Sonata Arctica thread

[MoraWintersoul]

Well, now that we're talking about old-school SA and about Jani, I might as well post some pictures

pre-beard Tony


pre-red hair Jani


Henkka in a skirt because fuck gender roles seriously:


Weird as fuck Ecliptica promo:


And some adorability:

[?]

pre-beard Tony

Maybe he looks so amazed because of his lack of beard?

Weird as fuck Ecliptica promo:

It's actually pre-Ecliptica, according to the booklet of The Collection (don't have a copy myself, but I once borrowed it from the library) it's 97 or 98 (I think) Another similar photo:

Reminds me of some Majesty-era DT pics - why do all young bands have to pose with their instruments?

EDIT: Wait a minute, it says 1997 on the instrument photo - it has to be 98 though, since Janne is there.

[MoraWintersoul]

Because you need to know who's who nothing beats KM casually holding a keyboard though

I don't think Janne Kivilahti joined until '99, late '98 at the very earliest so I don't know whether that '97 date in the bottom of the oldest picture is legit.

[?]

I remember reading in some interview that he joined in late '98. Speaking of inties and Janne, here's one with him - have you read it? https://www.truemetal.org/sonataarctica/haast-janne-eng.html

[MoraWintersoul]

I remember reading in some interview that he joined in late '98. Speaking of inties and Janne, here's one with him - have you read it? https://www.truemetal.org/sonataarctica/haast-janne-eng.html

No I haven't

*reads*

He liked In Flames and Dream Theater I wonder what is he doing now. I also hate how Mikko Harkin went almost completely under the radar, I think he's doing something with Timo Tolkki now and I think that, besides Cain's Offering, the only project he was involved in that actually generated some buzz was Solution.45?

[wasteland]

Well, Tony looks considerably better with the beard 

[?]

Janne had a good taste in music! He got a regular job after quitting Sonata: https://www.metalkings.ru/reviews/interviews-sonata_arctica.htm

MetalKings.com: What is your former bass player Janne Kivilahti doing at present? Is he playing in any band or has he quit music?

TK: I think he's working in a local papermill or something. Haven't seen him in a while. He's not playing bass anymore that I know.

I also hate how Mikko Harkin went almost completely under the radar, I think he's doing something with Timo Tolkki now and I think that, besides Cain's Offering, the only project he was involved in that actually generated some buzz was Solution.45?

Mikko was involved in a Christian metal band called Wingdom, but they only recorded one album in 2005. The Tolkki project you're referring to, Symfonia, also got buried after just one album, so I have no idea what else he's been up to. Tony said that Mikko "got into some religious charade making us look bad with his talks, so I think it’s best to keep the distance in the future too."

[MoraWintersoul]

When I said Tolkki project, I meant the new one, Avalon:
https://www.metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=19474

Derek is also there, which I find really awesome

[?]

Oh, I forgot that Mikko is involved in that project too! Now I also remember that he was announced as the touring keyboardist for Luca Turilli's Rhapsody.

[MoraWintersoul]

The most baffling guest spot on that album has got to be Jens' though

Glad things are picking up for Mikko.

[Fisi]

It has been interesting to read this discussion about Jani. I used to be quite a big Sonata Arctica fan when Unia was released, and I really liked that album. When they announced that Jani would be leaving, I didn't really care - I thought Sonata Arctica was 'Tony's band' and they weren't a very guitar based one, so how could the change of guitar players be a problem? Well, The Days of Grays was a slight disappointment to me - I still liked quite many songs on it, but I felt like the others were just fillers. Then came Stones Grow Her Name, which is like the perfect example of what I wouldn't like Sonata Arctica to do. I mean, I like prog, I like power metal (even though I never really liked Sonata Arctica's straightforward power metal songs that much) and I also like symphonic elements. Then they decide to ditch all that and start playing hard rock. Yeah, you guessed it, I don't like hard rock. To be honest, SGHN was a bit better than I expected, but it's not what I'd want to hear from the band that made cool albums like Reckoning Night and Unia.

When Sonata Arctica made two disappointing records, Jani released Gather the Faithful, one of my favourite power metal albums ever, the great acoustic Blackoustic album and took part in writing two awesome songs for the latest Stratovarius album. It may all very well be just a weird coincidence, but it has really started to make me wonder whether Jani's influence to the Sonata Arctica sound that I used to love was much bigger than I had thought.

[?]

The most baffling guest spot on that album has got to be Jens' though

Glad things are picking up for Mikko.

Jens said he wants to help Tolkki get back on track, which is a very kind move from him.

I found an old Finnish interview with Mikko - he talks about his Christianity and says that his teenage years were pretty rough and he felt empty until he found God. Getting to tour the world with Sonata was basically a dream come true, but he didn't have enough time to pray and the rock'n'roll lifestyle was too much for him, which is why he left.

[?]

Tony was interviewed after the latest gig in Finland: https://www.soundi.fi/uutiset/sonata-arctican-keikkatauko-paattyi-katso-kuvat-ja-lue-haastattelu-uutisia-uudesta

He says they plan on entering the studio in September and try to get the album done by Christmas, so that it could be released in early April. Tony has written 50(!) songs and one of them is a 10-minute epic. According to him the new album will be heavier than SGHN.

The mention about the epic is promising, because Wildfire II and III were my favorites on the last album (I'm not expecting a new Power of One though) and hopefully this means that the new album will be at least a bit proggier. SGHN was awesome at first, but after multiple listens the songs started to get a little stale.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Sounds good to me!

