The band was founded in August 1984 as Black Water, consisting of Lassila as singer and drummer, guitarist Staffan Stråhlman, bassist John Vihervä, and, later, keyboardist Antti Ikonen.

The current line-up, which has remained the same since the arrival of drummer Rolf Pilve in 2012, is the longest in the band's history.

After releasing their third album Dreamspace in 1994, Timo Tolkki decided to step down from the lead singer position of the band to concentrate on guitar and songwriting as well as to move Stratovarius in a new direction.

In 1995, the band released their first album with Kotipelto on vocals Fourth Dimension, which was accompanied by a music video for the song "Against the Wind".

This was the first album that showed signs of the new direction the band was heading, with tracks such as "Twilight Symphony" using an orchestra for the first time in their recordings.

That same year, 1995, Tuomo Lassila, the last member of Black Water, along with Antti Ikonen were fired from the band.

This new line-up released Episode, an album that showcased their new symphonic direction with a full orchestra and choir utilized on tracks such as "Season of Change" and "Forever".

Just like its predecessor, Infinite reached No.1 in the Finnish chart, the last time one of their albums would do so until the release of Elysium in 2011.

Continuing the trend of featuring lengthy symphonic pieces, the titular track "Infinity" is over 9 minutes long.

Initially conceived as a double album, the project was eventually split into two different releases, with Elements Pt.

During this period, tensions were increasing in the band, and in 2004 Stratovarius temporarily disbanded after Timo Tolkki suffered a nervous breakdown.

[citation needed] A couple of months after the breakdown, Tolkki was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and went into rehabilitation for a period.

It was also during this time that Stratovarius orchestrated a series of publicity stunts, including Kotipelto being fired and replaced by a female singer named "Miss K" (Katriina Wiiala), as well as Tolkki being stabbed at a concert.

[citation needed] Eventually, the stunts were revealed to be a hoax, and Tolkki reunited the band to begin work on their next album.

Tolkki was also highly critical of the album, and Stratovarius was proof of the relationship between band members at an all-time low.

Kainulainen was quickly replaced with Lauri Porra, and in 2006 the band began work on a new album that was tentatively titled R...R....

Eventually, the band reached a divide, with Johansson and Porra supporting Tolkki on one side, and Kotipelto and Michael on the other.

Stratovarius eventually found a replacement guitarist with Matias Kupiainen, and soon after began work on their next album.

It was the first album after the departure of Timo Tolkki and Jari Kainulainen, and featured in their place new guitarist Matias Kupiainen and bassist Lauri Porra.

As Stratovarius's drummer Jörg Michael was diagnosed with cancer, he was temporarily replaced by Alex Landenburg in the band.

On 20 May 2016, the band released their Best Of compilation, which included one previously unreleased track called "Until the End of Days".

[18] On 13 January 2018, Kotipelto discussed recent anniversary shows and also commented that the band had hoped to record a new album during spring 2018.

[19] On 10 August 2018, Stratovarius released the new song "Oblivion" from the upcoming compilation album Enigma: Intermission 2, which came out 28 September 2018.