MUSIC REVIEW: Sonata Arctica - “Clear Cold Beyond” (pre-listening)
If you’ve been following along with me for a while, you’d know that I’ve had an unusual introduction into the musical world of Sonata Arctica. One of Finland’s original power metal legends, as well as an old personal favorite, these guys have a lot of brilliant material, as well as some outright weird shit, so I always keep an eye on them, even if albums like “Talviyö” or “Stones Grow Her Name” didn’t really do it for me. I was invited to the pre-listening session for the “Clear Cold Beyond,” which took place on January 12th, at The Riff in Helsinki. The album is set for release via Atomic Fire Records on March 8th, 2024.
Check out my “on the record” album release interviews from the Musicalypse archive with Tony & Henkka for “Talviyö” and “Ninth Hour” and stay tuned (re: like/subscribe) for the new Off the Record interview with Tommi and Elias, which will be out in February!
This cover reminds me of the colors from the “Silence” album cover
My history with Sonata Arctica, as I mentioned, is a weird one and if you’re not interested in my personal taste and history with the band, you can skip to the next paragraph. I was introduced to these guys back in around 2006ish, which meant that their newest release was “Reckoning Night” (2004) and the first new release I heard from them was “Unia” (2007), so I had a very unusual impression of this band and their sound. After seeing them at the Starlite Room in Edmonton, I began hunting for more of their albums online, finding myself drawn to their debut, “Ecliptica” (1999), while “Silence” and “Winterheart’s Guild” both had good songs but on the whole didn’t stand out (I’ve never been very into pure power metal, after all). For Finnish fans who were there from the start, Sonata Arctica was a power metal band first and foremost, who took a weird prog turn, with Finns often citing “Reckoning Night” as their crowning achievement, leading to a divide between many fans as to whether “Unia” was a masterpiece or a travesty. I was baffled by this, because those two releases felt so similar to my untrained ear. I equated songs like “Misplaced,” “Blinded No More,” “In Black and White,” and “Paid in Full” to being the albums’ bangin’ intro tracks, with the rest of the albums being esoteric and fantasy-driven gold. I still really enjoyed “The Days of Greys,” feeling that it had followed a similar pattern to the previous two releases, but with again more of the progginess, like in “Deathaura.” After that, we reach the hit-or-miss phase, where I can’t find two people who agree on the albums. “Stones Grow Her Name” had a handful of decent-at-best material with the rest being forgettable or too weird (I will die on the pedestal of “I Have a Right” being the band’s most mind-numbingly boring song, even if the lyrics are nice), and I felt the same about “Pariah’s Child,” with very few songs making it onto my band-favorite playlist. However, I actually rather liked “The Ninth Hour,” thinking it had some really interesting material and was pretty decent quality overall. And, of course, “Talviyö” was a full miss, with no songs making it onto my playlists. So that’s my general history with the band. There’s a link to a playlist with my favorite Sonata Arctica songs at the bottom of this article!
Elias Viljanen, Tommi Portimo, Tony Kakko, Pasi Kauppinen, Henrik Klingenberg
The pre-listening took place from 17.00-19.00, with interviews happening after we heard the album. The band gave us a brief greeting and told us they had tried to revisit their origins again after how slow “Talviyö” had been, and hoped that we’d enjoy the release. The album got going to a familiar tune, the first-released single, “First in Line,” so hopefully you already know it and can listen along.
The first thing worth noting about “Clear Cold Beyond” is that it’s a helluva lot peppier than a few of its predecessors. It starts, as mentioned, with “First in Line,” which draws back to their earlier power metal sound, particularly in the tinkling keys. My photographer said that it felt like a great song to blast with the windows down and she’s not wrong. However, the second track, “California,” seemed to kick up the speed even more, feeling like a traditional speedy Sonata Arctica track that will work well live. These two tracks didn’t immediately blow me out of the water, but they sounded solid enough and kept a nice energy.
Things start to get interesting by the third track though, which starts with a very esoteric intro. The transition into the vocal part felt strange, maybe a little clunky (this needs revisiting), but the band seem to have experimented a lot with this one, throwing some of the quirky vibes from songs like “Wildfire” around. The track’s drama was not unlike some old Nightwish material too. The transition into “Dark Empath”—the newest installation of the Caleb-saga—then was very smooth, almost unnoticeable, leading us to look at one another and ask, “did the song just change?” as a darker tone—traditional for Caleb songs—overtakes the music and shakes things up again.
Next is the first of many ballad fake-outs, as “Cure for Everything” starts out slow but picks up its pace and has an almost grungy feel with a guitar-like bass part that made me think, isn’t that the style that Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead) was known for (I’ve never listened to much of their music)? Already, there’s a lot of material that requires a mandatory revisit, ASAP, as one listen-through wasn’t close to enough to digest it!
Another slow intro commences the sixth song—a slot often reserved for ballads, but no! This is actually the second single, “A Monster Only You Can’t See,” which you’ve surely already heard. This isn’t perhaps the most exciting song musically, but there’s something in those lyrics. I particularly like how Tony throws “asshole” in there oh so casually… I honestly cried a bit the first time I looked at the lyrics, because maybe I have some friends whom I have dedicated too much of myself to and they don’t do the same for themselves. While I’m not sure about the wintry vibe—that’s absolutely the band’s choice and style, so no shade there—I do think the lyrics (minus “dices,” oh Tony, it doesn’t have to be me but please get someone to proofread your lyrics?) are of a type that needs to be said, so I’m glad this song exists.
“Teardrops” then leads with some intense harpsichord and forceful drums that throw back to the old days of Stratovarius. The vocal lines are slow but effective and interestingly, this song made me think of the Caleb-saga per the lyrics I caught, more so than “Dark Empath,” which was curious. Again, this album seems like it might be worth listening through with the lyrics as well. Speaking of harpsichord, “Angel Defiled” goes even further with that classic neo-power metal sound and throws some more quirkiness out there through Tony’s shouts and weird laughter, though he doesn’t cross into full wtf-territory the way he has on previous albums. What else? There is a really fun guitar line in this one.
There’s another near-ballad with “The Best Things,” which stood out for what I can only call doo-wap keyboards—something I’ve never heard from Sonata Arctica before, and yet I was impressed by how much it made sense in the song. This seemed like a soft love song, lyrically. Finally, the album wraps up with the band’s first-ever title track, “Clear Cold Beyond.” Mysterious and ominous are the first two adjectives that sprung to mind as the first notes began, followed by an invocation of the melody from Nightwish’s “Taikatalvi.” Pacing-wise, it was a bit unusual to put the two slowest tracks on the album next to one another at the end, but that’s not the end of the world. Ultimately, “Clear Cold Beyond” makes for a dramatic and effective final track!
The first impression the album gives, generally, is of a desire to listen to it again, which is a good sign. Nothing stood out immediately as a totally bangin’ radio hit, so the snobs should at least be interested in how surprisingly unpredictable this album seems to be, while the diehard fans will likely find this a pleasant and upbeat change from the last release. Nothing was immediately offensive to the ear, while Tony Kakko still gets to add just a pinch of his bizarro-persona in for flavor, without getting so weird that it becomes senseless. Ultimately, I found myself rather surprised and quite hopeful upon first listen, realizing that this album will take some time to digest for better or for worse, and that’s a much, much more positive feeling than after their last album, so I’m definitely looking forward to hearing this again in March at the latest!
Tracklist
First in Line
California
Shah Mat
Dark Empath
Cure for Everything
A Monster Only You Can’t See
Teardrops
Angel Defiled
The Best Things
Clear Cold Beyond
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