Stormwind (SWEDEN)

[Horex]

Stormwind - Resurrection (2000) (Black Lodge Records Remastered Edition 2020)













Year : 2000 (Black Lodge Records Remastered Edition 2020)
Style : Neoclassical Power Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 134 mb

Bio:

Stormwind is the brain-child of guitarist and mastermind Thomas Wolf.Stormwind became the first Swedish band to perform at Cannes Film Festival. After this, Thomas Wolf made the decision to put up a stable band line-up.STORMWIND was founded in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden...and can be described as the brain-child of guitarist and mastermind Thomas Wolf. Wolf who was Swedish Kyokushin Karate champion and sparring partner of Dolph Lundgren was soon discovered as a brilliant guitar player in Sweden.The debut album "Straight from your heart" was released in 1996 (Sweden, Japan). An AOR album which took Wolf to a promotion trip in Japan.The second release "Stargate-98" with different guest musicians like Ian Haugland (Europe), Anna Norberg (Royal castle....) showed a classical metal potential. Stormwind and Wolf received an invitation for a tour in the South of France.Stormwind became the first Swedish rockband sponsored by the famous Movie Festival palace in Cannes and after this tour Wolf made the decision to put up a stable line-up. Wolf did a tremendous choice with Thomas Vikstr�m (Ex.Candlemass, Brazen Abott) whose powerful, charismatic voice gave Stormwind a remarkable profile. Further on board was the drummer Patrik Johansson (Ex.Without Grief), Bass player Andreas Olssson and Keyboard player Kaspar Dahlqvist (Ex.Treasure Land). STORMWIND became a tight and musically top line-up since that day in October 1998.Wolf received an invitation to a tribute album of Yngwie Malmsteen -99 which Stormwind appeared on with the Alcatraz song "To Drunk to Live Too Young to Die". The third Neo-Classical album "Heaven can Wait"-99 was released in Asia, Brazil , Argentina, and Europe got some good reviews but it was in the following year 2000 when the album "Resurrection" was released with the new labels Marquee (Asia) and Massacre (EU) their success really began.Resurrection received tremendous reviews with excellent press feedback in all major metal magazines. Stormwind got everything right this time: great production, catchy melodies, classicaly inspired guitar work including the guitar symphony. (Even though Wolf got a serious tendinit during the recordings). The ballad "Seven Seas" was even played on the airflights around the world. Resurrection sold very well and made the name Stormwind popular throughout Europe and Asia. In the end of the year after a successful Scandinavian tour Wolf was invited to have Stormwind for the opening song on the "Jason Becker tribute" album (David Lee Roth). Stormwind choose the catchy David Lee Roth song "A little ain�t enough" and made a great cover for the release summer 2001. It was now a great opurtunity to take the "royal Stormwind tiger" to a even higher level.The fifth release "REFLECTIONS" is the most difficult recording so far with big choirs, classical arrangements and an even better production. Reflections is a metal adventure from the battering "War of Troy" to the epic story of "Ramses". Every song has a special introsound referring to the "reflection" of the song, and this album will take Stormwind to the top of the Metal mountain.The album "RISING SYMPHONY" (released May 2003), contains that strong "catchy" melodic harmonies, breathtaking solo parts and the new "stunning" drummer David Wallin (Ex. Blacksmith), since Patrik went on tour with Yngwie Malmsteen.The album also include a heavy version of the Queen song "WHITE MAN". The German magazine "Rock Hard" choosed the song "Touch the flames" on their sample CD in April 2003, limited to 100,000 copies.After a trip to Japan Mars 2003 (with 4 tracks from the "Rising Symphony" on the Japanese radiocharts), STORMWIND was at last prepared to enter the stage of the Sweden Rock Festival 2003! The tour was recorded and the result will be heard on the forthcoming release 2004 ! The STORMWIND box (2 discs) with the titel "LEGACY" will include both interactive DVD files with live and bonus tracks.

