John Vihervä is the new bass player of Timo Tolkki’s Strato. John is one of the three original members of Stratovarius, and is one of the three founding members of the band back in 1985 in Helsinki.

John Vihervä is already recording his bass parts for the upcoming album from Timo Tolkki’s Strato, Return To Dreamspace, to be released by Warner Music Japan on October 27 (with the rest of the world to follow).

He is a professional musician and has played gigs extensively both in Finland and outside, and will also accompany the band on the tours that are currently being booked. In concert the band will be performing songs from Return To Dreamspace, as well as from the Stratovarius albums, Fright Night, Twilight Time, and Dreamspace.

Stratovarius released their debut album Fright Night (1989) through CBS Finland. From that started one of the biggest success stories in the history of melodic metal. They defined what is currently known as “power metal” with albums like Fright Night (1989), Twilight Time (1993), Dreamspace (1994) and Fourth Dimension (1995).

Timo Tolkki wrote more than 100 songs for the band before leaving the group to embark on a successful solo career back in 2008, and is responsible for writing such power metal anthems like “Black Diamond”, “Hunting High And Low”, “Speed Of Light”, “Paradise”, “Forever” and “Destiny”. More than 4 million copies of Tolkki-era Stratovarius  albums have been sold.

Stay tuned for further updates.