Revolution Renaissance - Trinity
Napalm Records
Power Metal
9 songs (47:20)
Release year: 2010
Revolution Renaissance, Napalm Records
Reviewed by Jaime
Oh Timo Tolkki, you mad devil you. I'm pretty sure everyone's away of the backstory involving Stratovarius, Timo and the formation of Revolution Renaissance. But while his former band managed an impressive return to form with Polaris last year RR have decided to call it a day, leaving Trinity as their swansong.

So what should we expect from this last blast? Well, it sounds like old Stratovarius stuff (and I mean Dreamspace old) which may not be surprising to some. There are plenty of widdly guitar solos, the similar backing vocals, the song structure, it's very nostalgic really. Things kick off with Marching With The Fools, which is pretty strong and has that classic power metal vibe that is, sadly, let down by the album's main weak point: the vocals. Gustavo Monsanto's register and tone just don't sit well with the music, and more often than not he seems to be a bit out of tune with everything else. It's a shame as the song's buildup promised so much. The solos are, as expected, very power metally and very Stratovarius in nature. Falling to Rise is another one of those songs that you can easily identify with Tolkki's writing habits. It's not bad, fairly solid even with the vocals, though the little solo section sounds strange, the guitars are way too high in the mix and sound pretty painful. The following two songs A Lot Like Me and The World Doesn't Get To Me follow a similar formula with familiar, kind of rigid song structures, good solos and dodgy vocals with a very mid paced affair. The lyrics are pretty telling of Tolkki's outlook on the world, and the song title's give away their somewhat personal nature, and while they may be a bit basic they're at least not dripping in sugar or cheese like other power metal bands tend to do which is a pleasant change.

Things speed up a bit with Crossing the Rubicon as the drums blast through the song offering up a welcome change of pace even if it does feel a little synthetic when the verses hit, but again it goes into that same song structure that every song on the album has. The solo is fucking awesome though and if nothing else this song proves Tolkki is still a damn guitar god. Just Let it Rain has a few interesting keyboard flourishes here and there but all in all is just another bog standard song that doesn't do too much. Dreamchild is another alright song, there's nothing wrong with it (barring the vocals) but the solo's pretty cool. Kinda like the rest of the album then. Penultimate track Trinity is the album's 10 minute epic and probably has the strongest vocals overall. It is a little long in the tooth to sit through, dunno why it needed to be that long to accomplish what it does but it's still a pretty good track with the most prominent keyboards as well. In other songs they tend to get lost in the mix if they're there. Finally, the ballad. Stratovarius's worst songs prety much fell into this catagory, but Frozen Winter Heart at least stays above that level. It's okay, but I could've lived without it really as there's nothing really interesting to it. It goes all power ballady which doesn't help things either.

Trinity is very much a "What if..." album. Namely "What if... they had another singer?". The vocals were really grating to my ears as they just didn't fit the music at all. If they had another singer would the album have been better for it? Probably. The songs themselves are nothing new and fans of the genre'll be kept happy if they can sit through the vocals. Without question the album's pinnacle come in the form of Tolkki's solos. Regardless of what the man's been through his playing is still top tier. It would be fantastic to see him join a band where he could just play instead of write everything and allow him to show of his abilities in a more diverse musical situation.
Killing Songs :
Marching With The Fools, Crossing The Rubicon, Dreamchild, Trinity
Jaime quoted 74 / 100
Other albums by Revolution Renaissance that we have reviewed:
Revolution Renaissance - New Era reviewed by Marty and quoted 82 / 100
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