Sonata Arctica thread

[wolfking]

I thought that cover was absolute shit.

[ErHaO]

I'm Haunted sounds great (it is full on YT now). Nice old school SA song. But offcourse it is a bonus for the Japanese version, so it will not be on my copy......

Oh, and the I can't dance cover is rad as well. I like it a lot.

Looking forward to hearing the whole thing.

[?]

The album is up on Spotify and I've been listening to it. I find it ironic that the production and mix aren't as good as on the original album, because most album re-recordings are done due to the poor sound of the original versions. It sounds better than DT12, though... The performances are great and Elias shines, although Jani fanboys will still complain about his playing. Tony may sound a little bored on a few songs (who wouldn't after performing them hundreds of times?), but he's amazing on 8th Commandment (that scream at the end! ), and he nails the high parts in Blank File and Destruction Preventer, although both songs have been transposed down.

I only wish the new versions wouldn't emulate the original ones so closely - the live versions often have some cool little changes, but here the quiet intros, song endings and even some keyboard patches and solos sound pretty much the same as on the 1999 album. I prefer the 2006 remakes of Replica and My Land to the versions on this release, because they had some additional backing vocals, different solos and guitar work, etc., but on the whole I'm happy with the album.

[MoraWintersoul]

Look at Tony's comment on Replica: https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_002_zps2fe99f3f.jpg.html

One of the special moments he's referencing is the concert in Belgrade five years ago, when almost the entire concert hall knelt down on the start of the second verse (it's not visible in the video clearly but you can sense the change in his voice and see him kneeling down at the end of the strophe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArLAd2X-f7w the sound is pretty good for a vid from 2009 and the performance is amazing so if you needed a dose of Sonata today there you go

[?]

^According to the book the same thing first happened in 2008 when they played the song in Slovenia and the whole audience sat down and listened quietly.

Speaking of the book, I finished reading it yesterday and it was a great read! However, whoever proofread the book should be ashamed, because there are several typos like wrong verb forms, Janne being called Jani etc. It's not a huge distraction, but slightly irritating. Hopefully the translation will include less mistakes.

Anyway, I like how openly they talk about the line-up changes and the things that led to them - there's been a lot more tension behind the scenes than I'd expected. Reading about the demo days was also highly interesting. I can share a few random (fun) facts from the book:

-According to Marko the real story behind the Tricky Beans name is that at one rehearsal Tony was twiddling his nipples with his thumb and index finger, and he called them "tricky beans"
-Timo Tolkki was supposed to produce Ecliptica and the band had thought about asking Tarja Turunen to make a guest appearance on My Land. It was just speculation and nothing ever materialized, but the guys had already revealed these plans to a local newspaper, and when some of their friends met Tarja after a Nightwish show and told her "it's so cool that you're appearing on our buddies' album", she was like "whaaat?"
-Before Ecliptica came out, the people at Spinefarm were afraid the guys didn't look "metal" enough or have any street cred. The Sonata boys were taken to a rock clothing store in Helsinki, but they refused to buy anything, because they thought they'd get beaten up in Kemi if they were wearing those kind of clothes there. Once it was time for the first photo shoot, Tony even refused to take off his fanny pack - in hindsight he wishes he hadn't been so stubborn.
-Janne Kivilahti had started dating two weeks before the band went on a 7-week tour with Stratovarius, and he called his gf so often that his total phone bill after the trip was over 7800 FIM (1300 € or 1650$).
-False News Travel Fast is a remake of a Tricky Beans song called Rosepetals Know, which had only been played live and never recorded for a demo.
-If you make an abbreviation out of the capitalized words in the first chorus of Sing in Silence ("Haven of Emotion...") in the Silence booklet, it spells "HEMOHES", which was a reference to a recent doping scandal in Finland.
-The other keyboardist candidate besides Henrik who got to meet the band and jam with them in 2002 was Vili Ollila, who has later worked with Tony on the Northern Kings project and some Finnish metal Christmas albums.
-The rumbling canon sounds in The Ruins of My Life were created by hitting a screwdriver through a styrofoam box Tommy's BBQ meal had been in. The sound was then slowed down and the pitch was lowered to make it sound like a huge boom.
-The Last Amazing Grays was meant to include a guitar solo, and Elias had recorded and emailed it to the studio where TDOG was mixed, but for some reason the file was never received.

[Evermind]

These are pretty cool facts there. 

Seeing these guys in Moscow in a few hours. Really hope they'll put WPBO back in the setlist!

[Evermind]

Well, concert just ended and sadly no WPBO, but it was damn awesome anyway. Once again I was reminded why SA is one of my favourite bands.

