Hey man, I really liked hearing your thoughts on this band. I agree with a lot of your points, it feels like there's such an amazing band that's been buried under ice. I don't think they'll probably ever return to form, but I'd like to be surprised. I also relate on how personal the band is, it's the band that got me into metal and music in the first place. I've been a huge fan of theirs (I literally made the biggest RU-vid playlist for them, just search Sonata Arctica and my playlist is the first result lol) ever since I was about 13 and just discovered Victoria's Secret on an old RU-vid video back then. I love their old stuff and even some of their newer stuff. Even if they never go back to what made them so magical back in the early 2000s, you know as the old saying goes. "don't be sad it's over, smile because it happened".
Thx for sharing! My first Sonata show was for the Reckoning Night tour and that album will always mean the world to me. My ranking would be as follows: Stones Grow Her Name Talviyo The Ninth Hour Pariah's Child Days of Grays Unia Silence Ecliptica Winterheart's Guild Reckoning Night
Very good video. I may not agree with some of your opinions but overall i do. But kudos to your Blood (Pariah's Child) comment. I really think its one of the most underrated Sonata Arctica Songs. And What Did You Do In The War Dad? is a great great song too. PS: Reckoning Night would be number one for me.
Ecliptica has all the classics man, always number 1, and yeah tony plays all the keyboards in that album, there is some footage where you can see him playing everything live (sonata arctica at tavastia 1999)
Winterheart's Guild is on my top-10 best metal albums of all time. Silver Tongue used to be my favourite metal song of all time... I was lucky to watch Insomnium live in 2020, and Jani Limatainen signed that album for me... and of course, it is now framed in my music room ! 🤘
Supposedly there's talks of a new album in the works. Saw an article where Tony says the new album is going to be closer to what the fans want. He said similar things for the release of Pariah's Child and maybe another newer album I think. I am trying not to get my expectations too high, but their older albums are going to be very tough to beat, or even meet the standard. Heard some talk that they are going back to Mikko Karmila for production/mixing.
While I do Not agree with all The things you were saying (would be quite boring If everyone thought The same right?) I really enjoyed The video. I like that you were still nuanced talking about albums that wasn’t your favorite and not just “It’s not silence 2 so therefore it sucks”. Great video man! Always fun hearing people talking about Sonata :)
Thank you! Even if I dont like an album, I can always see why other people might like it, so it's not constructive to just say and album is shit without looking at it from many perspectives! Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Great ranking and thoughts on each album! I agree with you when it comes to their first four albums, they are each masterpieces that honestly make it hard to rank them. I usually say that Reckoning Night is my favourite, but I always end up being conflicted with how much I love the other three albums. Hopefully we'll see them fully return to the power metal sound one day.
One of my favorite bands of all time. My favorite songs from the 5 albums. My Land from Ecliptica, False News Travel Fast from Silence, Victoria Secret from Winterhearts Guild, White Pearl, Black Oceans from Reckoning Night, and Paid In Full from Unia.
Sonata Ártica Will be in my country ( Costa Rica) next week , so this video is quite good for my investigation intense course about Sonata Artica before seeing them live for my first time.
I must be one of the few people to actually love Stones. I feel like people heard Shitload of Money, didn't like the hard rock aesthetic and left it at that. COme on, give it a chance, it got a very good production (from a Sonata standard), catchy melodies, and you have to appreciate the vocal diversity on display ! Anyway, it's a far cry from the massive, horrendously mixed let downs that are Talvyo and Ninth Hour.
I share your rankings on each of the albums in your video. This band is so near and dear to my heart it makes me happy to hear people talking about them. I was binging them at work today, and your review popped up. You sir have earned another sub \m/
For me it is.. 11. Talviyo 10. Stones Grow Her Name 9. Clear Cold Beyond 8. Days of Grays 7. The Ninth Hour 6. Pariah's Child 5. Winterhearts Guild 4. Unia 3. Ecliptica 2. Silence 1. Reckoning Night
Weird similarities… My 1st favourite metal band was Dragonforce, in 2005 when I first saw the music video for TTFAF on the Scuzz music channel (UK). Then in about 2007 I saw a RU-vid video about how bad they sounded live, which compared them to Sonata Arctica’s live performance of “8th Commandment” on the “For the Sake of Revenge” live DVD. I was then obsessed with that DVD and the band. In 2007 ish I bought “The Collection” compilation album and Unia, and since Stones GHN I’ve not been into them as much.
