In Finnish, '
Unia' means 'dreams'.
Nobody likes change. Especially fans, and generally speaking, most critics.
All of us claim to embrace change, but in reality we just want more of the same old sound, only better.
Sonata Arctica are a band who challenge our fixed ideas and our reluctance to keep an open mind.
Over several albums and 8 years they've mutated from a high calibre power metal band to a, well...band that's very hard to define. The high speed bpms have almost gone, the bombast pared down and the music of old replaced by sinuous melodies that aren't immediately accessible, usually underpinned by relatively complex rhythms.
More than that, there's clearly an undercurrent of unease running through '
Unia'. A dark, shadowy element arcing over each of these songs, giving them additional weight and momentum.
A constant ethereal keyboard sound and massed celestial choirs build a gothic bridge tangentially to bands like
Nightwish and Within Temptation.
'It Won't Fade' brings together a number of strands - neoclassical orchestration, symphonic metal and gothic rock - skilfully knotting them together into one unbreakable cord of quality melodic metal.
'Under Your Tree' and
'The Vice' reveal yet another facet of SA's developing fascination with progression and change, playing with theatrical song structures and call & response vocal passages, leading us eagerly toward the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd.
The six minute and we wish it was longer '
Caleb' has a more conventional SA sound, with an interesting, almost surreal celtic / progrock twist. Fabulous song.
And all this coming after the album's opening pair of tracks '
In Black And White' and
'Paid In Full' where they sound amazingly like
Stryper gone over to the darkside.
Jaw droppingly complex compositions like '
My Dreams...' and '
The World's Forgotten...' seem to follow thick and fast, overtaking our ability to keep up, tipping our poor brains into meltdown.
Nothing is immediate, there are no love-at-first-sight songs here, but gradually, inevitably perhaps, they insinuate their way into your subconscious, till you get to the point where, for several standout tracks at least, a heart thumping anticipation precedes each listen.
The Japanese version includes an excitement packed version of the
Gary Moore / Phil Lynott song '
Out In The Fields' -
Sonata Arctica make it their own. It's a suitably apt climax to an outstanding album.
No question, 'Unia' is
Sonata Arctica's magnum opus.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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