Im really looking forward to this one. Tony Kakko said this album will be more like the "old" Sonata, more Power Metal.

Great news!

Written by BlankFile on 09.01.2014 at 17:58

Im really looking forward to this one. Tony Kakko said this album will be more like the "old" Sonata, more Power Metal.

Wow, I hope you're right!

Fuck yeah! I love Sonata! Been recently jamming out to their "Silence" album and I hope it sounds kind of like that.

This album could be the best of the year if it combined elements of all their albums. Ecliptica and Silence was of course their best work, very melodic and powerful. Winterheart's Guild had touches of brilliance but was definitely a change in different, interesting direction. Unia and Days of Grays now...well, they are growers and have some good songs so if this album has a bit of everything, it will be great.

A sample of The Wolves Die Young from iTune.
It's still not enough for me to form an opinion, but so far I somewhat enjoy what I hear, especially the chorus. I hope that the rest of the album is heavier tho.

There's a good chance that all songs have that 1:30 sampler on iTunes, most likely the stores of central European countries.

Pre-listening session for the album has already taken place for journalists, and the "return to the roots" talk isn't to be put too much weight on as usual. It seems to be a return to the more straight forward Sonata Arctica though. (Source: KaaosZine)

That sample sounds really good. Sounds like days of grays and some Reckoning Night mixed together. Think I will buy this album after all

Hopefully the luck of the logo will snap the band out of a funk.

I do hope we're done with the whole emo-quasi-progressive garbage phase. Because Stones Grow Her Name... my god. Sometimes you don't need to look farther than the cover of an album to know it'll suck.

New single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Xmwaf_Tog
(radio edit)

Up to now, I'm really happy with this song. It's pretty simple, but very enjoyable for the genre. The melodies, the sounds, all of it fells like Reckoning Night part 2.

Written by Dargor on 08.02.2014 at 16:59

Up to now, I'm really happy with this song. It's pretty simple, but very enjoyable for the genre. The melodies, the sounds, all of it fells like Reckoning Night part 2.

Indeed, this sound like that could have been the album after Reckoning Night, Tony said this in a recent interview.

I really enjoy the new song "The Wolves Die Young". The chorus is awsome and the song structure in general is well made. Still, i really hope the rest of the album sounds even better than this songs. A mix between Silence and Ecliptica is something Sonata fans are dying to ear for several years!

I just would wish another happy-keyboard-power-fest like the one heard in Winterheart's Guild

It's really hit and miss. Half of the songs on here are better than any track not named "Flag In the Ground" off of their last two albums. Then again, the other half of the tracks on here are that modern, un-listenable SA that plagued the last two.

"The Wolves Die Young", "Running Lights", "Blood", and "Half A Marathon Man" show that Tony Kakko can still write elite-level songs. "Blood" really might be the best power metal song he's written since Reckoning Night's material. Parts of "What Did You Do in the War, Dad?" (despite the atrocious song title and sappy lyrics) bring that "Champagne Bath"-esque neoclassical power metal feeling that's been missing for a decade. When the material is working, it truly feels like they're back. Some songs make you pause and go, "damn, finally!"

Unfortunately, songs like "Take One Breath", "Love", and "X Marks the Spot" are hard to take seriously because they're either boring, lame, or downright bizarre. The 14-minute closer "Larger Than Life" feels like punishment for making it through the album. Weird, directionless, and 7 minutes too long. The net result is that 1/2 the tracks here are pretty much a mandatory "skip".

Overall it's a mixed bag. What's good is great, but what's bad is some of their worst material yet. Still, it is a considerable step up from the last two, and can be debated that it's their best since Reckoning Night, as I find it pretty on-par with Unia.

All bias aside... after one listen to the album, I am in love with every song. This rarely happens for me. The new album is just astonishingly good, I'm very happy.

^+1 This thing is amazing.

My verdict after 3 spins (for what its worth):
I am surprised, this is a pretty decent album! Way better than SGHN, much better than Unia and TDoG, not entirely on par with the first 4 albums.
Still, I like it very much, especially the first half which feels more like old Sonata. The other half feels more like new Sonata which I don't really mind. A few moments in the second half feels somewhat out of place but doesn't bother me much after getting used to the last 3 albums.

To me this is easily a 7.5, probably an 8.

Would buy and listen more!

Certianly better than that Stones Whatever It's Called, but nowhere near as good as the other albums except for Unia, possibly. I kinda liked Unia though and absolutely loved Days of Grays.

There's some great stuff here and there, but also a lot of boring passages.

Heaps better than SGHN, but... a long way to go for this band, my rating would be around 6.8, so 7.

What a wasit of time ... why this band cant split up ....

Written by Bad English on 28.03.2014 at 22:16
What a wasit of time ... why this band cant split up ....

Probably because they're popular, get to tour around the world, regularly sell out big venues, and get to write the kind of music they want with strong label support.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 28.03.2014 at 22:53

Written by Bad English on 28.03.2014 at 22:16
What a wasit of time ... why this band cant split up ....

Probably because they're popular, get to tour around the world, regularly sell out big venues, and get to write the kind of music they want with strong label support.

true, strong labble support but same way we can ask is that lable cares about true metal or money?

Written by Bad English on 28.03.2014 at 23:23
true, strong labble support but same way we can ask is that lable cares about true metal or money?

Why does it matter? The fans, band, and label all benefit from the way things are going right now... or is that "false metal"?

Written by Troy Killjoy on 28.03.2014 at 23:31

Written by Bad English on 28.03.2014 at 23:23
true, strong labble support but same way we can ask is that lable cares about true metal or money?

Why does it matter? The fans, band, and label all benefit from the way things are going right now... or is that "false metal"?

its euro flower metal in its worst form

Written by Bad English on 29.03.2014 at 00:20
its euro flower metal in its worst form

I'm not a fan of the stuff myself, but there are far more people cheering in the audience when it comes to live performances than there are people picketing outside because the band isn't "true metal".

Written by Bad English on 29.03.2014 at 00:20


its euro flower metal in its worst form

RavenKing's follow-up?

Written by Bad English on 28.03.2014 at 23:23

true, strong labble support but same way we can ask is that lable cares about true metal or money?

What fucking true metal?

I just have to say that, even though it's cheesy as hell, "Half a Marathon Man" is insanely catchy! I'm going to a party tonight. I'm going to be drunk. I'll probably play air guitar to that cheese fest.