I didn’t even want to hear this. The latest albums by Sonata Arctica they were so chilling that they earned him the reputation of worst group on the planet, a definition that might seem exaggerated only to those who have never heard the aforementioned records. So the news of the new Sonata Arctica immediately slipped into oblivion in the brain, the one that serves above all to maintain mental clarity and which, among other things, preserves the memory of the move to Inter of parastatal phenomena such as Alvaro Pereira or Walter Gargano. Then at a certain point Belardi wrote to me telling me that the last Sonata Arctica is “really cute” is that “It’s worth it, it’s very 90s style, it really sounds like that power metal there”. So I started listening to him, initially just to confirm that he sucked and therefore have the justification to insult the aforementioned Tuscan.
In the end, however, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Clear Cold Beyond it certainly doesn’t suck at dead dogs like its immediate predecessors, but I just as certainly wouldn’t call it either “really cute”. And then it’s not even true that “It really feels like 90s power metal”or at least it’s only true at times, but, on the other hand, it’s much closer to that style than those rubbish of Talviyo or The Ninth Hour. However, you can hear that there was an attempt to recover the sounds of the good old days, especially in the first two pieces, First in Line And Californiawhich really look like they came out of Winterheart’s Guild or Reckoning Night. The album isn’t all like that, and listening to it from start to finish you understand that the miracle wasn’t fully accomplished, but holy shit, compared to expectations here we’re still at stratospheric levels.
The thing that reassures me about all this is that evidently I wasn’t the only one to hate the unjustifiable drift that Sonata Arctica had taken in the last fifteen years. Clear Cold Beyond, all things considered, it seems like a clear attempt to return to the ancient style, the beautiful one, the one that made everyone agree, finally throwing all the sugary pompousness of the new course down the toilet. Tony Kakko, an overflowing, proud and stubborn personality, must have swallowed some big bullet to agree to a return to his roots, even if partial. I’m sure that, when asked about it, he will have justified it by saying that everything comes from a personal need that he felt firsthand, however, coincidentally, a record like this is exactly what the fans have been begging him to write since too much time. It’s better that way. I am of the opinion that a group with more than 25 years of career behind it must first of all be aware of itself, of what it is best to do (or rather what it can and cannot do) and act accordingly. It is a teaching that the most recent course of their ancient masters Stratovariusafter all, embodies it perfectly.
In the end then Clear Cold Beyond you can feel it quite calmly, even when the surprise is over. The best pieces by far remain the aforementioned first two, placed there in the showcase just to make it clear what the mood is. There is also a lot of fluff, a lot of not particularly focused stuff and even incomprehensible moments: for example Dark Empath it slips at times into trademark symphonic metal Nightwishwith those choirs ah-ah-ah, but fortunately not too much. However, no one expects a 2024 Sonata Arctica album to be listened to from start to finish, so let’s not get too formal. Already the next one Cure for Everything puts things back on the right track, with the fast up tempo and the double helicopter pedal like the good times. In any case, in a hypothetical ranking of Sonata Arctica’s records I would put it next Unia, or like the latter, which seems to me to be an excellent result, given the premises. A bit of the discussion that also took place with thelast Blind Guardian, mutatis mutandis.
In addition to what has been said, Clear Cold Beyond also enjoys one of the very few positive elements of the latest Sonata Arctica, namely Tony Kakko’s voice, which every year becomes more and more full, personal and aware, so much so that the only way to improve Ecliptica or Silence it would be to make them sing to the Tony Kakko of now. For the rest, I insulted Belardi anyway, which is always a good and right thing. (barg)
Tags: SONATA ARCTICA Clear Cold
