Sonata Arctica Silence Rare
Sonata Arctica - Silence Picture Vinyl VERY RARE. End Price: USD, 60. Start Price: USD, 60. End Date: 2007-02-04. Start Date: 2007-01-30. Click here and be the first to rate this auction Papa Kehte Hain Full Movie Free Download Mp4 here. ! Number of bids: 1. Country: Finland. Auctioned at: ebay. Sonata Arctica - Silence Picture Vinyl. I ship worldwide!!
The Ninth Hour marks Sonata Arctica‘s fourth full length since Unia. In 2016, that means that half the band’s career is post-Unia and since that monumental album Sonata Arctica has gone through a tense relationship with its history and—if the comments on this blog are anything to go by—its fanbase. In recent years the band has reintroduced wolf shirts and their old logo, but for me it’s The Days of Grays—an album distinctly lacking both—that remains the band’s best since 2004. But the band has had less success since TDoG. Stones Grow Her Name was.
Pariah’s Child was, but not great. But I’m always excited when new Sonata Arctica records hit.
I count the band among my favorites, and I think that Tony Kakko is a genuinely talented and unique songwriter. These Finns have developed a sound that is idiosyncratic, interesting, and fun. And fortunately for us all The Ninth Hour shows the band hitting their stride again. Sonata Arctica has never been subtle and The Ninth Hour doesn’t change that. The cover art features a city in the shape of a skull, balancing society versus nature (wolf shirt!) and this theme also dominates the album. More than any previous record, The Ninth Hour is fairly thematic, focused on the issues of climate change and the human relationship to the earth.
The album’s opening finds Sonata Arctica riffing on Nightwish‘s ridiculous Richard-Dawkins-reads-nonsense section from Endless Forms Most Beautiful, hitting home the conflict between society and nature. The upbeat and baldly political “Fairytale” drops the line “It’s cool and we’re all snowed in / Vote yes for the global warming!” while the solemn “We Are What We Are” laments with Kakko’s most cynical chorus of all time: “We could save our world / But we are what we are / We should love our earth / But we are what we are / It takes care of our loved ones / But we are what we are!” The album recapitulates the opening track with a heartfelt closer “On the Faultline (Closer to an Animal)” which pushes on a similar theme. Fear not, however, The Ninth Hour manages to avoid being preachy by including songs about werewolves (“Among the Shooting Stars”), the wonders of flight (“Fly, Navigate, Communicate”), and Tony Kakko’s teenage years in 1970s America (“Candle Lawns”). But The Ninth Hour doesn’t just distinguish itself thematically. It distinguishes itself musically in a way that I have difficulty conveying. Sonata Arctica has become an increasingly unique blend of piano driven progressive rock and showtunes girded with a Europower frame. Put differently, if Jim Steinman had been born in Finland, Meat Loaf would have sounded like The Ninth Hour.
The songs are catchy but epic and often bordering on excess. Compositions tend to swell and crest on the back end, like “White Pearl, Black Ocean II,” which builds on themes already developed on 2004’s Reckoning Night. The Ninth Hour blends Sonata Arctica‘s classic sound with Kakko’s developing style of almost conversational compositions. The second single “Life” exemplifies the ebbs and flows of Kakko’s unique style. The song starts with Klingenberg’s misty keys supported by throbbing ’80s bass before merging into a slightly counter-intuitive pre-chorus before peaking with a life affirming chorus. The twists and turns are bolstered by unpredictable root chords in Viljanen’s rhythm guitar work, but there’s a sense that everything follows—even when the songs are almost linear.
