Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour

[schema type=”review” name=”Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour” description=”Label: Nuclear Blast” author=”Juho Karila” pubdate=”2016-10-07″ ]

The Finnish masters of melodic metal sure has been keeping it busy as they release their 9th LP. The Ninth Hour is modern day Sonata Arctica in good and bad; an unsurprising continuum in the series of albums post- Jani Liimatainen era. But is that really a bad thing?

The album is opened by the single track Closer to an Animal, which is a good example of SA in present day. It’s safe, familiar, highly sing-driven and guitars are given the role to stay in the background, adding the immersion to the mood with keyboards and replacing guitars as the lead instrument. The song kicks off pretty promising and heavy with light synth intro and heavy, long chords from Elias Viljanen‘s guitar. In the verse, the same dynamics stay but synths are taking a smaller role, shifting the weight to Tony Kakko‘s very versatile voice. If you liked this song, the rest of the album won’t disappoint you.

When we take a closer look at the second song, Life we hear the same pattern continuing the album, but this time a guitar lead opens the track. Rest is much like the previous one. Despite being mid-tempo, the song offers some pretty impressive hooks, thanks to mr. Kakko. Otherwise the song is probably a bit lighter than the previous one and a little bit dull.

Faster one, Fairytale is a very delightful reminiscent of power metal days of the early era of SA. What it lacks is just lightning fast guitar leads and melodies but otherwise the song gives us a proof that the band is still very much metal. Towards the end we’re served a neoclasical part, crowning the whole song. This track isn’t a complete masterpiece still, lacking the explosive energy and dynamic of the past.

First ballad of the album is called We are What We are and it continues the trip down the memory lane. It’s an honest and true power ballad without surprises. With pipes and piano, one might mistake it for Nightwish but as the verse begins, we could almost put the song on any album as a benchmark of the group’s frail side. For some reason, even with lots of room around his voice, Tony Kakko, sounds partially very weak in comparasion to what long-time fans have got used to hear.

As the best song of The Ninth Hour I will raise Till Death’s Done Us Apart on a pedestial over the others. It’s probably the heaviest, but definitely most dynamic song the album has to offer. It shifts and plays with illusions of tempo changing by dividing into sections where instruments fade out, only to leap at you for effect.

Towards the end, the album takes even more progressive approaches, by utilizing musical elements more, like in the tougher songs to get in: Fly, Navigate, Communicate and White Pearl, Black Oceans Part II. This pair plays with illusions in tempo changes and you could find a slow part turning lightning fast all out of sudden.

Candle Lawns is a one true 80’s power ballad, which feels almost like a tribute to heavy metal legends Scorpions or Europe.

One of the major problems with the album is how singing has been mixed to get covered by the soundwall made by everyone else, causing the group to lose some of their best edge and partially making Kakko’s voice sound lazy. It took me several listenings to get into this album and I was battling to decide if I like the way they have progressed but Sonata Arctica is more than meets the ear. Power metal has been, mostly replaced by something that could loosely put under the label of progressive metal but naming gneres hardly does justice. The album is like a shapeless entity and a something-for-everyone type and a varied whole. Recommended for open-minded people with an appetite for melodic music.

Lineup:

Tony Kakko: Vocals
Elias Viljanen: Guitars
Henrik Klingenberg: Keyboards
Tommy Portimo: Drums
Pasi Kauppinen: Bass

Tracklist:1. Closer to an Animal” 2. Life 3. Fairytale 4. We Are What We Are 5. Till Death’s Done Us Apart 6. Among the Shooting Stars 7. Rise a Night 8. Fly, Navigate, Communicate 9. Candle Lawns 10. White Pearl, Black Oceans – Part II, “By the Grace of the Ocean” 11. On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)

Links:
Sonata Arctica Facebook
Sonata Arctica Official