Waiting For The Dawn
Kotipelto
•
June 27, 2002
Well, well, well...what we have here? After Timo Tolki's newest solo album, the voice of Stratovarius walked the same path. Waiting For The Dawn is the first release of Timo Kotipelto, frontman of the Finnish melodic power metal band, who tries to combine his musical talent with his love for Egyptian mythology.
Waiting For The Dawn is loose concept album about an Egyptian man in ancient times who experienced his rebirth by a vast constellation of stars, so each song reveals experiences from the different period in his life. If you thought that this would be another Stratovarius-like album you are wrong. Timo Kotipelto wanted to try different tunes and melodic parts like the slow tempo but with powerful chorus Battle Of The Gods or the heavy riffed Vizier. Another solid moment of the album was the first three songs, excluding the Intro, with the Beginning(which reminded me a bit of Malmsteen !!!) taking the "Best song of the Album award.
The remaining songs tend to be boring after a couple of hearings with some keyboard solo repeating more often than any melodic power metal fan was used to and a couple of inspired guitar riffs getting lost with the rest mediocre results. Nevertheless, i'll mention that Chose by Re was a personal favorite cause of the nice,catchy, Egyptian tune of the first minute, that matched very nicely with Kotipelto's high pitch voice.
So conclusion...Though i'm a great fan of Statovarius ,i don't believe that this album was a reason (or half the reason, having in mind Timo Tolki's solo album) for the band to take a break for two years. Waiting For The Dawn is a descent effort for Mr.Kotipelto to prove his talent in composing songs, which is remarkably good, but for the last 6 years we get used to the high standards he set with Stratovarius.
6 / 10
Had Potential
"Waiting For The Dawn" Track-listing:
Intro
Travel Through Time
Beginning
Lord Of Eternity
Knowledge And Wisdom
Battle Of The Gods
Beauty Of The Gods
Vizier
Chosen By Re
Waiting For The Dawn
Arise
The Movement Of The Nile
Kotipelto Lineup:
Timo Kotipelto - Lead and Backing Vocals
Jari Kainilainen (Strarovarius) - Bass
Miker Romeo (SymphonyX) - Guitars
Roland Grapow (ex-Helloween) - Guitars
Sami Virtanen (Warmen) - Guitars
Jane Wirman (Children of Bodom, Warmen) - Keyboards
Miko Harkin (Sonata Arctica) - Keyboards
Mirka Rantanen (Tunel Vission, Warmen) - Drums
Gas (HIM) - Drums
More results...