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...
Tony is just amazing. His voice is warm and
gentle, intense and gut-wrenching when it has to and it’s graced with such a
special colour. So much charisma, so intriguing, so full of something I can’t exactly
put into words, but it’s so unique and identifiable that I could recognise him
even back when I only knew Fullmoon
and Beauty and the beast from
Nightwish. I’ve been in love with Tony for ages, so much that I started
searching for all his collaborations to listen to his voice and hated the fact
I couldn’t get into Sonata Arctica to get more Tony. Thankfully, with this
album that’s less generic power metal boredom and more everything else, I can
finally satiate a part of my cravings.
The theme of the record is humanity slipping
further and further away from nature and I find the music matching the story
very well, there’s a naturalness and gentleness to it that’s very befitting. No
matter what style they’re approaching, for the most part there’s still this
sweetness and warmth and they give me a very positive and uplifting feeling.
Of course, a great reason for it is that Tony has a voice which could melt
butter, soothing and always sounding like he’s telling an epic story, but the
music overall is very pleasant as well. In fact, a lot of the tracks even have
a rather Christmasy feel that reminds me quite a bit of Trans-Siberian
Orchestra. Also, there’s Nightwish. It’s a bit of a mystery to me who inspired
who, or whether their close friendship is reflected through this closeness in
music, but the common ground is definitely there, especially in the form of the
keyboards and the lyrics that are one second too mundane and the next second
too pretentious.
There are of course exceptions, like Rise a night and Fly, navigate, communicate, which go into that area of redundant
drum beats with a fast paced rhythm and less personality than a cactus. Stuff
like that leave me completely cold and are the kind of thing that kept me away
from SA before, so I’m really glad there are only a couple of tracks. I suppose
that’s why I’ve taken a liking to this album, while everyone else is
complaining it’s too mellow and full of ballads.
Speaking of ballads, it’s of course a ballad
that steals the show and the title of favourite, We are what we are. I’m just in love with it. It’s so pretty and
touching, both lyrically and musically (in fact lyrically, it could be called
the heart of the album, as I think it embodies the concept of man against
nature the best and most explicitly). The instrumental in the beginning is
gorgeous and I like so much how Tony reiterates the instrumental at first
softly and then with passion and intensity. Also, remember how I was saying in
my Nightwish review that everything Troy Donockley touches turns to gold? It
may be related to my love for Irish music, but his low whistle alone could be
enough to make this song lovely!
On a completely different note, Fairytale and Till death’s done us apart. The first is a tongue in cheek song
about the American elections with some not very subtle jabs at Trump, cynical
and sarcastic, which straddles the border between serious and in jest and makes
me wonder if I should find the whole Trump story amusing or concerning. The
second is quite captivating and mixes Jon Oliva’s slightly weird style and even
raspy voice inflexions with Nightwish’s era of creepy children tales. It’s a
curious result, but I say that in the
most positively intrigued way.
For the most part it’s a very pleasant and
recharging album. The songs don’t follow a standard structure and sometimes the
chorus is barely distinguishable from the rest of the track (if there is one),
but at the same time everything seems natural and flows logically. The
continuation of each moment is not exactly something you’d expect or could
guess, but doesn’t sound contrived or out of place when it happens. And since
anything that can allow me to enjoy Tony’s delightful voice has ten points from
the start, I genuinely enjoyed this record.
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