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Sonata Arctica (Finland)
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February 14, 21:00
 Finnish prog metal quartet Sonata Arctica specializes in a soaring, orchestral variation on European heavy metal, fusing the sweeping, romantic bombast of bands like Europe with the over-the-top instrumental chops of Dream Theater. Born in 1996, the band, which included vocalist Tony Kakko, guitarist Jani Liimatainen, drummer Tommy Portimo, keyboardist Mikko Harkin, and bassist Janne Kivilahti, recorded a handful of demos before releasing their first single, "UnOpened," on Spinefarm Records in July of 1999. Producer Mikko Karmila (Children of Bodom, Stratovarius, Nightwish) recorded and mixed Sonata Arctica's full-length debut "Eliptica", and the album was released in 2000 by Spinefarm and Century Media Records. Following a successful tour with Rhapsody and Stratovarius, the group put out a six-song EP "Successor-MCD" which featured live tracks, a pair of covers, and other previously unreleased material.
Sonata Arctica were rewarded with various awards and honors around this time: Hard N' Heavy magazine voted them Newcomer of the Year, as did Emma, the Finnish Music Awards. Kivilahti quit the band in late 2000 and was replaced by Marko Paasikoski before work began on the band's second full-length album. With producer Ahti Kortelainen behind the boards, Sonata Arctica recorded "Silence" at Tico-Tico studios in time for a 2001 release.
After the last show of the Silence Tour Mikko Härkin decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. The third studio album entitled "Winterheart's Guild" was recorded in the meantime, without the new keyboard player. The domestic success continued after Winterheart's Guild was released in Finland. During its debutant week it peaked at #3, this time leaving The Rasmus, Eminem, T.A.T.U and Stratovarius behind. The album stayed five weeks on the top 10.
In 2004 the band entered Tico Tico Studios in Kemi for the recording of their fourth studio album. This time the recording session featured also Henrik who added fresh spices to the soup, later on called "Reckoning Night". After over three months of hard work, the recordings were finally completed. The album was mixed and mastered in the famous Finnvox Studios.
In October 2004, the band received extraordinary news: they had exceeded the Gold record sales mark with "Silence". "Silence" had become eventually the most sold album of the band reaching the magical limit of 15,000 copies! Their fifth studio album is called "Unia" (Finnish for "Dreams"). The album was released in May 2007.
The new album "The Days of Grays" released in October 2009, caused much stir among the band’s fans and musical critics. Sonata Arctica has managed to surprise them once again. While on their previous album "Unia" the musicians gravitated towards a more progressive and complex kind of music – "The Days of Grays" is more likely to be a comeback to the band’s early compositions. “The Days of Grays is about a lot of death and difficult subjects. The necessary gray areas. Just stories, no different than any other fiction piece you may find, with some historic spices,” comments frontman Tony Kakko.
The Days of Grays’s tone is somehow close to one of Sonata Arctica’s most atmospheric albums "Winterheart’s Guild", with lots of keyboard parts, with the northern fairy tales’ theme, and lyrical ballads such as "Breathing". The album also has some technical features a la Unia which, however, fit in well to the new material. Johanna Kurkela’s voice is another highlight on the album – together with Tony Kakko, she’s performed the songs "Deathaura" and "No Dream Can Heal A Broken Heart".
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