Unia/TDoG fans got some crumbs here, so even though it's marketed as power metal and has a shit-ton of fast songs, I really can't complain
This will sound like effusive praise, so keep in mind I would rank it about sixth or seventh out of eleven albums overall even though I enjoy it, that discography in order of greatness is just pretty hard to interrupt for me
Out of the now last four albums after they'd exited their experimental "every album is a whole different genre" era, The Ninth Hour is still my favorite "new" Sonata album for the higher highs, but it's more tiresome to listen to due to the mix, and it does have a couple of swings and misses, so there are areas where CCB rivals it, and wins.
Singles were ambitious in their structure and length, and they didn't overstay their welcome by the time the album came out, which also basically never happens - the only times I ever even
liked the first single since I became a fan were Paid In Full and Closer To An Animal and a lot of the second and third singles were misses for me too
Other than the first three singles, my faves were Angel Defiled (the Iron Maiden of it all!) and Teardrops. I would probably put in Shah Mat or Cure For Everything in place of California as the last single. That closer really needed to go somewhere, but at least it has A Vibe.
That song order is absolute ass, it must be said. I might make an alternate album order Spotify playlist to satisfy the Jim Matheos in me.
I also heard Tony's as-of-yet minimally promoted project
Himmelkraft recently through a friend who managed to trick one of those Japanese digital music retailers into thinking he's located in Japan*
There's a lot of 90's industrial and similar noisy elements to distinguish it from Sonata, and the 70's spacey guitar style is unlike anything heard so far on SA albums, but when you look at the songs themselves, a lot of material on it is slightly less out there than Unia and could have been modified minimally into an SA song. The mid-tempo/ballad action is in full force there, the concept seems interesting (and very Sonata
), the melodies are pretty cool. I'm glad we finally got a full album of this kind of material again after The Days Of Grays and not just 2-3 weirder songs on a regular SA album.
*putting an angel emoji here when I was in the middle of doing that myself, but unsuccessfully, when he sent me the link to the album
Topic: Sonata Arctica thread (Read 126234 times)
