Survive is the sixteenth studio album by Finnish power metal band Stratovarius, released on 23 September 2022. It is the first studio album of the band in seven years.
The album reached number 1 on the Finnish Charts, while also managing to chart in several other European music charts.
Seven years following the bands previous studio album (Eternal), an abnormally long period for the band. This was partly due to COVID-19 pandemic. The album was produced and mixed by Matias Kupiainen. Due to pandemic-related limitations, the band could not record everything in one place â while Kotipelto's personal studio in Finland served as the main recording location, the drum tracks were laid down in Helsinki, and Jens Johansson recorded his keyboard parts separately at his studio in Sweden.
Like other albums by the band, Survive addresses the themes of the environment and the future of humanity and survival. The cover art, designed by Havancsák Gyula, also evokes the theme of ecology, depicting a human skull and garbage in a landfill. The green plant growing out of the skull is inspired by a scene from the film WALL-E, in which a shoe is seen with a plant growing out of it.
Johansson stated in an interview âÂÂThere was a global pandemic, and all kinds of crazy s**t was going on⦠Some of the lyrics are perhaps less uplifting than they could have been, but that reflects our mood at the time.â âÂÂThereâÂÂs a lot of positive stuff on there as well.âÂÂ
The album was met with critical acclaim, being viewed as a strong comeback/return to form. Blabbermouth.net gave the album a positive review stating âÂÂAll of Stratovarius most classic traits are as integral to "Survive" as they were to any previous album, but here fresh inspiration has led to new and vivid colors being woven into that enduring blueprint.â Adding âÂÂthis is the sound of Finland's power metal masters at their classy, clangorous best.âÂÂ
Jakk Mylde of Metal Sucks stated gave the album a near perfect score claiming âÂÂWith their latest effort, they (Stratovarius) have set out and proved something that we already knew; Stratovarius are a band built to thrive, not just survive.âÂÂ
Metal Hammer put Survive at number 7 on their list of âÂÂThe 10 best power metal albums of 2022.âÂÂ
Survive was nominated for metal album of the year at the 2022 Emma gaalas.