Yet the album is littered with songs that hit me right in the sweet spot. “Life” has an addictive chorus, while “Fairytale” takes pretty obvious shots at certain distasteful political candidates (“He’ll be the superseder / The builder of the walls / The great leader / He’ll rape us all and say ‘Surprise!' ”) and rocks a delicious chorus. “Till Death’s Done Us Apart” (cool English, bro) and “Rise a Night” are both surprisingly old school Sonata Arctica tracks, the latter of which features Tommy Portimo’s classic power metal metronome impression on drums. Yet while one recognizes these as Sonata Arctica songs, I don’t get the feeling that these guys are rehashing their earlier stuff. Rather, the band has developed a sound that’s truly their own; simultaneously poppy and wandering. As a whole this means The Ninth Hour is interesting, surprising, and thankfully free of banjo.
My big complaint about this album is that it really just sounds like shit. It’s a balanced mix; professional, with new bassist Pasi Kauppinen shockingly audible. But I just have a hell of a time with the tones and production values these guys choose. Everything here sounds like it was recorded in 2003; loud, crunchy, with overly wet, tinkling keys and drums that go a-clickity-click.
It’s hard to say what these guys would sound like if they were produced well, but “White Pearl, Black Oceans II” is a track with lush sounds that would have sounded amazing with fuller range and different production choices. It would be powerful if it sounded or rather than the canned power metal sounds. But instead, everything is crushed to hell and sterile. The guitar tone sounds like someone’s using Crate (*shudders*), and the bass might be audible, but that’s its only distinguishing characteristic. So after that little diatribe about the sound, you should trust me when I say that The Ninth Hour is the band’s best since The Days of Grays. The material is deceptively sticky, and while I know others haven’t fallen for it, I really have. In spite of my frustrations with how the album sounds, I’ve continued coming around and enjoying the weird and fun and, at times, solemn and heavy songwriting.
I suspect at this point that I’m kind of alone in this, but for whatever reason Sonata Arctica continues to produce records that hit home for me. Hook these guys up with Jens Bogren or, even better, Steven Wilson and maybe they’d finally live up to their potential as a progressive metal act. But until then, I’ll keep listening to The Ninth Hour. DR: 6 Media Reviewed: V1 mp3 Label: Websites: Out Worldwide: October 7th, 2016. • Interestingly enough, this actually fits the classic comment written in reference to Opeth‘s Heritage. The first experimental record is the one that hurts.
The second one is the one that’s good. • Even if people didn’t take in the spirit it was meant. • Am I the only person who hears this as deeply ironic? It could be me, but I almost wonder if they’re not making fun of Nightwish. • Yes, Jordan Campbell, I know that it’s my job.
• And universal acclaim to the nerd who can tell me what Nightwish song “Till Death’s Done Us Apart” is ripping off. I recently marathoned all of Sonata’s post-Reckoning Night albums, and I hate to say it but I’ve just never been a huge fan of Days of Grays. There’s some really great songs there, but I feel that Unia is the better overall package. Yeah, I said it, fight me nerds! Anyway, fantastic review as always, and I can’t wait to listen to this / hear the new songs live in December. I do want to point out one thing though: the final song is actually subtitled “Closure to an Animal”.
I know this because when I first read the track list I had to do a double take, followed by a spit take. Try “Fairytale”, “Rise A Night”, “Candle Lawns” or “Fly, Navigate, Communicate”. “Fairytale” sounds like a combination of Winterheart’s Guild’s “Silver Tongue” and the instrumentals of “Reckoning Night”. “Rise A Night” sounds like what Sonata should’ve sounded like if they just continued with their formula after Reckoning. “Candle Lawns” has that “Tallulah”-esque sound. I can’t pinpoint what “Fly, Navigate, Communicate” other than describing it as everything they’ve even done up to this point, but when you hear Tony and his high notes, you’re gonna wish he sounded like that always; like per say, Vintage Tony.
From what I heard so far from this album, I would say I listened with no expectations with a sense of disappointment, but ended up quite pleased. I think you would enjoy it too. I guess this makes me officially excited for this record then! Its good to hear that there are no obviously terrible creative choices worth pointing out (production aside), because that was what really sunk Stones Grow and Pariah’s Child for me. There was good material there, but stuff like Shitload of Money, Don’t Be Mean, Love, and the awful yammering drenched all over X Marks the Spot made those records really hard to listen to front-to-back.