SETLIST SPOILERS AHEAD, BEWARE (just in case)

Setlist was as follows:

The Wolves Die Young
Losing My Insanity
My Land
In The Dark
Cloud Factory
Black Sheep
Letter to Dana
Paid in Full
I Have a Right
X Marks the Spot
Love
FullMoon
Kingdom for a Heart
San Sebastian

Blood
Wolf and Raven
Don't Say a Word (with Vodka outro)

The concert was, once again, outstanding. First we had some mediocre Russian prog-metal band for warm-up, well, they were alright. The venue was great, the very same Gamma Rayplayed in March, quite small and intimate. We didn't put a lot of effort getting in a front row, and we ended like in fifth instead. But since the venue is small, the view was great. The merchandise was quite poor, the only things with the new album cover were the jewel-case CDs themselves (no digibooks), T-shirts and mugs. Magnets, hats and other stuff were all either with TDOG or SGHN cover on them. I hoped I would find digipack TDOG version there, no such luck of course. Anyone wants to sell it?

Wolves is a fine opener, got the crowd pumped alright. LMI held the crowd ready, but didn't get them excited a lot. Tony then had a little speech about Ecliptica anniversary and announced My Land, that's when the stuff hit the fan. Everyone went crazy. What a great live song, with "oooh" singalong part and all this epic stuff.

The next crowd pumper was Black Sheep, as always. It seems they've started to play it in original tempo again, which is awesome. Letter to Dana was received positively too, even more than Sheep. Seems Moscow folk really likes Ecliptica.

X Marks The Spot was incredibly chaotic. I think not a lot of people heard the new record, so there were a lot of confused guys standing around. "Everybody say heyo" part worked nicely, though. Love was a real buzzkiller, no idea why they kept it in.

The ending was truly insane. So much fast, fan-favourite songs in a row. I nearly passed out jumping and singing Blood, WR and DSAW in a row, but wow, I just couldn't stand still.

Tony really improved his English, like a lot. My friends complained they can't even understand what he's talking about now, he speaks fast. He was funny as always, with his banter and weird faces and stuff.

Could be my concert of the year, along with DT show.

[wolfking]

Pretty rubbish setlist.

[Evermind]

Well, given your dislike of their recent material, I expected something like that. I thought it was a nice blend of old and new songs. The complaints from me are the inclusion of Love, lack of WPBO and What Did You Do In The War, Dad?, but you can't have everything. Song selection from Ecliptica is neat (four songs, mind you), and hearing In The Dark was interesting too.

This was much better setlist than they played on SGHN tour, in my opinion. That one was filled with mid-tempo rockers and had seven songs from SGHN, what the hell.

[MoraWintersoul]

^According to the book the same thing first happened in 2008 when they played the song in Slovenia and the whole audience sat down and listened quietly.

Yeah, the (mostly) Serbs who started it in Slovenia were here too, but I wasn't sure about the date of that gig

damn we need an English version of that book.

[Scorpion]

If I could have one SA setlist wish fulfilled, I'd wish for the return of Destruction Preventer.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

It's so cool they played In the Dark. I love that song and always thought it was very underrated.

Also,

Look at Tony's comment on Replica: https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_002_zps2fe99f3f.jpg.html

One of the special moments he's referencing is the concert in Belgrade five years ago, when almost the entire concert hall knelt down on the start of the second verse (it's not visible in the video clearly but you can sense the change in his voice and see him kneeling down at the end of the strophe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArLAd2X-f7w the sound is pretty good for a vid from 2009 and the performance is amazing so if you needed a dose of Sonata today there you go

Is there a chance you can upload the images for all the songs? I'd love to read it all 

If I could have one SA setlist wish fulfilled, I'd wish for the return of Destruction Preventer.

That seems more of a possibility nowadays, given the re-recording the song had. It now sounds much more appropriate (in terms of range for Tony, of course) to be played and sang live.

[Evermind]

Is there a chance you can upload the images for all the songs? I'd love to read it all 

In fact, they're uploaded on SA official forum, here are all the three links

https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_001_zpseed28cca.jpg.html (Tony comments on the whole revisit thing)
https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_002_zps2fe99f3f.jpg.html (the first part of comments for songs, linked above)
https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_003_zpsf4df5db5.jpg.html (the second part of comments)

To be clear, I've already ordered the Ecliptica Revisited edition (still no sign of it in my mailbox though), so I hope I'm not violating any rules here.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Awesome. It's really cool to read their comments on these songs.

I really, really hope they bring out some of the more obscure Ecliptica songs live in the following years like Destruction Preventer, Unopened or even Kingdom for a Heart.

