Metal Reviews

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I guess I am among the few that don't like Sonata Arctica's earlier work, and prefer the Unia aproach, so I will be checking this one out.

Even though the review on this website and many others complained about a lack of guitar solos, I respect this decision. From your review, it sounds like they are only present on this album where they serve the song, which is the way it should always be.

Personally I found Jani's solos on the early albums to be absolutely amazing and a lot of what made me like Sonata so much, so it is kind of a shame to know that they're not using that potential. However, the rest of the composition is so much richer that it's ok.

I am really excited about this album..I personally didnt like Unia much so im hoping for something similar to their older work.

It seems like two members really though this album was average from their ratings.

That's why I'M the reviewer and THEY'RE the readers
j/k

Hahaha Good answer!

Sorry Elias, but this is waaay overscored... Didn't like it even though I decided on giving the guys a new chance. This sucks. Skull Collectors please.

Zeroes is such a terrible song. I'm surprised you spend an entire paragraph defending it and yet you didn't mention Henrik godawful solo. The album itself is an improvement over Unia, with its best songs in the beginning but the quality drops significantly after Flag In The Ground. The Dead Skin is the only standout track in the second half.

I used to call Sonata Arctica one of my favorite bands and bought all albums before Unia. Until they release something at least as good as Reckoning Night I'll spend my money on something else. Btw, the new Elias Viljanen album is very good, much better than the new Warmen or SA albums.

Not as gratingly horrible as Unia, but still not very good. Depending on my mood I'd give it a 50-60.

This album is quality ..... it's just a different to what I am used to with S.A. This is okay...but i am saving my $$$$ and buying the new ( C.O ) album instead...


Cain's offering - Dawn of Solace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zUxQF-miN8
Stolen waters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YeZaLje ... re=related

For me it's not as good as Ecliptica, Silence, or Reckoning Night. So far I like it as much as I did Winterhearts Guild and about 47 times more than I liked Unia. So IMO it is a success of sorts, I just wish it didn't dip in quality on the second half of the album as much as it does. I think it's a good album, much much better than I had expected actually and with it SA have caught my attention again.

95? Album of the year?

Yep. I think it's amazing. You're welcome to disagree with me, of course, but I just wrote about 1300 words explaining why I think so.

I love SA, but this album just isn't good. The only song I really enjoyed was Flag in the Ground, and it still wasn't as good as the best off of Silence, Ecliptica, or Reckoning Night. This just lacks the hooks that make SA what it is. Maybe it will grow on me, but there is no way this is a 95. You can write as many words as you like, but the 59 minutes worth of music that SA wrote doesn't back it up.

Just to be a dick, didn't you chastise me for "Overquoting" Versailles' debut?? Karma is fun!

Honestly, this album isn't that bad. I'd probably give it mid or high 70's, and I don't expect SA to return to the Ecliptica/Silence sound anytime soon, but I'm relatively happy with what the band is doing. There's plenty of other fast-paced, cheesy Power Metal out in the world without having to worry about one PM band that doesn't fall into that category.

Yeah. Except Kakko writes better music than Versailles ever will.

Oy, you're forgetting three very important letters there: IMO

The truth is, if Days of Grays had been SA's first album, everyone would be calling it a masterpiece.

Probably. It is quite unique, as far as power metal albums go. I can't think of another band that's using power metal in such a way for such compositional results.

Anyway, on a different note, I try to avoid using the IMO disclaimer as much as possible. This means that I try to be as objective as possible about my musical claims and to think about them as much as possible before expressing them. Of course, in the end, personal taste will dictate how much you like something or not, but I'm convinced that there are objective parameters to evaluating music. It's just a matter of finding them.

True, and really, I think it's great that you review what most of the metal world would call crap (Paramore, etc.) without showing any bias. After so much criticism on my recent Coheed & Cambria review, I pretty much applaud anyone willing to go against the mold to express their own opinions.

The matter of opinion versus quality is oooold. Musicologists could argue for hours on end about it and give us all headaches (which they do). There's a potential editorial in some of the more superficial parts of the debate though, I'm sure.