement of the Nile" (2:24)
Stratovarius frontman Timo Kotipelto used his time off from Stratovarius to record his first solo album. "Waiting for the Dawn" follows in a similar style to Stratovarius; mixing together melodic rock, heavy metal and technical songwriting. Unfortunately "Waiting for the Dawn" is a bit too close to the Stratovarius sound. I'm not sure why Timo wouldn't stretch out a bit since he had the opportunity to put out something on his own. I guess something could be said for dedication to a style. I can respect that. Musically the band is tight with some stellar musicianship. So, despite my initial disappointment that Timo stuck to the Stratovarius formual, I do enjoy this CD. The list of musicians who appear on this release: Jari Kainulainen (Stratovarius) - Bass; Michael Romeo (Symphony X) - guitars; Roland Grapow (ex-Helloween) - Guitars; Sami Virtanen (Warmen) - Guitars; Janne Warman (Children of Bodom) - Keyboards; Mikko Harkin (Sonata Arctica) - Keyboards; Mirka Rantanen (Thunderstone/Warment) - Drums. The album is a concept basing on myths and reality of ancient Egyptian times. Timo himself produced "Waiting for the Dawn The artwork was painted by Derek Riggs.