Sonata Arctica thread

[ErHaO]

Oh Tony... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAwU1LcSSUs

Hehe, I like how he handles fuck ups. In Amsterdam his voice cracked during an audience game. So instead of letting the audience sing a certain note, he let us cough like him 

[Scorpion]

So yeah... this is a ranking of the albums that I have, because THIS IS DTF AND WE RANK EVERYTHING OKAY

Also with favourite track(s) from every album.

1. Reckoning Night (Blinded No More, The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Real Puppet)
2. Unia (The Harvest, My Dream's But a Drop of Fuel for a Nightmare)
3. Silence (Black Sheep, The Power of One)
4. Ecliptica (Replica, Destruction Preventer)
5. The Days of Grays (Deathaura, The Dead Skin)
6. Winterheart's Guild (Gravenimage, Draw Me)
7. Pariah's Child (The Wolves Die Young, What Did You Do In War, Dad?)

Though even Pariah's Child has some great stuff on it, like the two aforementioned tracks, Blood or X Marks the Spot, it just runs together a little for me - though, to be fair, I have only listened to it like 3 times or something.

EDIT: Just got two more albums, only missing SGHN now. Pariah's Child is definitely the weakest, though it has some great songs, but also some really dodgy ones - Love is boring, Larger Than Life drags on unnecessarily, Half a Marathon Man is silly... I could go on, but you get the idea. Still, the good tracks are great.

Winterheart's Guild and The Days of Grays are pretty equal, actually, but today I like TDOG better, though I feel that the highs on WG are definetly higher. Gravenimage is one of my favourite Sonata Arctica songs.

[Scorpion]

So I've been binging Sonata Arctica pretty hard lately, and to celebrate that, I have a new desktop background.



Yeah, it's not my favourite album, but the cover is completely gorgeous.

[?]

Yup, definitely their coolest cover

[wolfking]

1. Unia
2. Reckoning Night
3. Silence
4. Ecliptica
5. Winterheart's Guild

6. Stones
7. Days of Grays
8. Pariah's Child

[Dittomist]

I am officially hooked on Pariah's Child--not a day has gone by since its release that I haven't listened to it. In my opinion, Cloud Factory, X Marks the Spot (goddamn that chorus is amazing!), Larger than Life, Running Lights, and The Wolves Die Young rank among their finest material ever. I just wish it could have had at least one truly heavy song.

[Evermind]

I am officially hooked on Pariah's Child--not a day has gone by since its release that I haven't listened to it. In my opinion, Cloud Factory, X Marks the Spot (goddamn that chorus is amazing!), Larger than Life, Running Lights, and The Wolves Die Young rank among their finest material ever. I just wish it could have had at least one truly heavy song.

You've picked two of my three least favourite songs from PC (X Marks the Spot and Larger than Life, the third being Love), but otherwise I agree, the album grows on me quite fast. The 4th-7th song sequence is among the best they've put out, in my opinion.

[Scorpion]

So I finally got Stones Grow Her Name, and it's a lot better than I thought it would be. Yeah, some dreck there (Shitload of Money, The Day), but most of it is pretty okay (I Have a Right, Only the Broken Hearts), with some standouts, which I would call top-tier Sonata - four, in fact: Losing My Insanity, Somewhere Close to You, Cinderblox, Wildfire, Part: II - One With the Mountain - as well as the Japanese bonus track Tonight I Dance Alone (thanks YT). Yeah, some of it ranks among their worst ever, but alone for those tracks it doesn't deserve the scorn it seems to get, imho.

[?]

the Japanese bonus track Tonight I Dance Alone (thanks YT).

That's the digibook bonus - Japan got One-Two-Free-Fall.

SGHN isn't a bad album, but it didn't age too well for me and I think it's a pretty huge quality drop from the greatness of Unia and TDOG. The songs worked well live when I saw them on tour, but I think Tony went too far with the "keep it simple" and "we must be able to play these songs when we're 60" mentality, because a lot of the songs are pretty repetitive and samey. I agree with you on the standout tracks, with the exception of Losing My Insanity, which never felt that fresh to me because I'd known the original song for 5 years - I like Wildfire III much more. Don't Be Mean, on the other hand, is an almost embarrassingly bad song coming from a guy who used to write beautiful ballads like The Misery and Draw Me.