Although, I only have Ecliptica. I need to get some of their other albums.

[?]

One bit of the interview made some Finnish power metal fans dissatisfied:

Some [of these songs] will surely fit Sonata, at least the slower and more mellow stuff. Back in the day I ended up "raping" some songs, because we needed more fast tunes with double kicks, which is something I regret in hindsight, but that's life.

(the last phrase may sound weird in the context of the intie, but I didn't know any other appropriate way to translate it)

Although, I only have Ecliptica. I need to get some of their other albums.

Get Unia. Right now.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I shall endeavor to do so. Unfortunately, I don't get to a music store very often.


I could order from Amazon, I guess.... brb

[?]

Unia is pretty different from Ecliptica, being proggier and more unique. It can take some time to grow, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it

[?]

Wacken 2013 show

[?]

Marko leaves the band

Marko never looked very enthusiastic on stage, but I thought he was Sonata's JMX and it was natural for him, so I didn't really expect this. However, I had thought that if someone left SA it would probably be Marko. Incidentally, I listened to the Live in Finland CDs yesterday after a period of not listening to Sonata!

Pasi has played together with Henkka and worked with the band before, so I bet he'll fit in nicely. We'll see if his prog metal background has any influence on the bass work and/or the songs on the next album...

[MoraWintersoul]

I hope it does have influence.

I saw Winterborn open for Sonata on TDoG tour and Pasi was totally awesome; very energetic, smiling and engaging all the time; he filmed us and threw CD singles and tiny merch items into the crowd after the show. So even though I'm a little sad, I've totally accepted this (could be the fact that I don't care so terribly much for Sonata as opposed to a few years ago, so this isn't tough to handle).

Interestingly, when Jani left, the only other dude (besides Elias) they were considering was the lead Winterborn guitarist (forgot the name whoops).

[?]

Interestingly, when Jani left, the only other dude (besides Elias) they were considering was the lead Winterborn guitarist (forgot the name whoops).

Yeah, I remember reading about that. It's better they picked Elias so that they didn't end up stealing 2 members from Winterborn

[?]

Alone in Heaven (official video)

Basic performance video, but better than Shitload of Money It actually reminds me of 80s power ballad videos and seeing Tony with an acoustic guitar makes that vibe even stronger

[?]

New album Pariah's Child out on March 28

Too bad they went back to the old logo; I like the 2007 one more I'm not overly excited about power metal elements coming back, either, but hopefully the new album won't lose its edge as quickly as SGHN did.

[wolfking]

I welcome the power metal sound.  The last two were terrible.  Hopefully, they can come back with something special, they are capable.

[Evermind]

I welcome the power metal sound too, but don't agree about the last two. Stones were admittedly pretty meh, but TDOG over the years has become one of my favourite outputs of theirs.

And I hope they'll announce Russian tour date soon.

[gazinwales]

I welcome the power metal sound.  The last two were terrible.  Hopefully, they can come back with something special, they are capable.

I only regularly listen to the first 4 albums.
Last three have been a massive disappointment to say the least.
Since Janne left Tony has strangled the SA sound with way too many layers of vocals not many guitar solo's and too much pomp and prog.
Hopefully the return of the old logo means we will get some old school Sonata back 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Reminds me of the Opeth thread...

[?]

Reminds me of the Opeth thread...

It's not as bad as on some other forums

I only regularly listen to the first 4 albums.
Last three have been a massive disappointment to say the least.
Since Janne left Tony has strangled the SA sound with way too many layers of vocals not many guitar solo's and too much pomp and prog.

Then why do you like Silence, WHG and Reckoning Night?

Unia will always be my #1 Sonata album - of course there's a bit of nostalgia involved as it was my introduction to them, but I feel it's their most unique album and the songs are full of interesting layers. I do like the earlier albums as well, but the Stratovarius influence is really obvious and I rarely find the urge to listen to the faster songs nowadays.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Personally, I prefer SA's power metal sound, but they clearly aren't into that anymore. I think they should make whatever kind of music they want.

[wolfking]

Unia will always be my #1 Sonata album

Me too.  It's just a special and perfect piece.  The band will never recreate it and they should never have tried.

[gazinwales]

To this very day Unia is hard for me to listen to and stomach.
After 4 fast power metal albums, it was almost a different band for me.
I was a fan from the first time I heard the FullMoon demo.
I remember pimping the crap out of them at the time, and through a good friend of mine,
and much to my shock, when I got the Ecliptica CD, I nearly fell over when I saw my name in the booklet in the 'thank you's'.
I dunno I will listen to those 3 again, just to see if I am missing anything 

[?]

Trailer #1 and tracklist revealed

01. The Wolves Die Young
02. Running Lights
03. Take One Breath
04. Cloud Factory
05. Blood
06. What Did You Do In The War, Dad?
07. Half A Marathon man
08. X Marks The Spot
09. Love
10. Larger Than Life

Track #6 is the most cringeworthy Sonata song title ever IMO - yes, despite the existence of Shitload of Money But hey, I won't judge the music itself until I've heard the album.

[Zydar]

Personally, I prefer SA's power metal sound, but they clearly aren't into that anymore.

Yeah their first albums are what I prefer. Especially the debut and Reckoning Night. They kind of lost me after that.

[Zook]

I guess I'll be seeing these guys in October, but I'm mainly going for Delain.

[gazinwales]

'old Sonata meaning more power metal style elements' Tony Kakko
Now I am pretty happy and looking forward to this.