Sonata Arctica

Silence

Symphonic power metal form Precocious Finns

Review Score:

(10/10)
This band from Kemi in Finland's far north has been one of the big surprises of last year and took the hearts of many Power Metal fans by storm. After a very solid debut album these stars in the making not only avoided the sophomore jinx, they managed to top their initial release with an album that is probably in the top five, of power metal, for 2001 & 2002. Silence is a marvelous album that will elevate Sonata Arctica to the upper tier of melodic / power metal artists.

Contrary to many other bands, they have managed to retain the freshness of their debut and still sound more mature, in the melodies and arrangements. They also have what it takes to create beautiful, catchy melodies embellished with key ingredients (double bass, driving riffs soaring keyboards). Sonata also has great singing as well as talented songwriting. One big factor is Tony Kakko's voice, (who also does all the songwriting) which has grown even better than on the debut, leaving an indelible impression with the songs.

Although they are relatively young they are accomplished musicians whose arrangements and abilities belie their age. All the songs are good to great. Here is a brief summary of them chronologically; I like the narrative "Of silence" (the great narratives throughout are done by Nik Van-Eckmann), which leads to the Fast paced, double bass "Weballergy", then the slightly slower paced but more melodic "False News Travels Fast", next is the slow to mid tempo "The End of this Chapter", a brilliant 7 minute song that starts out with a scary narrative and haunting piano intro, "Black Sheep" is a standard mid paced melodic metalsong, 'Land of the free' follows the same format, "Last Drop Falls" is a very emotional heavy metal ballad, "San Sebastian" is another fast tempo song similar to "Weballergy", "Sing in silence" is another brilliant varied tempo ballad, Revontulet is a progressive sounding instumental of synth and drums, "Wolf and Raven" is a third pretty ballad and, the crowning achievement, "The Power of One". "The Power of One" is a 11 minute epic that is worth the cost of the cd alone. If you like heroic epic power metal you need this CD! Overcoming the very crowded Power Metal field, Sonata Arctica still will stand strong once the field has thinned out, because a band with such talent just cannot be swept away. As the saying the cream will rise to the top. If you like heroic epic power metal you need this CD!

Highest recommendation !!! If you ignore my advice, double shame on you!!!

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