[ariich]

Don't Be Mean, on the other hand, is an almost embarrassingly bad song coming from a guy who used to write beautiful ballads like The Misery and Draw Me.

He also used to write Letter to Dana. There has been no overall quality drop in my opinion, if anything the band are more quirky and interesting now, but they've always been a bit inconsistent in my opinion.

I really like Stone Grow, and honestly hadn't even realised that it wasn't popular.

[?]

Don't Be Mean, on the other hand, is an almost embarrassingly bad song coming from a guy who used to write beautiful ballads like The Misery and Draw Me.

He also used to write Letter to Dana.

Ok, there are some cheesy lines about filthy magazines, long-haired drummers and walking without underwear in the earlier ballads, but I still like them more than Don't Be Mean

I really like Stone Grow, and honestly hadn't even realised that it wasn't popular.

Judging by the ratings of Rateyourmusic, Sputnikmusic and Metal Storm, it looks like it's widely considered their weakest album.

[Scorpion]

Re-listening WG, and man, it's definitely one of their worst releases. Gravenimage and Draw Me are great, The Misery and Broken are good, but most of the faster tracks just sound generic - something that SA are rarely, in my opinion. The only "fast" track that I like is The Cage, and even that's sorta middle of the pack for me, to be honest.

Glad they stepped their game up on the following two releases is all I can say.

EDIT: The Rest of the Sun Belongs to Me is pretty cool too, I guess, but I stand by my point.

[wolfking]

I always liked WG.  Great atmosphere and some great songs to boot.  APBE is one of their most underrated.  Cage, Victoria and Broken are classic.

[Scorpion]

On Reckoning Night now - goddammit the vocals on Don't Say a Word are amazing. How did I never notice them before?

[Evermind]

WG is atmospheric indeed, and it features the best ballads of SA (followed by TDOG and Unia), but there are still few tracks that do nothing for me, like Silver Tongue, Champagne Bath and (don't kill me) Broken. I love APBE though, awesome track.

Don't Say a Word is a cool song, but in fact I grew tired of it in last few years. I really think they should play something else at the encore. It Won't Fade would be a good pick I think.

[?]

WHG is pretty good, but I've never been crazy about Silver Tongue and Champagne Bath, and The Cage is so repetitive that I've grown bored of it. On the other hand, this album probably has Sonata's best ballads and I also really like APBE and The Ruins of My Life.

Reckoning Night used to be my least favorite album for a long time, but it has grown on me in the past few years. Tony has admitted that he wrote the fast songs on autopilot just to please the power metal fans, and while those songs aren't among Sonata's best IMO (except Misplaced), the proggier stuff like Real Puppet and WPBO is really awesome. I'm not bored of Don't Say a Word - it's an awesome closing song and Tony always nails it. I love the crazy vocals he does in the bridge in the Live in Finland version

[wolfking]

On Reckoning Night now - goddammit the vocals on Don't Say a Word are amazing. How did I never notice them before?

This is probably my fav SA song, it's perfect.

WG is atmospheric indeed, and it features the best ballads of SA (followed by TDOG and Unia), but there are still few tracks that do nothing for me, like Silver Tongue, Champagne Bath and (don't kill me) Broken. I love APBE though, awesome track.

I really like Broken, but I could see how it doesn't do much for others.

[ariich]

WHG is pretty good, but I've never been crazy about Silver Tongue and Champagne Bath, and The Cage is so repetitive that I've grown bored of it. On the other hand, this album probably has Sonata's best ballads and I also really like APBE and The Ruins of My Life.

Reckoning Night used to be my least favorite album for a long time, but it has grown on me in the past few years. Tony has admitted that he wrote the fast songs on autopilot just to please the power metal fans

Interesting, I didn't know that. I don't find RN especially exciting though, so that doesn't surprise me.

[?]

Sonata by request: https://www.kivenlahtirock.com/14/sonata-arctica/

I find it weird that even those not going to the show can vote, but I bet the setlist will be dominated by the likes of FullMoon and Tallulah anyway. I wonder if any newer songs make the list Some fans have criticized the limited number of songs in the poll, but it's natural that they're only including the songs they've been playing this year, especially knowing the fact that there's a new member who hasn't learned the whole catalogue yet.