I have really grown to love Sonata Arctica over this past year. They're definitely one of my favorite power metal bands. I love a lot of their records, so here's how I'd rank them. #11: Stones Grow Her Name- 2012 (This is the only album from them I genuinely dislike. I can't stand songs like Shitload of Money and Cinderblox, but I Have a Right, both Wildfire Pt. 2 & 3, and Only Broken Hearts are some of my favorites from here. Overall a pretty forgettable and stupid record. Don't like it). #10: Winterheart's Guild- 2003 (I totally understand why this is your number one. It's a great album and it's so magical. However, I just prefer other records honestly. I love songs like Abandoned Pleased Brainwashed Exploited, Gravenimage, and especially Victoria's Secret. I love this album, but I just think they've done better). #9: Reckoning Night- 2004 (An absolute classic power metal here. Not much I really need to say. Like with Winterheart's Guild, I do not dislike this album at all, I just think they've done better. I love songs like Ain't Your Fairytale, Wildfire, White Pearl Black Oceans, Misplaced, Reckoning Day Reckoning Night, and Don't Say a Word. Classic album from start to finish). #8: Unia- 2007 (Every album from these legends just keeps getting better and better (except Stones Grow Her Name). Unia is an amazing album. Great songs from top to bottom, including Paid in Full, Caleb, For the Sake of Revenge, Fly With the Black Swan, In Black and White, and Under Your Tree. What an album). #7: Pariah's Child- 2014 (What a comeback. After the disappointing disaster that was Stones Grow Her Name, this album kicks so much butt. Such an atmospheric progressive power metal/hard rock album. I love songs like Love, Blood, The Wolves Die Young, X Marks the Spot, Half a Marathon Man, Running Lights, and Larger Than Life. What a great comeback). #6: The Ninth Hour- 2016 (Another wonderful progressive power metal record. Just like with the classic era, Sonata Arctica just keeps getting better and better with each album. That's how consistent I think they are. The Ninth Hour is an awesome record in this modern era, boasting some bangers like Candle Lawns, Fly, Navigate, Communicate, Life, Closer to an Animal, and I really love White Pearl Black Oceans Pt. 2: By the Grace of the Ocean. I actually slightly prefer this song to the original from Reckoning Night honestly. I just think it adds another spice of majesty and glory and sheer epicness to this amazing story. Overall a phenomenal album). #5: Clear Cold Beyond- 2024 (Goodness what an album. I love this record so much, and it was my first new record as a Sonata Arctica fan. I love pretty much all the songs on here, like Dark Empath, First in Line, Cure for Everything, Teardrops, Angel Defiled, and especially A Monster Only You Can't See. I love this record). #4: Talviyo- 2019 (I don't find this record frustrating at all. I like the slower approach on this album, as it provides more atmosphere and visualization to the listening experience. I also don't really mind the production all too much. It's probably one of my least favorite produced albums from them, but I don't really let it bother me too much. I love songs like Whirlwind, The Raven Still Flies, Cold, Demon's Cage, Ismo's Got Good Reactors, Message from the Sun, and Storm the Armanda. A very chilling and atmospheric album). #3: The Days of Grays- 2009 (These final three records are easily my favorites from Sonata Arctica, and are all records I consider to be flawless. I love The Days of Grays so much. So many great songs on here like Everything Fades to Gray, The Last Amazing Grays, Juliet, Flag in the Ground, Deathaura, No Dream Can Heal a Broken Heart, Zeroes, and The Dead Skin. A flawless album in my mind). #2: Silence- 2001 (Another classic power metal album. Every song is just gushing with European power metal goodness. My favorite songs on here are Weballergy, Black Sheep, The Power Of One, San Sebastian, The End of This Chapter, Sing in Silence, The Last Drop Falls, and especially the classic power metal track Wolf & Raven. An absolute masterpiece). #1: Ecliptica- 1999 (One of my favorite power metal records of all time and my favorite debut album of all time. Every song is completely majestic and beautiful. My favorite tracks are Replica, Blank File, Full Moon, Letter to Dana, Kingdom for a Heart, 8th Commandment, and my favorite song from the band period, Picturing the Past. A completely flawless and perfect album from start to finish. I am SO in love with this album. An absolute masterpiece in power metal). I hope you enjoyed my ranking.
1. Ecliptica 2. Silence 3. Winterheart's Guild ... In my opinion, SA has pretty much always had a problem creating a steady full length album, where every song works. There is few really good songs on every album though. By the way: greetings from Finland, awaiting for the winter... :)
I like that you don't just hate newer stuff blindly, for example i personally love pariah's child but i see a lot of haters to the album. but i disagree with you about the 4 best albums. white pearl black oceans alone can best all other songs on other albums in my opinion xd
Couldn't resist commenting on this one dude >< The "For the sake of revenge" live album was my personal favourite, demonstraited their peak live performance and it compiled so many good songs from several albums, the only issue was that they did the gravenimage trick you were talking about (played about a quarter of the song) and that song should never be cropped I think Deathaura is an epic track that really tells a story and Juliet is great too but the songs have been less memorable since then. That said, sonata has been such a big part of my life that I am always willing to give their albums another try to see if my opinions change as I am getting older I personally think some of their best songs are the slower ones like 'tallulah' and l'ast drop falls' In previous albums they have been timed well, changing the whole pace and keeping things fresh, but stand up on their own And somehow I think I completely missed the new album coming out (I hope, otherwise it means I have completely forgotten every song on it)
I need to listen to that live album. I didnt know they had been doing that Gravenimage trick all this time. I thought it was a new thing! Deathaura always reminds me of you. It really is a brilliant song. Tallulah, Last Drop Falls, Replica, The Misery, Love, Candle Lawns - all incredible slowsongs/ballads. It would t surprise me if you forgot you'd listened to the new album. Nothing particularly memorable other than the odd chorus. Good times! How come you didnt go to the Sheffield date in 2011?