It just seemed like Tony and co. Were writing really good material with really cool ideas, but had nobody willing to enlighten them about how the power metal banjo was a godawful idea, or that the last thing Pariah’s best Ecliptica-styled power metal rager needed was lyrics ripped from Springsteen’s Born to Run. Closer to an Animal is good, though maybe a bit too close to Unia territory in terms of the songwriting, and Life is really endearing in that signature Sonata way. If the rest of the record holds up to those two it will be their best record since Days of Greys for sure. While I agree with the overall sentiment, Stones Grow Her Name is without question the superior album to Pariah’s Child. Yes, SGHN is *bad*, and it sure as fuck is a catastrophic disappointment coming off the tremendous momentum SA had built to that point and cemented with T-Dog (one of the greatest albums of all time; fight me on it). But it’s also ridiculously catchy and, despite (or maybe because of) its bizarre cacophony of what-the-fuckery, has kept me coming back so many times since it entered my Wall of Shame back in 2012 that I should commit sudoku from the shame alone, and I like the banjo.
Contrast with Pariah’s Child, which is just very, very banal and has produced no desire to listen to it whatsoever. That mini-diatribe aside, I’ve been waiting on this review to pre-order it and I’m sold. After the last two, I feared I could no longer be hype for a Sonata Arctica album. The two singles released so far are amazing and reminded me why SA has earned its place as my second most played artist overall. Based on the context of the review, I wager it would be a “Very good!” or even a “Great!” if it didn’t sound so shitty, which means it will probably be one of my favorite records of the year. T-Dog 2.0 hype?
I also don’t care for Stratovarius, but I adore pre-Days Of Grays Sonata Arctica due to the uncharacteristically-interesting song-writing for its genre. It’s consistently exciting and beautiful without feeling “dorky” and loaded with technical prowess without being the kind of band that shoves that technical prowess in your face.
Instead, Kakko utilizes the talent available to him in an exceedingly-tasteful way. Again, that’s before Days of Grays, which is an alright album but started getting a little too “out there” for me. The first four are where its. If you want pure speedy-poppy goodness, start with Silence and Ecliptica. If you like a more diverse platter with some progressive tendencies, Reckoning Night is pretty solid (Darren is right, Blinded No More is garbage, but otherwise really solid record with a couple absolute classic jams). And if you really like prog, Unia and Days of Greys would probably be up your alley, though they tend to be fairly unpopular with a fan base which misses the speed and melody of their early work •.
Great review AMG. I feel this is an appropriate time to thank you, your crew, and all who post here for getting me back on the metal snyde. After Peter Steel passed I was pretty well jaded and was done with metal music in general. After many years of tracking down all the songs my parents listened to in the 70s and 80s, (not to mention the local am oldies station), I finally felt the need for some good ol heavy metal in my life. I stumbled across your sight one day and the rest is history. While I was listened to metal my entire childhood, you’ve introduced me to many bands and styles of music I never would have heard otherwise.
Thanks for turning me on to Opeth, Wilderun, Saboton, Turisas, Steven Wilson, Carcass, Vektor, Raphsody, and Gloryhammer. Ive found that while I dont like everything you cats review, I always enjoy reading them anyway (blast beats can still be a bit much for meuntil im drunk). You all rock.
Thanks again. Looking forward to hearing this.
Havent listened to Sonata since Unia. And I thought Blinded No More was a good tune. Why do you think this is nonsense?: “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones Most people are never going to die because They are never going to be born The potential people who could have been Here in my place but who will in fact never see The light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara Certainly those unborn ghosts include Greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton We know this because the set of possible people Allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set Of actual people. In the teeth of those stupefying Odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds How dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior State from which the vast majority have never stirred?” •. Repairing Broken Rafters.