ThAprés le départ du bassiste Jari Kainulainen, le groupe s'est mis à la recherche d'un nouveau bassiste. Il a été choisi et le nom de Lauri Porra, qui a joué avec les combos SINERGY, KOTIPELTO, BEN GRANFELT, TUNNELVISION, WARMEN, a été révélé.
Dans une interview qu'il a accordé à Rock Brigade ( http://www.rockbrigade.com.br/ ), Jörg Michael explique les raisons du départ du bassiste :

"The truth is that Jari had other priorities," Michael explained. "He never became as involved with the band as the other members. It's sad for me to think about the fact that he is no longer in the band, because he and I formed one hell of a rhythm section, even though he wasn't really interested in developing something bigger with the band. I mean, he showed up for the gigs, he was in the band pictures, and he was part of the recording process, but he never showed he was really interested in STRATOVARIUS. Can you believe that the guy has been there for 10 years and I never even once visited him at his house? "Jari's departure has nothing to do with the other band problems," Michael continued. "STRATOVARIUS has never been his priority, he never got involved in the process of creating songs and with the creative development of the band. Now he's married and the family became more important than everything else. As a result, we will go our separate ways."

Le groupe vient également de jouer au festival de Wacken avec le nouveau line-up. Trois titres ont été joué : "Hunting High and Low", "Black Diamond" et "Maniac Dance". Voici une photo prise lors de ce festival :