Yeah, they did a little more of it, (about 2.30 mins out of 7) but they've been pulling that trick since at least 2006 >< Probably just lack of money back then dude, or not realising it was happening, only seen Sonata at festivals really! Also i've never been good at keeping an eye on ticketmaster! Usually find out about gigs a few years too late
Winterheart's Guild was also supposed to be a video game, but it got scrapped due to lack of funding. All in all, I don't think Sonata Arctica is gonna stop changing. It's the same thing with Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, and many others
I have very different opinions than you on most of this, as I happen to really like Stones Grow Her Name (Though I'd still rank it fairly low overall relative to the other albums), and I LOVE Days of Grays and Unia, but man I completely agree with you about Talviyo. It's SO CLOSE to being good. The music is fine overall but the production is really rough and it's just SO SLOW overall. That said, I still like several of the songs on there but they have so much more potential. The last two songs just DRAG despite being musically sound songs. I like when they experiment, but I have to admit that I also get giddy when they release a new song that's musically a throwback to their older speedy/power metal style, such as "Rise A Night" and "Message From The Sun", and "Blood" from the three most recent albums. Personally I sort of split them into three bands by era: Speed/Power Metal SA (first four albums) Proggy/Hard Rock SA (Unia through Stones Grow Her Name) Modern SA (Pariah's Child onward) I never really feel like listening to ALL of SA at once, but one of the three eras at a time. I like it all but it just depends on my mood what era I actually prefer at any given time.
Good video, about the opinions, I don't agree with you in a lot of parts, because I believe that comparing new albums to the older ones is not a good thing to do, because the albums are not made to replicate old stuff, each one has a different motivation and goal.
You're right, the albums are written as individual entities and I respect the band for not just copying their old style note for note. However, I feel other bands have managed to change and evolve over time but keep the essence of what made them enjoyable in the first place, for example, Katatonia or Anathema. I couldnt help but compare albums as the point of the video is to rank them in order of my favourite!
My opinion: Stones grow her name, ninth hour an talviyo are the worst 7. Unia 6. Wintehearts 5. Pariah's child 4. Ecliptica 3. The days of grays 2 Silence 1 Reckoning night
I disagree about the days of grays.I think is a good and honest album. Much better than The ninth hour that is so boring . But i also agree with lot of things that you talk
About guitars sounding heavier on Reckoning Night than on the previous albums: RN and every SA album after that have several songs played with a 7-string guitar. My ranking (and favorite song from each album): 10. Talviyö (Storm the Armada) 9. The Ninth Hour (White Pearl, Black Oceans Pt II) Would've probably placed this above SGHN but the production on their 3 (or 4 if you count Ecliptica Revisited) latest albums is just terrible 8. Stones Grow Her Name (Wildfire Pt. II) 7. Pariah's Child (Blood) 6. Ecliptica (My Land) 5. Winterheart's Guild (The Cage) 4. Reckoning Night (White Pearl, Black Oceans) 3. The Days Of Grays (Deathaura) 2. Unia (Fly With The Black Swan) 1. Silence (The Power of One)
Ahh, that would make sense about the 7 strings! Didnt realise this, but it's obvious now you mention it XD Nice to see someone rating Unia so high as it is often regarded as the turning point away from the old sound and hated by a lot of old school fans, but I always enjoyed it!
Still working on Amorphis lol! They have 13 albums!! And it turns out there are quite a few I wasnt familiar with. But I'm mostly done listening and taking notes, and what a great aural journey it has been!
@@thegothicviking1388 Haha yeah I heard you say that in your Turisas ranking. It’s quite a discography to go through, I’m a huge fan and even I haven’t heard all the albums. Good to hear you enjoyed it! Katatonia ranking is also something to look forward to!
@@thegothicviking1388 Haha yeah I heard you say that in your Turisas ranking. It’s quite a discography to go through, I’m a huge fan and even I haven’t heard all the albums. Good to hear you enjoyed it! Katatonia ranking is also something to look forward to!
