Stratovarius is a power metal band from Finland. They became popular in the 90’s, and through their career have widely inspired newcoming power metal bands with their baroque arranged keyboard solos & Ritchie Blackmore-like guitar portions.

Stratovarius was founded in Finland in 1984 under the name Black Water. They went through a number of personnel and musical changes before the band found its own voice. The founding members were Tuomo Lassila, Staffan Stråhlman and John Vihervä. By 1985, Timo Tolkki entered the band, replacing Stråhlman in the guitar and changed the name to Stratovarius, a combination of Stratocaster and Stradivarius. He took up the vocal duties as well. Tolkki became the driving force and mastermind of the band, assuming relatively complete control of the song writing. He brought along not only strong rock influences, but also a neo-classical tinge. The band released a demo to various record companies by 1987, finally being picked up by CBS ... read more »