After the incredibly diversified and powerful ''Nemesis'', the darker and progressive ''Elysium'' and the dreamy and fluffy ''Polaris'', Stratovarius already releases its fourth studio record in six years since the band rose from its ashes after Timo Tolkki's departure and a longer period on hiatus. ''Eternal'' focuses on the band's more epic side and makes the keyboard the dominating instrument on this output. Nearly every song is fast, furious and somewhat overloaded since most of them come around with majestic choirs and massive keyboard layers. Some tracks end up repeating themselves after a while. It must also be added that the guitar work on this album is rather shallow if compared to the inventive keyboard sounds and the positively surprisingly strong rhythm section. The vocals are still strong but one can clearly hear that Timo Kotipelto isn't the youngest performer anymore as he struggles with some higher notes, most notably in the chorus of the catchy single ''Shine in the Dark''.

A track that represents this album very well is the opener ''My Eternal Dream''. It starts with epic keyboard sounds recalling commercial hard rock tracks from the seventies, eighties and nineties before fast guitar riffs, pumping bass guitars and some up-tempo drumming kick in. The furious start is hold together by the majestic keyboard sounds and Timo Kotipelto's passionate vocals that sound slightly lower than usual. Those who despise the band will call this opener an exaggerated overkill consisting of commercially flavoured catchy melodies, an overdose of slushy keyboard layers and exchangeable vocal lines. Fans of the band will appreciate the track's power and speed, the glorious chorus that won't let the audience go and the overall epic atmosphere. Honestly said, I can understand both points of view and while I happen to like the opener, there might be a few too many tracks of that kind on the record.

It's no surprise that the most outstanding tracks on the album are those that break with the usual high-speed European power metal formula. The dark half-ballad ''Lost Without a Trace'' convinces with grounded and powerful vocals performing emotional lyrics, a distinctive and dominant bass guitar tone and mysterious acoustic guitar sounds that add a rather thoughtful atmosphere. This song is probably the highlight of this record. The mid-tempo stomper ''Few Are Those'' also has a versatile rhythm section and a few addicting guitar solos while the kitschy chorus is of a quite debatable quality. The elegant piano ballad ''Fire in Your Eyes'' leaves an overall better impression and is another welcome break from the faster tunes where each melody line is carefully chosen and each vocal effort perfectly employed.

Among the faster tracks, the Japanese bonus song ''Giants'' is one of my favourite tunes. Imagine a more atmospheric and epic version of ''Dragons'' from the band's predecessor and you might get an idea what to expect from this rrack. The instrumental Japanese bonus track ''Endless Forest'' is the record's most curious case. It's a very calm keyboard track with both dark and enchanting tones at the same time that could come from a horror movie soundtrack of the seventies. In the beginning, I thought the track was boring and didn't fit on the album at all but as time passed by, I started to appreciate the track's almost folk-influenced video game sound that offers a simplistic yet efficient break from the rest of the album. The highly recommendable Japanese edition even features an additional DVD featuring the band's complete performance from the 2013 edition of the Japanese Loud Park Festival.

While several tracks are simply too exchangeable, fast and joyous in my opinion, the biggest deception probably remains the album closer ''The Lost Saga'' that clocks in at almost twelve minutes. The track has a few good ideas and interesting melodies but it offers nothing new like the previous epic progressive metal pearl ''Elysium''. The song is at least four minutes too long and feels stretched to unnatural lengths just for the sake of having a longer tune on the album. The overlong instrumental part mostly sounds hectical and rarely unfolds any real magic in my opinion. In addition to this, the drumming feels out of rhythm in the faster parts which is still irritating after ten spins or so. This song is by no means comparable to other extra-long tunes like ''Mother Gaia'', ''Anthem of the World'' and ''Visions (Southern Cross)''.

