“INSPIRATION COMES FROM THE WORLD AROUND ME.”
(Tony Kakko)
“I let the music write itself within the loose boundaries and just enjoy the ride”, reveals the creative mastermind of this mighty Finnish sound forge, radiating an inner calm as well as compassion that immediately captivates. It’s undisputed: Tony Kakko - charismatic singer and lyricist of Power Metal heroes SONATA ARCTICA - is a musical genius! He has a delicatly tuned sense for incomparable, deeply epic and complex melodies which not only go into the ear but even deeper; under the skin and into the soul. It’s this atmospheric finesse which has always been born from a multitude of facets, mixed with an interplay of emotions – that characterises the men from the far north and their vision. Their sound combines deep feeling and beautiful melodies in a most seductive fashion, merging dynamic-driving passages and delicate refrains. SONATA ARCTICA has long since proven that they belong to the Power Metal elite...
Now is the time to open a new chapter: “Talviyö”. It can already be stated that the band has succeeded in creating a colossal masterpiece, but let’s start at the beginning... Only three years have passed since the brilliant predecessor “The Ninth Hour”, three years in which the quintet has been anything but idle. “Basically I write songs all the time when it comes down to it” says Tony, “but at the beginning of 2018 I took care of the new album. The recordings then started in September last year, mixing and mastering were ready in May” he counts up and starts to laugh:
“That sounds like a very relaxed schedule, but it wasn’t at all, since many shows and projects happened in the interim” explains the Finn, revealing that there was no concept in the classical sense in advance. “No, not really. As usual, I first wrote the music and only after that when I knew which songs would musically fit on the album, I started writing the lyrical side of things. I had some ideas ready as to what this and that song might be about, but the lyrics always tend to surprise me at the end. Just like the predecessors.”
TRACKLIST CD:
01. Message From The Sun
02. Whirlwind
03. Cold
04. Storm The Armada
05. The Last Of The Lambs
06. Who Failed The Most
07. Ismo’s Got Good Reactors
08. Demon’s Cage
09. A Little Less Understanding
10. The Raven Still Flies
11. The Garden
LINE-UP:
Tony Kakko I vocals, keyboards
Elias Viljanen | guitar
Pasi Kauppinen | bass
Henrik Klingenberg I keyboards
Tommy Portimo | drums