[?]

...and the results are in: https://www.kivenlahtirock.com/14/sonata-arctica/

I wonder how the band feels about the fact that there are no post-Unia songs in the setlist Nice to see WPBO in there, though.

[MoraWintersoul]

They only offered one Unia song in the poll in the first place. Maybe two or three TDoG songs, I can't remember.

It's fine if they wanna gloss over those albums for now, but man, not forever.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

They must be pretty worn out of their pre-Unia material, but well it seems that's gonna be regarded as Sonata's golden era forever and ever.

Also, Larger than Life is easily the best post-Unia song. I fell in love completely with that tune.

[Evermind]

I would say that's Blood or The Dead Skin. Larger Than Life actually still haven't clicked with me, and I was listening to PC a lot.

I extensively listened to Unia before I started the survivor and I actually would love to see more Unia songs live (especially since I haven't seen them live on tour when Unia was released), namely In Black and White, It Won't Fade and The Vice. Always playing Paid in Full is dull.

[?]

Yeah, The Dead Skin and Blood are probably the best post-Unia songs.

I saw Sonata live twice on TDOG tour, so in addition to Paid in Full I got to hear IB&W and Caleb. I'd love to hear some other songs from that album too (obviously, since it's my favorite!), but Tony has said that most of the material on Unia (as well as RN and TDOG) doesn't translate well into a live setting. They played It Won't Fade quite a lot after the album was released, but I'm not sure if they'd feel comfortable bringing it back due to the subject matter of the lyrics. However, The Harvest would deserve some live play IMO, as it's pretty fast and intense, and would sit comfortably in the set alongside older songs.

[Evermind]

I don't even like The Harvest that much, but seeing it live must be quite crazy and hilarious.

Yep, I missed them on TDOG tour as well, wasn't in Moscow when they played there, that's a pity.

[Scorpion]

Question for all the SA experts: I read on SongMeanings.com that the songs Caleb, The End of This Chapter and Don't Say a Word form a loose trilogy, in that chronological order - Caleb being about the childhood, The End of This Chapter about his love and the problems that come with it, and in Don't Say a Word he kills his wife. Now I can see that, sort of, and it makes sense, but is there anything official supporting that or is that just some fans reading too much into it?

[Evermind]

I saw this mentioned at few sites, including official SA board (and there's also a speculation Juliet can be a part of that story too) but I've never bothered to find out if it was confirmed.

It's cool though how this three songs are nearly the best from their respective albums.

[?]

Yeah, Tony has confirmed that the songs are related and Juliet is the fourth and final part of the saga. In a Days of Grays track-by-track breakdown he said he'd like to perform the story in full someday. As someone who loves all the four songs I wouldn't mind seeing a show like that, even though TEOTC is the only one I haven't heard live.

BTW, in some old interview Tony said he toyed around with the idea of writing a full concept album revolved around the Caleb story, but in the end he thought it'd be too restricting.

[MoraWintersoul]

I think they weren't ever married - he was just stalking her and being delusional. It's pretty fucking creepy, Tony must have watched a shitload of scarring movies during those years

[?]

The SA book is available for pre-ordering now and the description says that Tony debuts as an author, as the book includes a short story written by him. Can't wait to read it (or the whole book)!

[Evermind]

It's still in Finnish I guess?

I hope you'll spoil us some interesting stuff when you get your hands on it.

[?]

It's still in Finnish I guess?

I hope you'll spoil us some interesting stuff when you get your hands on it.

Yup, but the author said an English version is in the works.

And yes, I'll share some juicy bits! I bet at least the split with Jani will be explained in greater detail.

[?]

Ecliptica Revisited will be released on October 24, with the Genesis cover they recorded in the SGHN sessions as a bonus track: https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/products/tontraeger/cd/cd-digi/sonata-arctica-ecliptica-revisited-15th-anniversary-edition.html

[Evermind]

Nice. I'm buying it for sure.

[gazinwales]

I'm not sure if I'll get this, already got the UK re-release a couple years ago and a few others too.
Maybe they should have included the original FullMoon demo songs (UnOpened, FullMoon, 8th Commandment and Mary-Lou) on this version?
Those versions absolutely smoke the album version.