STRATOVARIUS's TIMO TOLKKI: More 'Saana - Warrior of Light Part 1' Details Revealed

Since STRATOVARIUS mastermind Timo Tolkki had the idea for a "Rock Opera 2" years ago, a lot has happened. After signing the record deal with Frontiers Records, he has been working hard on this project, entitled "Saana - Warrior of Light Part 1: Journey to Crystal Island". It has been a monumental task that has just been getting bigger and bigger.
"Composing, writing the story, casting from hundreds of people, and putting this all together has been very refreshing and interesting for me," says Tolkki. "I think it is the next logical step for me and I am really interested in combining music, graphics and film," he continues. "This album has just basically one long song, but there are 18 themes that are bound together by a story in which I have used my longtime interest in philosophy, psychology and spirituality. At the end of the day it really has just two main themes: Love and the fight between good and evil. Like the name indicates, there will be another part to this saga. It really is a very interesting story about an old theme, but I think I have managed to take it somewhere that no one has been before. I am also very happy that I have the chance to direct this film for the music as well because I think it really needs it. It's like a combination of a musical, music video and regular film."

Featuring the talents of Jennifer Sowle, Aino Laos, Heikki Poyhiä and Janette Sainio, this album is a breathtaking experience of emotions. They were all carefully chosen for their respective roles and they enhance the musical journey in a way that hasn´t really been heard before. Timo Tolkki calls it "a classical rock opera."

"Saana - Warrior of Light Part 1: Journey to Crystal Island" is a multimedia adventure containing almost one hour of music and comes with a full all region bonus DVD that contains the whole story in film format as well. It also has lots of other extras and a brand new interview of Timo Tolkki about his past, present and future. The scheduled release date is early 2008.