Sonata Arctica is a band I have a rather
complicated relationship with. I love a lot of power metal bands, but all of
them are the ones that somehow break the boundaries of this genre and also use
symphonic or progressive elements. At the opposite poles are the artists that
rely on the same tractored riff, ridiculously long and artificial guitar solos
and have this rather dumb (or shallow, to put it more mildly) musical
positivity on top of lyrics that usually refer to dramatic themes. Sonata Arctica
is both of those bands, depending on how the Sun shines on Jupiter or something,
because one moment it can bore me to tears and the next it's so nice and
lovely. And then it has Tony...