[Evermind]

Awesome. It's really cool to read their comments on these songs.

I really, really hope they bring out some of the more obscure Ecliptica songs live in the following years like Destruction Preventer, Unopened or even Kingdom for a Heart.

They've played Kingdom for a Heart almost on every night at this tour. You probably meant something else. 

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Oh, I didn't see it on the setlist. Awesome! I was probably speaking out of a whim because off the 3 times I've seen them live they've never played Kingdom for a Heart and it's one of my favorites 

[?]

If I could have one SA setlist wish fulfilled, I'd wish for the return of Destruction Preventer.

According to the book the band is planning full Ecliptica shows for next summer, so your wish is most likely going to be fulfilled then.

Is there a chance you can upload the images for all the songs? I'd love to read it all 

In fact, they're uploaded on SA official forum, here are all the three links

https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_001_zpseed28cca.jpg.html (Tony comments on the whole revisit thing)
https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_002_zps2fe99f3f.jpg.html (the first part of comments for songs, linked above)
https://s223.photobucket.com/user/Ihaa_2007/media/WP_20141030_003_zpsf4df5db5.jpg.html (the second part of comments)

Tony and Tommy's comments on 8th Commandment make me think they'll bring it back for the Finnish shows next month, as it wasn't played on the anniversary tour. It would also be cool if Tommy got them to bust out Unopened - I didn't care for the song that much before, but hearing the remake made me appreciate it more. I know Tony once said he dislikes that song, but he's said the same about Wolf & Raven, yet they've played it at almost every show this year.

[Evermind]

According to the book the band is planning full Ecliptica shows for next summer, so your wish is most likely going to be fulfilled then.

Wow, they have to come to Russia with this one! I would give a lot of money to see Ecliptica in full. Wow. Damn, you got me excited now.

[?]

Unfortunately I think it's just going to be a bunch of festivals, as they rarely play headlining shows in the summer, and a lot of metal festivals use full album performances as a way to attract more visitors these days. It would be really cool to see one of those events, though!

[?]

Sonata and Children of Bodom are supporting Nightwish at stadium shows in Finland next year:

If Sonata gets to play for one hour, I wonder if they'll play Ecliptica in full... I may buy a ticket for the Tampere show if they don't sell out right away.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

That's awesome, I'd love to see one of those shows.

[?]

Official video for I Can't Dance

[ErHaO]

So, there is this kickstarter tribute album. Normally I do not care for those, as for artists like these most are sucky bands with terrible production values. But this seems like a solid effort and somewhat official. Pasi of Sonata is involved and the bands Van Canto, Stream of Passion and Xandria are in (and other bands like Arven seem pretty solid too).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouerghrecords/a-tribute-to-sonata-arctica-album-release

Official video for I Can't Dance

Hehe, I like it. Love the having fun / happy side of Sonata, something Pariah's Child also had plenty of.

[?]

The Sonata book is now available in English as a digital version: https://paasilinna.pikakirjakauppa.fi/tuoteryhma/e_kirjat/1831#!product_id=9789522990754

Also, 8th Commandment is back in the set (as expected): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S2QI8Guey8 Henkka's backing vocals rock!

[ErHaO]

Man, that crowd.... But good live song. The best version is the one from Live in Finland. His vocals there are better than both studio versions.

[Evermind]

The Sonata book is now available in English as a digital version: https://paasilinna.pikakirjakauppa.fi/tuoteryhma/e_kirjat/1831#!product_id=9789522990754

Well, I'm not buying digital version anyway, will be waiting for a hardbook edition if there will be any.

[?]

Man, that crowd....

It's a typical Finnish audience - not a lot of action.

[?]

The Sonata book is now available in English as a digital version: https://paasilinna.pikakirjakauppa.fi/tuoteryhma/e_kirjat/1831#!product_id=9789522990754

Well, I'm not buying digital version anyway, will be waiting for a hardbook edition if there will be any.

According to the official website there'll be no physical book in English, but at the SA forum someone said the search for an international publisher is still going on. Dunno who you should trust here.

[?]

