Sonata Arctica

Silence

Power metal gods!

Review Score:

(10/10)
After being immensely disappointed by Edguy and Stratovarius, I thought to myself, "Hmm, where can I find some decent power metal?". Ta da! Sonata Arctica has provided me with the power metal experience the aforementioned bands denied me. Great riffs, excellent solos, godly vocals, and nice atmospheres. It will amaze you how fast and hard, yet strikingly catchy "Weballergy" and "San Sebastian" are. "Wolf and Raven" is really powerful as well, even featuring a touch of death vocals, and a weird hip hopish drum interlude. I can't believe that song was released as a single in Europe, you'd certainly never hear anything like it over here.

The ballads are done very well, far above the standard power metal ballad. "Tallulah" and "Last Drop Falls" are really touching relationshipy songs, and "The End of this Chapter" is a chilling tale of love turned to obsession. "The Power of One" is quite simply one of the best metal songs I've heard in a while. Great buildup, nice atmospheres, incredible vocals, it's just perfect. Gotta love that Maiden riff thrown in there as well.

The only bad thing is the lyrics have kind of awkward English at times ("These news travel fast", "Love due to expire too long time ago"), but man, the music is so good, you won't even care. Plus, the lyrical content is otherwise pretty meaningful (as opposed to goofy, like Stratovarius), which makes up for it. That, and Tony is quite simply one of the greatest vocalists alive (as opposed to Timo from Stratovarius, who, uh, isn't). Why are you still reading this? Just buy it! I really want to get "Ecliptica", but I wish it didn't cost so much.

Still reading? Buy this now!

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