Sonata Arctica's New Single

Here it is, and it's called "I Have a Right."

My first impressions are that A) it's a tad poppy with the keyboards and B) it's very repetitive.  Still, it's catchy enough, as SA usually is, and I think this might grow on me.  I'm definitely looking forward to the new CD, out in North America May 22.

Sonata Arctica releases the "Stones Grow Her Name" album teaser

Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica released a new album teaser video on YouTube today. It is just a preview of some of the tracks that will be on the new album. Listening to some of these clips, it really is difficult to judge and critique anything right now since I only heard two and a half minutes of the actual material. It sounds like a mix of older and newer Sonata Arctica. Only time will tell how this album plays out. Like I said before, some of the song titles sound a bit odd, but the music is what really counts anyways.

So here is the video:

Sonata Arctica to release new album soon!

Looks like the Finnish metal giant Sonata Arctica is set to release their newest album entitled Stones Grow Her Name. It is set to be released on May 18th of this year. I don't know what to expect from this album. The last two Sonata albums have not been as good as their earlier material. Though good and very well thought out, it didn't strike me as much.

Also, "Shitload of Money" and "Don't Be Mean" are not good song titles. Sorry Tony.

Read more about it here

Some news

1. Nightwish’s  "Imaginaerum" film will be done with mostly Canadian actors/actresses. Post-production will take place in Canada and Finland. The names of the actors who have two of the main roles in the film are Marianne Farley and Quinn Lord. Behind the scene photo gallery.

2. Sonata Arctica changed release date   of the new  DVD "Live in Finland". The DVD will be released November 11th, Europe and November 15, North America. Teaser can be found here.                        

3. Delain completed the songwriting process for its third studio album, which will be released in the spring 2012. Videos from the studio can be seen here.

4. Opeth released the official music video of their first single "The Devil Orchard" from the new album "Heritage".

5. Evanescence's new song "Made of Stone" with lyrics is now avaible for streaming on their official site.

Sonata Arctica's new DVD "Live in Finland"

The show was recorded at Teatria in Oulu, Finland on April 15th, 2011. The DVD also includes songs from the band’s own Sonata Arctica Open Air Festival held in Kemi, their hometown, in August 2009, documentaries, making of's and music videos.
The release date is October 28th.

Tracklist DVD

DVD1:
Sonata Arctica: Live in Finland

1.Intro (Everything Fades To Gray)
2.Flag In The Ground
3.Last Amazing Grays
4.Juliet
5.Replica
6.Blank File
7.As If The World Wasn´t Ending
8.Paid In Full
9.Victoria´s Secret
10.Instrumental Exhibition
11.The Misery
12.Fullmoon                                                           
13.In Black & White
14.Mary-Lou
15.Shy
16.Letter To Dana
17.Caleb
18.Don´t Say A Word
19.Outro (Vodka/Everything Fades To Gray)

DVD 2:
Extra Features:
Sonata Arctica Open Air II:

1.White Pearl, Black Oceans
2.Draw Me
3.In Black & White
4.Don't Say A Word

Making of "Live in Finland"
Making of "Flag In The Ground"
Latin-American Tour Documentary
Made in Finland - Tour Documentary
Music Videos:Don't Say A Word, Paid In Full, Flag In The Ground
Acoustic live at Alcatraz, Milano
The Flag in the ground- cover contest
Photo Galleries

The Awesome Find of a Lifetime!

I had the opportunity to go to Cow-town, AKA Calgary for a long weekend last weekend, as part of a blogger meet-up a friend of mine hosted. It was an awesome time! No one there was a metal head, and no one there had heard of any of the bands I listen to. On the other hand, I'd never heard any of the bands the others listened to, either! This is a group not into mainstream music at all, though, and I found I had a lot of things in common them: we all can't stand main stream crap, we had similar complaints about the music industry, me and another music lover who is a total music geek agreed that nu metal sucks ass, and Nickelback was reguarly mocked with great hilarity. I came away feeling not so out of place as the only metal head there, and validated that I'm not the only one out there who has turned to alternative genres of music because the main stream just isn't cutting it. That all made me very happy.

What also made me happy was the accidental discovery of a t-shirt store in the Kensington area that sold exclusively heavy metal t-shirts and some classic rock t-shirts. This place is called Charisma and if you are ever in Calgary, I highly recommend you seek this place out because it was quite the experience.