Album:

This classic Stormwind album "Resurrection" is now resurrected with 5 bonus tracks and Re-Mastered with a brand new artwork and comes for the first time also on a double gatefold vinyl ! Stormwind guitarist: Thomas Wolf & his supergroup musicians, Lead singer: Thomas Vikström (ex. Therion, Candlemass), Drums: Patrick Johansson (ex: Yngwie Malmsteen, WASP), Bass: Andreas Olsson (ex: Royal Hunt), Keyboard: Kaspar Dahlqvist (ex. Dionysus). Has once again set the caliber of showing how Swedish metal is to be played STORMWIND is a Swedish symphonic metal band with a strong sound and stronger symphonics. Formed in 1996, this band went on hiatus in 2003. However, they re-released their third studio album “Resurrection” with new tracks. It’s worth a listen, as the melodies in the song carry the listener away into their imaginations beautifully, However, there are some glaring technical problems they didn’t clean up. Namely, the vocals are placed too far back.The ambient opening track “Phoenix Rising” indeed rises from beginning to end, swelling with a beautiful orchestral sound. The thunder at the end of the intro leaves me in suspense. However, “Ship of Salvation” opens with a thud rather than a bang. The synthesizers sound artificial and the vocals, which are beautiful and clear, are sadly pushed back in production. If the vocals were brought to the front where they should be, the music would be a wild ride. “Souldance” has a more promising opening, coming in with biting instrumentals and crisp, screaming guitars. Once again, the vocals are too far back, but the music is so lovely on this track, it’s almost forgivable. Apart from the vocal placement, the chorus echoes in a gloriously uplifting way. The complexities in the instrumental break are a nice break, including how the lead guitar faces off against the lower rhythm guitar by flying through sweeps.Their fourth track is their slow ballad. “Seven Seas” brings the vocals up a hair more in lieu of intense guitars. However, they’re still a little too far back. The ambiance brings some unnecessary flourishes like sparkling sounds, but overall, any ambient sounds (like blowing wind) work in the song’s favor. The melody is nice. However, a small but common problem emerges on this track: the vocalist’s upper register needs some strengthening. Fortunately, the problem dissipates on the next track: “Passion,” where the vocalist has much better control of his range (I find that some singers are stronger controlling their range on slow songs, others fare better on faster tracks). The operatic belts at the end of the chorus are divine. I also enjoyed the warbling, echoing guitar solo. It had a unique, underwater bubbly effect.The rest of the album carries the same epic, symphonic theme as the rest of the album. “Blinded Eyes” has a traditional metal edge that reminded me of the 80s. They ham up the chorus and rock out the song. They follow it up with an instrumental that stretches over eight minutes. “Symphonia Millennia” begins with some soft, fast guitar work that reminds me of a mandolin. The instrumentals involve a sea shanty or a night by a moonlit beach. Then, the tone changes to an intense, orchestral guitar movement, full of gallops. The organs used give a Baroque feel to the song. Although the next part of the song uses more artificial synthesizers, it’s still intriguing.While the band has a similar sound on the album, they mix the album up by switching tempos and flavors between songs. It’s a common trick on albums with an overarching thematic sound is to split the songs by tempo, having a fast song followed by a mid-temp song, an intense song followed by a slow ballad For example, they follow their long, symphonic instrumental with shorter songs: a more intense track called “Samuraj” and a mid-tempo, short song, “Holy Land”. The vocals are particularly strong on these tracks, with clear, operatic belts used. They’re clear and operatic and while they’re still a little far back, I love how they echo at key parts in the lyrics and verses. They keep the epic power in the chorus, creating a nice, uplifting sentiment. Granted, these were the final two tracks on their first release.The next song, “Spellbound” is faster, setting it apart from the previous track to keep variety in the album. They follow it up with a radio edit of “Seven Seas” and some bonus tracks that never made it on the album. They’re good to check out, but mainly continue the sound of the original tracks. The new outro, “Marco Polo” is another instrumental and serves as a better farewell to the album than the more generic ending of the first release. The album ends with a slower song, with an intro featuring soft, sad violins. I love how the airy, quick piano notes juxtapose against the longer violin melody, then the guitars. They jam-pack so much variety into the last track and harmonize the instruments so well, it’s hard not to leave the album feeling positive about it.I love the imagery this album involves: either a Mad Max desert or an enchanted lagoon, the orange-and-blue vibe I get from the album is enchanting. Sadly, the technical problems, especially those in the beginning, are impossible to overlook. They’re stronger on instrumental tracks, where the production is more even.

