Nuclear Blast
2012
1. Only The Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful)
2. Shitload Of Mercy
3. Losing My Insanity
4. Somewhere Close To You
5. I Have A Right
6. Alone In Heaven
7. The Day
8. Cinderblox
9. Don't Be Mean
10. Wildfire Part II - One With The Mountain
11. Wildlife Part III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0
I'll just start off by saying I've never been huge on Sonata Arctica. Sure I Liked the first couple albums, but I didn't love them and after those I completely lost interest. When I write an intro like this it's not (usually at least) to rip on the band. Just giving you my impressions/mindset going in. I didn't expect much out of this. They've never been much but lesser Stratovarius to me.
However, going in there was a bit of a ray of hope on this one. A little while back when I was browsing a local music store I heard a song playing that I thought sounded pretty good. So I asked the chick working there what it was and it turned out to be Sonata Arctica - Only The Broken Hearts. It was enough to make me check out this album.
After listening to Stones Grow Her Name, my impression of the band hasn't changed all that much. The members of the band are pretty talented, Tony Kakko has a strong voice, but things don't always come together for the band in terms of songwriting. When they're on they're on and can craft a very good song, but they have at least as many misses as hits. Sonata Arctica remain one of those bands who come up with good Songs, but I don't feel the need to really own their Albums. I mean for every Only The Broken Hearts with it's nice melodic metal/rock catchiness you have a bizarre song like Cinderblox which is driven by a freakin banjo. Then there are the many lighter fluff power metal tracks inbetween that just fail to keep my attention. It's on tracks like Alone In Heaven or The Day where this band exemplifies average fluff power metal. It's really only occasional strokes of good songwriting, Tony Kakko's voice, and fairly tight playing that lift this band above Totally average for me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again... if Sonata Arctica made albums that sounded like Wolf & Raven I'd love this band. That is a great, intense song. Unfortunately, I still think of Sonata Arctica as that band who made Wolf & Raven. This one starts pretty good, but sputters out in the middle and the Wildfire sequels, while pretty decent, aren't enough to salvage the dregs in the middle of Stones Grow Her Name.
I'd really only recommend this one to Sonata Arctica fans who are still hanging with the band at this point. I don't think they're all that special, remarkable, or relevant to the power metal scene as a whole. For some reason that mystifies me though they still seem to have a pretty strong fanbase. Sonata Arctica remain a mystery to me.
Highlights: Only The Broken Hearts, Losing My Insanity
Rating - 3.0/5
2. Shitload Of Mercy
3. Losing My Insanity
4. Somewhere Close To You
5. I Have A Right
6. Alone In Heaven
7. The Day
8. Cinderblox
9. Don't Be Mean
10. Wildfire Part II - One With The Mountain
11. Wildlife Part III - Wildfire Town, Population: 0
I'll just start off by saying I've never been huge on Sonata Arctica. Sure I Liked the first couple albums, but I didn't love them and after those I completely lost interest. When I write an intro like this it's not (usually at least) to rip on the band. Just giving you my impressions/mindset going in. I didn't expect much out of this. They've never been much but lesser Stratovarius to me.
However, going in there was a bit of a ray of hope on this one. A little while back when I was browsing a local music store I heard a song playing that I thought sounded pretty good. So I asked the chick working there what it was and it turned out to be Sonata Arctica - Only The Broken Hearts. It was enough to make me check out this album.
After listening to Stones Grow Her Name, my impression of the band hasn't changed all that much. The members of the band are pretty talented, Tony Kakko has a strong voice, but things don't always come together for the band in terms of songwriting. When they're on they're on and can craft a very good song, but they have at least as many misses as hits. Sonata Arctica remain one of those bands who come up with good Songs, but I don't feel the need to really own their Albums. I mean for every Only The Broken Hearts with it's nice melodic metal/rock catchiness you have a bizarre song like Cinderblox which is driven by a freakin banjo. Then there are the many lighter fluff power metal tracks inbetween that just fail to keep my attention. It's on tracks like Alone In Heaven or The Day where this band exemplifies average fluff power metal. It's really only occasional strokes of good songwriting, Tony Kakko's voice, and fairly tight playing that lift this band above Totally average for me.
I've said it before and I'll say it again... if Sonata Arctica made albums that sounded like Wolf & Raven I'd love this band. That is a great, intense song. Unfortunately, I still think of Sonata Arctica as that band who made Wolf & Raven. This one starts pretty good, but sputters out in the middle and the Wildfire sequels, while pretty decent, aren't enough to salvage the dregs in the middle of Stones Grow Her Name.
I'd really only recommend this one to Sonata Arctica fans who are still hanging with the band at this point. I don't think they're all that special, remarkable, or relevant to the power metal scene as a whole. For some reason that mystifies me though they still seem to have a pretty strong fanbase. Sonata Arctica remain a mystery to me.
Highlights: Only The Broken Hearts, Losing My Insanity
Rating - 3.0/5
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