As you can see, the owners do not look like anything you'd expect to find in a shop like this. In fact, when I walked in, all I saw near the entrance was Slipknot merchandise so I almost didn't want to go in any further. But I did, and I was completely bowled over. It was floor to ceiling metal t-shirts, and holy shit, if he didn't have shirts from bands like Wintersun, Kiuas, Korpiklani, Eluvetie, Ensiferum, etc. etc. The owner, an East Idian gentleman named Simon, asked if I was looking for something in particular, and I reluctantly said, "Do you have any Nightwish shirts." Without any hesitation whatsoever, he said, "Yes." I thought he was joking.

The joke was on me, over on a rack, there was an admirable selection of NW t-shirts, some of them going back to Oceanborn. I squealed with delight! My friends were then treated to me pretty much going crazy over t-shirts. I tried on several NW shirts, agonizing over the choices. One I really wanted didn't come in my size, and one I didn't like the colours on. Another I really wanted only came in child sizes. The DPP ones were great, but at the very back of the selection, I hit gold: an Oceanborn-era t-shirt, long sleeved, with the lyrics to "Sacrament of Wilderness" on the back and the graphic from the "Stargazers" page of the OB booklet on the front. I also wasn't stoked about these colours, but man, I just HAD to have this shirt! And it fucking fit!




Wicked, eh? But it doesn't end there! After listing off to Simon a bunch of bands (Epica, Leaves' Eyes, Sabaton, Amberian Dawn) only to have him say, no he didn't have any of them in stock, I did spy a bunch of Sonata Arctica t-shirts! Alas, there wasn't as much of a selection, with the the shirts all being from Days of Grays or Unia, but I did find one I liked and, so, I splurged!



The price was outrageous (both shirts cost me $95 total) but as Simon explained, they are both European imports from Germany and the UK. But I gladly counted out my cash to the guy, because, in the case of the NW shirt, this isn't something I'm going to be able to easily find anywhere at all. I have to be careful with them though; as European imports, they are not made from pre-shrunk cotton, so they need to be cold water washed on the gentle cycle and hung to dry. Which is fine. But seriously, I almost want to frame them and put them up in my living room instead of wearing them!

Celebrating Sonata

Tonight Sonata Arctica is playing in Vancouver. I had planned on attending this gig: I had flights researched, I had organized with a friend to stay at his place, and in fact I was going to take this friend with me to the gig as I didn't want to go on my own, and I was generally looking forward to spending some time in Vancouver because often living in a tiny rural community at the ass end of nowhere can get stifling and a dose of the big city every now and then is never a bad thing. But, I had to move last month, long before I had planned to, and that was a bit costly for me, so I simply could not afford to make the trip for the gig tonight. I was pretty disappointed.

So, I will spend my day listening to some of my favourite Sonata Arctica songs and tonight I shall spend some time imagining myself at the show, thoroughly enjoying myself. With a tear or two, perhaps.

In celebration of SA appearing in my lovely home province, here are a few of my SA faves. To Tony & company & gig attendees: have a great night!





And my favourite Sonata Arctica song of all...

Finnish Metal Music Videos: Women In Bathtubs (Some Metal Humor)

The new Kiuas music video for the single "Of Love, Lust and Human Nature" was just released from the band this morning and it got me thinking of something. Since the video had a woman laying in a bathtub naked, it got me thinking of other Finnish metal music videos that had this very similar thing in their videos as well. It's just very ironic that I know of THREE videos that have women laying in bathtubs. Well that is something that I am going to share here for fun. Enjoy!



This is the new Kiuas video. (with a naked woman laying in a bathtub beginning @ 2:16)



Wolf & Raven video for Sonata Arctica. (A naked woman in a bathtub @ 3:00)



Nightwish's Sleeping Sun music video. (Tarja in a random bathtub @ 1:00, though not naked)

Is it just me, or is this just a trend among Finnish bands? If anyone knows of any other videos with women in bathtubs, let me know if I missed any! Rock on! \m/

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 05: A Song That Reminds Me of Someone

I am going to keep this one simple, since the subject matter is highly personal. Let me just say that "Sing in Silence" by Sonata Arctica is a song that hits very close to home, and it reminds me of several people I've encountered in my life, not just one. The last two lines "How can I erase your pain and aid you/When death wants to kiss you and you want to kiss him back" make my heart sore. This is a brilliant song with a universality so many of us can identify with, I think.