Sonata Arctica – Clear Cold Beyond
Sonata Arctica – Clear Cold Beyond
Atomic Fire
Release Date: 08/03/24
Running Time: 50:53
Review by Oli Gonzalez
8/10
Time for a trip down memory lane and to revisit 17 year old Oli. An era in my life when I was exploring and discovering the Power and Symphonic side of Metal. Amongst many of those gems I had discovered were Finland’s Sonata Arctica. Which is why I was particularly excited to hear of the news of their upcoming album, “Clear Cold Beyond”. An album that forms a discography of over 10 releases now, including the recent “Acoustic Adventures” album, described as a long held dream by the band to produce an entirely acoustic album. With this being said, there seems to be a collective urge within the bands ranks to get back to their roots and produce a heavier album. Perceptions of ‘heavy’ can vary greatly. We’re not talking about blood and guts death metal with blast beats, guttural screams and heavily distorted guitars. No. Instead, a kind of heavy that drew me to Sonata Artica as a teenager. Soaring guitar melodies, blazing and instantly memorable lead vocal lines, and an overall energy that’s bursting at the seams! Would I find this in “Clear Cold Beyond”?
In short, yes! The opening tracks ‘First In Line’ and ‘California’ contain all of these elements. I can envision an entire arena singing along to the choruses in both songs. We see the electronic elements sitting in the mix here, but become much more prominent in ‘Dark Empath’. We also bear witness to some much heavier and infectious grooves that are almost impossible not to bang your head along to in agreement. Straying from this energetic and high octane Power Metal assault on the sense, ‘A Monster Only You Can See’ and ‘Clear Cold Beyond’ slow things right back down and take a much more stripped back and ambient approach. Listen to the acoustic segment in ‘A Monster Only You Can See’ and tell that isn’t beautiful!
These are some of the highlights of the album for me. For the most part, if you like one song, you’ll most likely enjoy them all. Which is a double edge sword; provide consistency for the listener but running the risk of becoming stale and repeititve. I found the album to be very enjoyable however. However. I can’t help but think the listening experience would be better if the production was less rough around the edges and sharper and more crisp in parts. Which should be an easy engineering fix in theory. Sadly, somethings cannot be engineered though, like revisiting that feeling and rush of discovering Sonata Arctica like I did at age 17. However, I’m hopeful that others will have a positive experience of discovering the genre like I did all them years ago. Sonata Arctica and “Clear Cold Beyond” would be an excellent place to start.
TRACKLISTING:
01. First In Line
02. California
03. Shah Mat
04. Dark Empath
05. Cure For Everything
06. A Monster Only You Can’t See
07. Teardrops
08. Angel Defiled
09. The Best Things
10. Clear Cold Beyond
LINE-UP:
Tony Kakko – Vocals
Elias Viljanen – Guitars
Pasi Kauppinen – Bass
Henrik “Henkka” Klingenberg – Keyboards
Tommy Portimo – Drums
LINKS:
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