STRATOVARIUS guitarist Matias Kupiainen is featured in a new interview with Alexander Andrésen at GetMetal.com. An excerpt is available below.

Q: You’ve been in the band for about two years now. How has the journey been so far?

Matias: "So far so good. The guys have been very mellow and very nice to work with, so absolutely no reason to complain."

Q: And with Timmo Tolki being in the band for such a long time, how was it to fill those shoes? Did you feel any pressure?

Matias: "In the beginning of course. I felt a lot of stress and pressure when we first started rehearse the old songs, and at the beginning of the Polaris tour. But now its piece of cake, it’s easy. We’ve now done two records together and proved that we still can compose great songs, so it’s all good."

Q: So how was it to enter the studio for the first time?:

Matias: "Well you have to remember, when we first started to record the Polaris album we had no material at all to work with, and I had just began to play with Stratovarius , so we were basically just a bunch of guys putting some music to the table to see if there was something to make an album out of. The results of that later became the Polaris album, which was that kind of album we were able to do at those circumstances. But now the new album is coming out soon, which I think is much much better."

Q: Yeah, about that new album, what can we expect? And What makes it different from the other albums?

Matias: "Well now we had so much more material to work with. We had almost 18 tracks composed and did a whole lot more rehearsals before the recording sessions began. You certainly get a feel that this is an album we have put much more work into. So more time together as a band and more time in the studio is obviously one of the key ingredients."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Stratovarius will issue their new album, Elysium on January 12th, 2011 via JVC in Asia and worldwide on January 14th via Edel/EarMusic. Details of the deluxe digipak edition have been revealed and are as follows:

CD 1:

'Darkest Hours'

'Under Flaming Skies'

'Infernal Maze'

'Fairness Justified'

'The Game Never Ends'

'Lifetime In A Moment'

'Move The Mountain'

'Event Horizon'

'Elysium'

CD 2:

'Darkest Hours' (demo)

'Under Flaming Skies' (demo)

'Infernal Maze' (demo)

'Fairness Justified' (demo)

'The Game Never Ends' (demo)

'Lifetime In A Moment' (demo)

'Move The Mountain' (demo)

'Event Horizon' (demo)

'Elysium' (demo)

7" Single:

'Last Shore'

'Hallowed'

The first single, 'Darkest Hours', was released on November 26th, coinciding with the start date of the 7 Sinners World Tour on which Stratovarius will join HELLOWEEN as very special guests - kicking off the same day in the Szene, Vienna.

The following tracks are part of the single:

'Darkest Hours' (from the upcoming album "Elysium")

'Infernal Maze' (from the upcoming album "Elysium")

'Darkest Hours' (demo version)

'Against The Wind' (live recording, Sofia, Bulgaria)

'Black Diamond' (live recording, Göteborg, Sweden)

More at this location.

Check out BW&BK;'s new interview with Stratovarius frontman Timo Kotipelto here.