Stratovarius

After few low years, inn 2009 came the release of Polaris, the comeback album, which reached No. 2 in Finnish charts. It was the first album after the departure of guitarist Timo Tolkki and long-time bass player Jari Kainulainen, and featured in their place new guitarist Matias Kupiainen and bassist Lauri Porra. The album yielded the two hit singles "Deep Unknown" and "Higher We Go".

I travelled with the band throughout Europe starting from Lahti to Milan, photographing them both on and off the stage. Band was recording a live album to be released after the Polaris European tour. The photos taken from the tour were displayed in the booklet of that live album.

When the long time drummer Jörg Michael decided to call it quits, his farewell tour ended at the Legendary Tavastia-Club in Helsinki on 26.11.2011. I was invited along to photograph this memorable night.

The photos were widely used in the booklet of the show release Under Flaming Winter Skies (Live In Tampere - The Jörg Michael Farewell Tour) Blu-Ray, DVD and CD.

Nemesis is the fourteenth studio album by power metal band Stratovarius. Album featured new drummer Rolf Pilve, who replaced Jörg Michael.

During the fall of 2011, I frequently visited the 5 by 5 recording studio, Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki with my cameras. The end result was a documentary called Building the Nemesis, which contained photographs, interviews and video footage of the recording process.

The documentary was originally released as an iPad application which is now unavailable.