Line Up:

Thomas Vikström - Vocals - See also: Dark Illusion, Therion, ex-Enlighted, ex-7days, ex-Mehida, Covered Call, ex-Candlemass, ex-Demon Angels, ex-Silent Memorial, ex-Tommy Vitaly, ex-Afterglow, ex-Brazen Abbot, ex-Talisman, ex-Talk of the Town, ex-Thomas Vikström, ex-Symphonic Rhapsody of Queen (live), ex-Vinnie Vincent Invasion (live)
Thomas Wolf - Guitars, Lyrics
Andreas Olsson - Bass - See also: Rob Rock, Royal Hunt, ex-7days, ex-Wisdom Call, ex-Harmony, ex-Narnia, ex-Tower of Babel, ex-DivineFire
Patrick Johansson - Drums - See also: ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, ex-WASP
Kaspar Dahlqvist - Keyboards - See also: ex-Dionysus

Tracklist:

01. Phoenix Rising (Remastered) (01:23)
02. Ship of Salvation (Remastered) (04:58)
03. Souldance (Remastered) (05:02)
04. Seven Seas (Remastered) (05:28)
05. Passion (Remastered) (04:13)
06. Blinded Eyes (Remastered) (04:20)
07. Synphonia Millennialis (Remastered) (08:49)
08. Samuraj (Remastered) (04:57)
09. Holy Land (Remastered) (06:48)
10. Spellbound (Remastered) (03:51) (Bonus Track)
11. Seven Seas (Radio Edit) (Remastered) (03:42) (Bonus Track)
12. Mountain of Zion (Remastered) (04:39) (Bonus Track)
13. Forever Free (Remastered) (05:29) (Bonus Track)
14. Marco Polo (Remastered) (04:10) (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Stormwind - Reflections (2001) (Black Lodge Records Remastered Edition 2021)













Year : 2001 (Black Lodge Records Remastered Edition 2021)
Style : Neoclassical Power Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 125 mb

Bio:

Stormwind is the brain-child of guitarist and mastermind Thomas Wolf.Stormwind became the first Swedish band to perform at Cannes Film Festival. After this, Thomas Wolf made the decision to put up a stable band line-up.STORMWIND was founded in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden...and can be described as the brain-child of guitarist and mastermind Thomas Wolf. Wolf who was Swedish Kyokushin Karate champion and sparring partner of Dolph Lundgren was soon discovered as a brilliant guitar player in Sweden.The debut album "Straight from your heart" was released in 1996 (Sweden, Japan). An AOR album which took Wolf to a promotion trip in Japan.The second release "Stargate-98" with different guest musicians like Ian Haugland (Europe), Anna Norberg (Royal castle....) showed a classical metal potential. Stormwind and Wolf received an invitation for a tour in the South of France.Stormwind became the first Swedish rockband sponsored by the famous Movie Festival palace in Cannes and after this tour Wolf made the decision to put up a stable line-up. Wolf did a tremendous choice with Thomas Vikstr�m (Ex.Candlemass, Brazen Abott) whose powerful, charismatic voice gave Stormwind a remarkable profile. Further on board was the drummer Patrik Johansson (Ex.Without Grief), Bass player Andreas Olssson and Keyboard player Kaspar Dahlqvist (Ex.Treasure Land). STORMWIND became a tight and musically top line-up since that day in October 1998.Wolf received an invitation to a tribute album of Yngwie Malmsteen -99 which Stormwind appeared on with the Alcatraz song "To Drunk to Live Too Young to Die". The third Neo-Classical album "Heaven can Wait"-99 was released in Asia, Brazil , Argentina, and Europe got some good reviews but it was in the following year 2000 when the album "Resurrection" was released with the new labels Marquee (Asia) and Massacre (EU) their success really began.Resurrection received tremendous reviews with excellent press feedback in all major metal magazines. Stormwind got everything right this time: great production, catchy melodies, classicaly inspired guitar work including the guitar symphony. (Even though Wolf got a serious tendinit during the recordings). The ballad "Seven Seas" was even played on the airflights around the world. Resurrection sold very well and made the name Stormwind popular throughout Europe and Asia. In the end of the year after a successful Scandinavian tour Wolf was invited to have Stormwind for the opening song on the "Jason Becker tribute" album (David Lee Roth). Stormwind choose the catchy David Lee Roth song "A little ain�t enough" and made a great cover for the release summer 2001. It was now a great opurtunity to take the "royal Stormwind tiger" to a even higher level.The fifth release "REFLECTIONS" is the most difficult recording so far with big choirs, classical arrangements and an even better production. Reflections is a metal adventure from the battering "War of Troy" to the epic story of "Ramses". Every song has a special introsound referring to the "reflection" of the song, and this album will take Stormwind to the top of the Metal mountain.The album "RISING SYMPHONY" (released May 2003), contains that strong "catchy" melodic harmonies, breathtaking solo parts and the new "stunning" drummer David Wallin (Ex. Blacksmith), since Patrik went on tour with Yngwie Malmsteen.The album also include a heavy version of the Queen song "WHITE MAN". The German magazine "Rock Hard" choosed the song "Touch the flames" on their sample CD in April 2003, limited to 100,000 copies.After a trip to Japan Mars 2003 (with 4 tracks from the "Rising Symphony" on the Japanese radiocharts), STORMWIND was at last prepared to enter the stage of the Sweden Rock Festival 2003! The tour was recorded and the result will be heard on the forthcoming release 2004 ! The STORMWIND box (2 discs) with the titel "LEGACY" will include both interactive DVD files with live and bonus tracks.

