STRATOVARIUS guitarist has issued the following announcement regarding his new metal opera, Saana - Warrior Of Light Part 1: Journey To Crystal Island

"I would like to inform you about the following things regarding Saana. Due to the fact that Frontiers Records hasn't fullfilled its contractual obligations regarding Saana, I have terminated the contract between my production company Goldenworks and them. Regardless of that, they have notified me by email today that they are going to release Saana anyway without my permission even though they don't have the material to be able to produce the CD at all. They only have MP3 files which are not adequate to produce a high quality CD. Also, they have absolutely no graphic material for the booklet, information regarding the songs or even the lyrics.

I would like to remind you that the ONLY OFFICIAL place where you can buy Saana is www.theground.com. As soon as their new layout is ready, you will be able to make pre-orders of Saana from that site. They deliver to the whole world fast and reliably.

THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE OF "SAANA-WARRIOR OF LIGHT PT1" is 3.3.2008

The official releas date is March 3rd. The configurations available to you are:

1) MP3/FLAC Album without copy protection (includes 24 page digital booklet and video) 7.77 €

2) Jewel Box CD (with 24 page booklet) 13 €

3) Jewel Box CD with bonus DVD (with 24 page booklet, 3 videos, in-depth interview of Jennifer Sowle, in-depth interview of Timo Tolkki and photo gallery) 18 €

4) DVD (Includes the filmed story of Saana album with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, Making Of documentary, interviews and photo gallery. No region code. May release. 20 €

I would like to ask you to boycott the possible Frontiers release of Saana because it is not the official version of the record and its quality is likely to be extremely poor.

Thank you for your wonderful support, especially in the last few days."

Timo

As previously reported, fans can download some new songs from Saana at this location. Album tracklisting: 'Saana Mountain', 'Saana’s Theme', 'The End', 'Sadness Of The World', '3 At 7', 'Silence Of The Night', 'Sunrise At Saana Mountain', 'Journey To Crystal Island', 'Crystal Island', 'Freya’s Theme', 'You’ve Come A Long Way', 'The Letter', 'Who Am I?', 'Freya’s Teachings', 'Warrior Of Light', 'Journey To The Azores'."