Finnish Grammy nominated record producer, songwriter and musician, Timo Tolkki has sold in excess of 3 million records during his 22 year career. He has played over 1500 shows in every continent across the globe and produced approximately 50 albums. He released 13 albums with Stratovarius and 2 solo cds. His just recently disbanded group - Stratovarius - soared to great heights, becoming leading pioneers in the Progressive-Power Metal genre. This monumental achievement includes 6 world tours and 3 consecutive gold discs in his home country, Finland.

The recent break up of Stratovarius came about because Tolkki felt that everything that was to be said with that band, with those members, had already been said and to continue would have simply been repeating the same formula over and over again. Furthermore, tensions between the members led Tolkki to form a brand new band named REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, which he sees as a logical progression of the Stratovarius legacy.

The first record from the new band, aptly entitled "New Era", includes the vocal talents of Michael Kiske (ex HELLOWEEN), Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA) and Pasi Rantanen (THUNDERSTONE) plus Mirka Rantanen on drums (THUNDERSTONE), Pasi Heikkilä on bass (45 DEGREE WOMAN) and Joonas Puolakka on keyboards.

Tolkki originally composed all the songs included in this album for Stratovarius, but after the group broke up, he thought he needed to get these songs out and did not spend time looking for a permanent band line-up. He is currently auditioning singers and musicians and, as soon as a stable line-up is set in stone, Revolution Renaissance will start its life as a live unit.

"New Era" pays tribute musically to the trademark Stratovarius albums "Visions" and "Episode", with its Melodic Power Metal style that Tolkki was instrumental in creating, along with such bands as Helloween and Gamma Ray. His trademark guitar playing that earned him a position in "the 80 best guitar players of the world" category in the American "Guitar World" magazine readers poll, shines throughout the album.

Witness the rebirth of Timo Tolkki and his music the way the fans want to hear him.