Kotipelto & Liimatainen – Blackoustic

Releasedate: 22-10-2012; Label: Edel
By: Martine Goffard

This last October was released a very interesting album called “Blackoustic”. As you can guess by the title it’s an acoustic, which is not common on the metal scene. “Blackoustic” is the creation of Stratovarius’s frontman Timo Kotipelto and the guitarist Jani Liimatainen. Liimatainen is famous for being the former guitarist of Sonata Arctica and the fans will probably remember the intimate and moving acoustic live show in Tokyo in 2004, when Liimatainen was on stage with the singer Tony Kakko. This is basically the same performance here except that the duo Kotipelto – Liimatainen performs own songs as well as covers; Stratovarius covers, of course, like “Black Diamond” and “Hunting High and Low”, Kotipelto’s solo albums songs “Serenity” and “Sleep Well”, but also covers of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”, Deep Purple´s “Perfect Strangers” and “My Selene”, composed by Liimatainen and which was a Sonata Arctica’s hit.

The duo had been playing acoustic gigs regularly until their fans came with the idea of recording an acoustic album, so they could listen to it at home. “Blackoustic” is clean and very emotional. You can hear all the little nuances of Kotipelto’s tenor voice. The speed power metal songs are turned into ballads, which allows you to appreciate completely different versions, while some songs like “Perfect Strangers” keep their energy. Liimatainen limits his role as the guitar support but creates delicate arrangements. The only previously unreleased song “Where My Rainbow Ends” is a romantic love song, which would now deserve a power metal version. The album ends on the sad, finnish “Karjalan Kunnailla”. Blackoustic is a beautiful album. We can just hope that it will bring a larger audience to the two virtuosos.

Line up:
Timo Kotipelto – vocals
Jani Liimatainen – guitar

Links:
Kotipelto & Liimatainen Official