Sonata Arctica
Winterheart’s Guild (Century Media)
by Scott Hefflon
Finnish classic heavy metal favorites Sonata Arctica return with another thundering slab of melodic metal. A little tougher and bolder (less skipping through the forest with tinkerbells, more standing on rock outcropping with the wind in their hair, belting it out in multi-part harmony to uncertain skies), but every bit as breath-taking as their previous efforts. While they still slip in a few too many power ballads and prog keyboard florishes for my taste (when Jens Johansson of Stratovarious, ex-Yngwie, stops by, you might as well let his fleet fingers dance), Sonata Arctica remain one of my favorite jaw-dropping melodic mall-strutting bands. Goofy, a little faggy at times, but like Helloween’s “Savage,” they occassionally throw in a few “group barks” like, uh, Nitro, but it offsets the romantic hoo-ha about dew in the fields and giving your everything to that special someone and all that.
(www.centurymedia.com)