Live in Finland

TThe year is 2011, and progressive/power metal band Sonata Arctica has filmed and are releasing their second live DVD, the first since 2006 For The Sake Of Revenge. Since this album, they’ve only released two new albums; however both were incredible changes form their Stratovarius -Inspired brand of Power Metal. They’ve also exchanged guitarist Jani Liimatainen for Elias Viljanen, a significant change as far as many fans are concerned. So, where does this live album stand?

To begin with, my biggest problem with both the CD and the DVD is the mix. The guitar is absolutely buried. The synths drown them out, but even those are almost background sound. Tony’s voice is phenomenal, don’t get me wrong, but it is up way too high. Sometimes you almost lose the fact there’s a band playing under his singing. As far as the vocals go though, Tony is puts on a spot on and inspired performance. Marko… is often amusingly bad as a backing vocalist.

Speaking of the band, how did they do? I mean, Tony is always interesting to watch, and has a great voice, and the rest of the band is perfectly solid, and put on a great show, but specifically, how does Elias compare to Jani? Well. He doesn’t. Not to say he isn’t a good guitarist, I mean he doesn’t even attempt to do so. Aside from the Instrumental Exhibition, where he does show that he has some chops, there was never a chance for him to really show his detractors, ‘Yeah, I’ve got the stuff.’ It doesn’t help that the guitar was so buried. But even less helpful was that the set focused on newer songs, which have been oddly lacking in terms of solos, and there weren’t any older songs that really had incredible riffing or solos. If maybe the band had decided to break out Wolf and Raven or something, but instead they focus on slower songs…

Yeah, by the way, another factor that threw me for a loop was the set list choices. Yes, there are some fast ones in there, Fullmoon, Victoria’s Secret, Blank File. No. That’s kind of it. Now don’t get me wrong, Sonata Arctica was never a band to focus only on speedy power metal. In fact their albums have always been pretty heavy on midpaced songs and ballads. But man. Weballergy. San Sebastian. Wolf and Raven. Misplaced. Anything. They even ignored goddamn Black Sheep. In fact, there isn’t one song from Silence on this, is there? If you’re only going to play 3 fast ones, surprise us. In fact, If you’re going to limit your old stuff like this, then surprise us. Look. I love Fullmoon. But do we really need another live version of it? Or Replica? And while I like Don’t Say A Word, it’s really not that great of a closer. Leave us with something heavy and powerful. Aka, The Cage. Ok, I know that was the closer on For The Sake of Revenge, but you get the idea. And come on, think of a better closer. That’s right. You’ve got nothing. Why? Because For the Sake of Revenge was fantastic, at least in terms of the tracklist. It had the fast, the midpaced, and a few ballads... ok, only one really, but still. More importantly, it represented all four albums up to that point pretty well, although disappointingly left us with only a sample of White Pearl, Black Oceans… Again, I’m not one to say the band should only play power metal, but let’s face it, if you’re known as a power metal band, you need to play some power metal. This, like I said, focuses on the slower songs.

But there are some odd choices of ballads as well. The Misery? Liked it on the album, but I was never begging for a live version. Shy? Odd choice, but interesting execution, which, I’ll come back to.

But if you’re into new Sonata, which I am as well, then all is not lost. The Last Amazing Grays, Paid in Full and Flag in the Ground are finally on a live disc, but that was to be expected, being singles. The more interesting choices include As If The World Wasn’t Ending and Juliet, two fantastic tracks off of Days of Grays, Juliet being performed with so much passion you can almost taste Tony’s tears. Yeah. And then he follows it up with the interesting choice of spending half of Replica sitting on the floor of the stage. Which really works when you watch it. It also includes some interesting choices from Unia, such as In Black and White, and Caleb, neither a bad song, but still existing to remind me how much I detest some of the lyrics on that album. But that’s a story for another review.

So although the setlist could use some more power metal, the songs that ARE performed are done so very well. The band puts on a great show, as usual.

There is also a part where the band sits around a faux-campfire and sing 3 songs acoustic folk style. This. Is honestly kind of awkward. Henkka plays bass, which you can’t really hear. Tommy uses a cajon, and then there are three guitars involved, Tony playing one along with Elias and Marko. This is a little strange, considering you can never hear more than two guitars. Tony never seems to REALLY play. And then on Shy. Tommy just kind of sits there awkwardly for half the song. It almost makes you wonder if they should have just had Tony and Elias on stage like in Japan with Jani. Still, it’s a good portion. I liked seeing the band stripped down to acoustic instruments, and it was interesting to hear songs live that were originally only B-Sides (Shy and Mary-Lou). However this raises the question, why was only ‘Letter to Dana’ included on the CD. These tracks were interesting to hear, and yet two of the three are only on the DVD, while the CD contains a third live version of Fullmoon (on the bonus disc), a third live version of Replica, ect.

Speaking of the bonus discs. I can say that we finally have a live version of White Pearl, Black Oceans…, both on CD and DVD, which is fantastic. This and Draw Me are fantastic, but as far as the DVD, they are the only songs on it that aren’t on the main DVD. Which is odd. Because on the CD, they included 8th Commandment and Tallulah. Why were these not on the DVD? I mean, hell surely they could have just thrown all 10 songs on there, right?

At the end of the day, this DVD is good, but only for the hardcore fans. If you aren’t familiar with Sonata, I’d recommend For the Sake of Revenge first as far as DVDs. Or, you know. A CD. It’s generally cheaper and easier to get. I recommend Reckoning Night. And if you aren’t into Sonata… this probably won’t change your mind. And if you want Sonata to do more power metal. Walk away. Aside from a mix that’s a little lacking, and a setlist that could use some more power metal, this is a decent purchase. Unfortunately, since I can’t recommend this to anyone who isn’t already a hardcore, I’ll have to lower the overall score. For me personally it’s about an 85%. But because of the fact it’s essentially a power metal band playing songs that aren’t at all power metal, I’ll have to drop it a little. 78% seems fair. Regardless, if you’re a diehard fan, then, honestly, you probably already own this. And you have no reason not to. It’s still an interesting purchase for the hardcore fan and those who loved The Days of Grays. However I’ll add, in the US, the main seller of this is FYE, and you should look elsewhere. $30 is robbery, and I found it for half that in a smaller store.