Sonata Arctica

Winterheart's Wild

The Great SONATA ARCTICA, return

Review Score:

(8/10)
2003 has not been a good year for followups. Magnificent recordings from 2001 and 2002 by bands such as Green Carnation, Evergrey, Secret Sphere and Dark Moor, have been followed up by less than stellar releases this year. Well add Sonata Arctica's name to the list.

As with the other groups followups, Winterheart's Guild is a quality work. Just don't compare it to Silence.

Is Winterheart's Guild bad? No, none of the followups have been bad! Is it average? No, none have been average either! Is it Good? I think so. What's the problem then? Perhaps my expectations are too high for these new releases after all they are following near perfection but five stars is five stars not four or even four and a half stars.

Oh sure, many will disagree with me and , after all it's only my opinion but Silence is Exceptional, Winterheart's Guild is very good, so I'll leave it at that.

Winterheart's Guild is Sonata Artica's third studio album, Elliptica and Silence being the first two with an EP sandwiched between the first and second releases.

SONG / TRACK LIST

1. Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited
2. Gravenimage
3. The Cage
4. Silver Tongue
5. The Misery
6. Victoria's Secret
7. Champagne Bath
8. Broken
9. The Ruins Of My Life
10. Draw Me

Here is a description of the better songs on the album:

"Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited" is apparently a religious song in a fairly fast tempo

"Gravenimage" This is probably the best song on the album or at least a tie with "Broken" and "The Ruins of my Life". "Gravenimage" is an epic song, starting out slowly and building intensity. It is very melodious and catchy.

"The Cage" is a very fast paced song about freedom. "The dream is alive, I can run to the hills every night, go around and see another side of the tree, Freedom has a meaning for me, howl with me".

"Victoria's Secret" is the albums' first single. This is an excellent medium fast tempo melodious track, about a young girl. "Leave with the first light, Go when you still see the moon, Run for the sunlight, Gate is now open for you"

"Champagne Bath" is a medium fast track with an odd beat and some humorous lyrics.

"Broken" is an excellent song in a medium tempo modified anthem style. I was raised from a broken seed, I grew up to be an unwanted weed, ever faster the time exceeds me, little harder again to remember you"

"The Ruins of My Life" is a tragic story of a warrior who goes off to fight for God and country only to find his wife dead when he returns. Has a psychedellic beginning before the quick beat sets forth with great melodies.

Sonata Arctica are:

Tony Kakko............Vocals and Keyboard
Jani Liimatainen......Guitars
Marko Paasikoski......Bass
Tommy Portimo.........Percussion

Hailing from the city of Kemi in Finland's far north, I assume the band's name is derived from the fact that they live within or near the arctic circle. I imagine that on those cold winter's nights, they managed to heat things up with their music. They may have grown up in the fringes of civilization but I'm here to tell you, these extremely talented quartet play like they've been trained at Julliard and vocalist Tony Kakko does a superlative performance on all their albums.

CONCLUSION

The album contains 4 to 5 very good to great songs but I could live without the rest.

I do however recommend this album though. What is good is certainly worth getting and you may just like more songs. Certainly if you were to go down to Best Buy and select ten CDs while blindfolded, you probably wouldn't pick anything better. Especially if you picked from the top twenty rack.

Similar Artists

Freedom Call, Edguy, Kamelot, Dragonland, Heavenly, Supreme Majesty

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