In the end, Stratovarius' new output ''Eternal'' has a more epic tone than the three previous releases. On the positive side, it convinces with a creative keyboard work and a powerful bass guitar tone and includes very solid tunes like ''Lost Without a Trace'' and ''Fire in Your Eyes''. On the negative side, several tunes sound exchangeable and feel slightly overloaded or stretched like ''My Eternal Dream'' and ''The Lost Saga' for example. My final verdict is that this album is not as convincing as ''Nemesis'' and ''Elysium'' but still clearly better than ''Polaris''. To conclude, this album deserves as spot in the middle section of Stratovarius' discography in terms of quality. Faithful fans of the band and European Power Metal in general should clearly purchase this record while everone else might just ignore this release and rather try out the incredibly strong ''Nemesis''.

Final verdict: 7,5/10 (recommendable)

M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most fascinating and controversial contemporary directors. His newest independent movie goes back to his roots and offers an increasingly addicting plot, a solid acting performance and a twist that is so simple you might not even see it coming. The creative Indian artist manages to make a convincing movie despite a limited budget, a rather unexperienced crew and a lot of found footage material that is usually employed in some of the worst contemporary horror films like ''Devil's Due''. In this movie, the idea of the found footage material makes sense for once and even adds some intimate depth to the two main characters. The fact that two young and rather unknown actors are taking the lead somehow adds to the credibility of the scenario. Even the limited budget turns out to be an advantage since this movie comes around without any distracting special effects. Still, the camera angles, the lighting techniques and the soundtrack are decently chosen and add to an overall positive impression.

What makes this movie stand out is its curious mixture of genres. In fact, M. Night Shyamalan once said that there are three different versions of this film and I'm really curious to watch the other two. One version is an over-the-top comedy flick, the second is a creepy horror movie and the cinematic choice that I'm reviewing right now is in fact a convincing mixture of both. Let's add that the beginning of this movie almost feels like a mixture of a documentary and a reality television show.  

Most of the times, humorous horror movies can't convince me and feel ridiculous to me since I even disliked the original ''Evil Dead'' flicks. In this clever case, the movie starts with a few awkward scenes where the audience might not be sure whether they should laugh or feel scared which adds to the overall uneasy atmosphere of the film. In the beginning, one doesn't clearly know where this movie is going to lead us. There are a few creepy horror movie sequences. Other moments feel like light slapstick comedy scenes. The behaviour of some characters shows hints at a solid psycho thriller. The background story of the movie includes dramatic elements. M. Night Shyamalan leads us to a surprisingly coherent and entertaining potpourri of genres before the final thirty minutes of this cinematic cut clearly prove that this version ends up being a gruesome psycho thriller or horror movie. The twisting and turning story is so captivating that the final twist comes almost unexpectedly despite its simplicity.

It has become an almost popular trend to expose M. Night Shyamalan's most recent efforts to unjustified prejudice but let me tell you that true fans of this director and the psycho thriller and horror genres will get more than they could expect from this movie. Despite its subtle diversity, this film is to the point and never loses its clear guiding line. Despite its slow build-up, the film always remains entertaining and even gripping. This movie might not be the director's opus magnum but its mixture of grounded cinematic elements and experimental influences from diverse genres makes this one of the director's best movie of the past ten years and one of the better psycho thrillers or horror movies of a rather unconvincing cinematic year 2015. If you are a sucker for any of these two genres, I can warmly recommend this movie to you. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Please vote for your 2017 pocket change and celebrate Canada's achievements, character, future, passions and wonders. Let this beautiful country inspire you and vote for your favourite designs until October 9, 2015. 

http://www.mint.ca/store/coin-design-contest/contest-vote-form.jsp?lang=en_CA

Dear readers of my blog!

I went to visit the beautiful town of Montebello for the very first time with my parents last Saturday. We spent several hours in the gorgeous Oméga Parc where we saw many different animals like bears, mooses and wolves in their natural environment. We also visited some parts of the town such as the Manoir-Papineau close to the Ottawa River. I hope you like these little snapshots.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and take care!

Sebastian

Dear readers of my blog!

Last weekend, I visited a couple of interesting places in and around Gatineau with my parents who are right now being in Canada for the first time in more than five years. I simply felt like sharing a few pictures and hope you like them. You can read further descriptions by clicking on the different photos.

Take care and enjoy the end of the summer!

Sebastian