Last night's show in Tampere was great! This was the setlist (not drastically different from the one Evermind posted):

The Wolves Die Young
Losing My Insanity
My Land
What Did You Do in the War, Dad?
Cloud Factory
Black Sheep
Letter to Dana
Paid in Full
I Have a Right
X Marks the Spot
Love
FullMoon
Kingdom for a Heart
San Sebastian

Blood
8th Commandment
Don't Say a Word (w/ Vodka outro)

Compared to the last year's concert hall show (the second one of the anniversary tour and with the new line-up) this performance was tighter and the band seemed more relaxed. The audience was also more energetic (well, as energetic as a Finnish crowd can be ) now that there were no seats. Last year we got only The Wolves (which hadn't even been released yet) from PC, but this time they played 6 songs from that album. Love was a bit of a mood killer, although I saw several lighters in the air during that song, but the rest of the new songs went down pretty well. Too bad people didn't seem to recognize X Marks the Spot, because the "hey-oh" bit just screams for audience participation. The rest of the setlist was pleasing, including three songs I didn't hear on the anniversary tour. Letter to Dana was beautiful, and San Sebastian and 8th Commandment kicked ass. Paid in Full never gets old, although I wish they would play some other songs from Unia sometimes. While I don't like I Have a Right all that much, Tommy breathed some life into that song with tasty fills, and the audience seemed to respond well to the song.

Pasi has settled into the band really well, and he joined Tony and Elias for the synchronized headbanging during the solo in Paid in Full, and he also sang some backing vocals in the chorus. I remember reading an interview where he said it's one of his favorite songs, so it makes sense. When Tony was introducing Letter to Dana, he was interrupted by some people wishing him a happy name day (it was Toni's day in the Finnish calendar). He was a litte confused, explaining that he thought it had been the previous day and he had already celebrated it on the cruise where they had just played. There were also some funny moments, like when Tony screwed up the mellow chorus in Kingdom for a Heart, forcing him and Henrik to start it over. He also imitated the Finnish hip hop artist Cheek during the intro to FullMoon, and changed some of the lyrics in San Sebastian: "I wasted all my childhood dreams by playing my fucking old PlayStation One".

In recent years (TDOG and SGHN tours) the band has been criticized for playing some songs in plodding tempos, but this time there was no sign of that at all - Black Sheep was played even faster than on the album (short and crap quality clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5O8llvUnM), and Kingdom for a Heart and 8th Commandment were at least as fast as the studio versions. Tommy must've been practising a lot, because a year and a half ago Black Sheep sounded like this!

At the end of the show there was a cool surprise: I was starting to head for the exit when I heard the X Marks the Spot preacher's voice. I thought it was just a tape, just like the intro, but I turned to look and he was on stage! Tampere is Elias' hometown, and he was the one who knew the actor guy who was hired for the song, so that explains this appearance.

There was some cheap merch available, but I own a SA hoodie and a couple of T-shirts already, and I had a bus to catch so I didn't buy anything. Anyway, I came to the realization that although I like having the option to sit down at a concert, some bands just belong on club stages, and Sonata is one of them. I've seen them live 5 times, yet this was probably the best show so far, as I've never seen them so energetic.

[Evermind]

Anyway, I came to the realization that although I like having the option to sit down at a concert, some bands just belong on club stages, and Sonata is one of them.

Totally agree with you.

Also, you lucky bastards! Got War-Dad instead of In The Dark (not a big deal) and 8th Commandment instead of Wolf and Raven (big deal).

[?]

Also, you lucky bastards! Got War-Dad instead of In The Dark (not a big deal) and 8th Commandment instead of Wolf and Raven (big deal).

I hadn't heard 8C live since my first Sonata gig in 2010 and I also prefer it to W&R, so I was happy they played it. Judging by the performance and recent live videos, re-recording Ecliptica has helped a lot, because now the band plays it in the album tempo, and Elias plays the main riff with a better technique:

2009
2014

Also, during War Dad Tony made us wave our hands in a kind of mechanical and disconnected way instead of the usual waving you see during ballads. I thought it was amusing yet cool I was glad they played the song, because it's one of my faves on PC. I wish they had also played Take One Breath, but luckily Half a Marathon Man wasn't in the setlist.

[?]

Sonata has been digging up even more oldies recently: they played Shamandalie acoustically at the opening ceremony of the Ice Castle in their hometown Kemi, and the original full band arrangement was played in Kuopio. Last week in Brazil Unopened was played for the first time since 2003. On top of that, at the hometown gig they played WPBO for the first time with the full outro and the prayer at the end, and according to Henkka's blog this version also includes new orchestral backing tracks.

[Evermind]

Setlist from the yesterday's show in France:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sonata-arctica/2015/le-splendid-lille-france-43c8cbd3.html

What I'd give to see this show live.

[?]

The only songs I haven't seen live are the last 3 on Ecliptica and Mary-Lou, but hearing Ecliptica front to back would be awesome, especially Destruction Preventer. Hopefully they'll continue playing at least some of these obscure tracks on the next tour!

[Scorpion]

Holy shit Destruction Preventer