Album:

Digitally remastered 20th anniversary edition of the Swedish metal band's 2001 album. Stormwind is a supergroup featuring members of Therion, Yngwie Malmsteen, Candlemass, Royal Hunt, Dionysos and others.The epic album "Reflections" from Stormwind re-mastered 2021 is finally here!Historical songs with reflections of biblic proportions from the mighty "War of Troy" to the era of "Ramses" !First time on vinyl !* This is one of the most classic artists in its genre from Sweden.* Featuring members that are/have been active in bands such as; Therion, Yngwie Malmsteen, Candlemass, Royal Hunt, Dionysos and more.* Re-Mastered by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios (Hellacopters, Alcest, Cult of Luna, Imperial State Electric, Misery loves Co, Lucifer, Dool, Refused and more...).The old adage of not messing with perfection is a good one, but when met with the objection that this outlook leads to stagnation, a caveat should be added that goes along the lines of it being okay to do so provided that it is done in the right way. This might seem a cryptic notion, but it is actually a very good way of looking at how a band goes about maintaining a particular style and niche without writing the same album over and over. For much of its duration, namely from about 1995 until 2004, the wave of power metal revivalist bands did an excellent of job of existing within this sweet spot between rehashing and wandering off the reservation, and the Malmsteen inspired Swedish powerhouse Stormwind was definitely not an exception to this. After having scaled the proverbial mountain with their 4th studio LP and magnum opus Resurrection, it seemed like there was nowhere to go but down, but if Thomas Wolf and the classic lineup of musicians following him were going to take that first step back down the summit, it would be as small of a venture downwards as humanly possible.This is essentially what Reflections proves to be, its own distinct place in power metal history that bears a strong resemblance to its spellbinding predecessor, yet differs enough to avoid being a carbon copy and is as worthy of what it accomplished as it could. It is a step forth in production quality, with just a tad more heaviness and bite, and is actually far more in line with the conventions of power metal in broader Europe than the Malmsteen-based orthodoxy of this band’s past efforts. It is still firmly fixed in the neo-classicism of the Stormwind sound, but there is a heavier degree of Helloween elements present than before, resulting in a greater amount of speed and a strong emphasis on middle length, chorus-oriented anthems that are more in line with Stratovarius and even Freedom Call at times. There is still a heavily cosmopolitan character to the songwriting that makes room for influences outside of standard western common practices, including a recurring Egyptian influence that comes and goes, but this is an album that avoids lengthy instrumental demonstrations of technical prowess or even long-songs that are asymmetrical in demeanor.Following a highly epic and theatrical prelude dubbed “Genesis” that ushers in the Middle Eastern influences something fierce and even features some sampled chanting common to said part of the world, the name of this album’s game is straightforward pomp and majesty, and it plays for keeps. The riveting and speeder “War Of Troy” proves a beast of an opening number, containing a similar flashy riff set and effective set of hooks to that of “Ship Of Salvation”, but has more of a speed/thrashing demeanor that predicts where Dushan Petrossi would go on songs like Magic Kingdom’s “Child Of The Nile” and Iron Mask’s “Blizzard Of Doom” years later. Along for the ride are similarly blazing cruisers in “Illusion”, “Queen For Nine Days” and “Assassin Of Honour” the