Timo Tolkki’s Strato sign with ROAR! Rock of Angels Records

ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records has announced the signing of a multi-album deal with Timo Tolkki’s Strato and welcomed the band to the company’s roster. Details of the debut LP, previously called “Return To Dreamspace”, will be announced shortly.

Timo Tolkki’s Strato —Timo Tolkki (vocals and guitar), Tuomo Lassila (drums) and Antti Ikonen (keyboards) — recorded the classic “Fright Night”, “Twilight Time”, “Dreamspace” and “Fourth Dimension” albums.

Tuomo Lassila formed Stratovarius in Helsinki 1984, and is responsible together with the original guitar player Staffan Stråhlman for the band’s name Stratovarius. One year later Timo Tolkki joined the band. Stratovarius released their debut album “Fright Night” (1989) through CBS Finland. From that started one of the biggest success stories in the history of metal. They defined what is currently known as power metal with albums like “Fright Night” (1989), “Twilight Time” (1993), “Dreamspace” (1994) and “Fourth Dimension” (1995).

Timo Tolkki wrote more than 100 songs for the band before leaving the group to embark on a successful solo career back in 2008, and is responsible for writing such power metal anthems like “Black Diamond”, “Hunting High and Low”, “Speed of Light”, “Paradise”, “Forever” and “Destiny”. More than 4 million copies of Tolkki-era Stratovarius albums have been sold.

In the summer of 2022 Timo Tolkki, Tuomo Lassila and Antti Ikonen met to discuss ideas to reform the original lineup. In all secrecy, they have rehearsed in Tuomo’s garage (real back to the roots!) since January 2023, deciding to call themselves Timo Tolkki’s Strato.