John, I appreciate your sentiments on the "copying" issue but we have to agree to differ on specifics. Sure the 80s produced some quite original bands but I recall one hell of a lot of cloning going on way before Dolly the sheep. How original were Britney Fox/Warrant/Danger Danger/Helloween/Tyketto/Winger, etc. anyhow?! As for Tolkki/Malmsteen or Stratovarius/YJM comparisons, perhaps I am not in the best place to comment since I´ve only seen Stratovarius once and only have "Infinite" to listen to. But I am a major Yngwie fan and I am happy with maintaining the view that TT/Stratovarius is inspired by some elements of Malmsteen´s songwriting/playing. They are not copyists IMO. Maybe with Sonata Arctica I need to hear some earlier Stratovarius albums to make a proper judgement but from the gig alone, I still feel SA are distinct enough to warrant fair consideration. They really are a bloody good band, Ecliptica is a superb album and if they can maintain that quality then we are looking potentially at a major force in symphonic metal.