Sonata Arctica

Silence

Amazingly melodic pop-power metal masterpiece.

Review Score:

(10/10)
Sonata Arctica are what I call a "Pop-Power metal" band. What do I mean by this? Well, I don't mean Milli Vanilli pop. What I actually mean by that is that the band seems to write songs that have so much slickness and hooks to them, they can only be considered "pop" in a way". Euro-pop to be exact. They have the neo-classical melodies of countrymates Stratovarius, but they tend to be faster, and much more full of variation in the songwriting. They also have a likely influence of mid-eighties euro-pop like Depeche Mode or New Order. Out of my mind you say? Well, for example, listen to "The End of this Chapter", it just reminds me a lot of Enjoy the Silence for some reason. And another influence on this emerging genre is of course the band Europe for some of the same melodic content. And one can also point to their recent rendition (sped up and power metallized) of The Scorpions "Still Loving You" to get my basic idea.
Sonata isn't content to just thrive on Stratovarius influences unlike people allege. And besides, Sonata seems to be much better at basic songwriting that Stratovarius, the riffs and melodies seem to flow better and the virtuosity is kept to a more restrained matter. Overall, Sonata Arctica realize "its the songs stupid" and they may be a classic in the making.

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