refuse to relent, proving that Thomas Wolf definitely wanted to turn up the adrenaline and that he picked a perfect machine in Patrick Johansson to accomplish this. Naturally one shouldn’t discount the incredible lead displays pouring out of both Wolf and Dahlqvist, let along Thomas Vikstrom, who likewise sticks to the stratosphere part of his range and sounds a fair bit closer to Timo Koltipelto on this collection of songs.Naturally even high octane power metal albums don’t live solely by speed alone, but even on the slower points of this effort; the level of ambition at play is undiminished. On the catchy and clearly mid-paced side of things is “The Man Behind The Iron Mask” (one wonders where Dushan Petrossi got his inspiration for not only the music, but also the name of his most prolific project), which still sees things being fairly technical and loaded to the brim with fancy drum work, though compressed into a song that could pass for radio if radio wasn’t a crapshoot. The same general picture is painted on the somewhat longer and more elaborate mid-paced grooves of the title song “Reflections” and “Dynasty”, and the lone refuge for Johansson to give his feet a rest in an acoustic driven ballad dubbed “Golden Tears” sees Wolf picking up the slack with a barrage of classical guitar noodling reminiscent of Malmsteen’s “Dreaming”. Truth be told, everything on here surpasses the material on Resurrection in terms of ferocity and ambitiousness, but doesn’t prove to be quite as memorable, with the exception of the closing epic nod to Black Sabbath and Rainbow “Ramses”, which seals the deal with a truly astounding chorus section and one-ups “Holy Land” at every turn.As a total package Reflections could be summed up as the most power metal-oriented of Stormwind’s offerings. In the context of the broader power metal revival, its title proves to be quite fitting as it very effectively reflects the climatic character of the style at the time, as albums like Sonata Arctica’s Silence, Freedom Call’s Crystal Empire and Kamelot’s Karma brought the speed and pomp of the style to the point of sheer exaggeration, all the while stopping just shy of overt excessiveness. It’s a bitter sweet chapter in Stormwind’s short story as this was the last album that Patrick Johansson would lend his amazing chops to before being swiped away by Yngwie Malmsteen, who no doubt took notice of how well this band had adopted his formula and wanted to use one of its key players to recapture the magic in his own stagnating efforts (sadly it took a couple albums before this finally happened on Perpetual Flame). Though not the end of Stormwind’s story, there was something truly amazing about the Johansson years of this band, and this album offers the most intense display of why.

Line Up:

Thomas Vikström - Vocals - See also: Dark Illusion, Therion, ex-Enlighted, ex-7days, ex-Mehida, Covered Call, ex-Candlemass, ex-Demon Angels, ex-Silent Memorial, ex-Tommy Vitaly, ex-Afterglow, ex-Brazen Abbot, ex-Talisman, ex-Talk of the Town, ex-Thomas Vikström, ex-Symphonic Rhapsody of Queen (live), ex-Vinnie Vincent Invasion (live)
Thomas Wolf - Guitars, Lyrics
Andreas Olsson - Bass - See also: Rob Rock, Royal Hunt, ex-7days, ex-Wisdom Call, ex-Harmony, ex-Narnia, ex-Tower of Babel, ex-DivineFire
Patrick Johansson - Drums - See also: ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, ex-WASP
Kaspar Dahlqvist - Keyboards - See also: ex-Dionysus

Tracklist:

01. Genesis 01:12
02. War of Troy 04:15
03. The Man Behind the Iron Mask 03:54
04. Reflections 05:12
05. Illusion 04:54
06. Golden Tears 05:45
07. Queen of Nine Days 04:48
08. Dynasty 04:27
09. Assassin of Honour 04:35
10. Ramses 06:08
11. Venezia 01:38 (Bonus Track)
12. A Little Ain't Enough 04:34 (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/