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Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, originally assembled in 1996.

Biography

The band was founded under the name of Tricky Beans and initially played songs which were to a great extent influenced by the hard rock genre and which didn't as much as flirt with the power metal genre. During their early career, they recorded three demos which were never sent to any recording label — Friend 'till the End, Agre Pamppers and PeaceMaker.

In 1997 the band's name was changed to Tricky Means, and from that point until 1999 their style was thoroughly worked upon and ultimately was drastically changed, acquiring strong emphasis on the keyboard melodies and relying on an easily distinguishable rhythm line maintained both by the bass and the guitar. Vocalist Tony Kakko developed a clean singing style which relies both on falsetto and tenor voices.

In 1999, the band entered studios to record a demo enititled FullMoon, their line-up composed by vocalist and keyboardist Tony Kakko, guitarist Jani Liimatainen, bassist Janne Kivilahti and drummer Tommy Portimo. The demo was then sent to Spinefarm Records and the band changed its name to Sonata Arctica. A recording deal soon followed.

Later that year, Sonata Arctica's first single — entitled UnOpened — was released in Finland. It entered the Finnish Top 20 sales chart on the week of its release and, soon enough, the band had closed deals with labels from around the world, prior to the release of their debut album. The debut Ecliptica arrived by the end of 1999 and had a worldwide release, obtaining rave critics from the specialized press.

Tony Kakko then decided to focus on singing and began looking for a new keyboard player for Sonata Arctica; Mikko Härkin (ex-Kenziner) was eventually invited to fill the position.

In the beginning of 2000, Sonata Arctica was chosen as the band to support the veterans from Stratovarius throughout their European tour. Janne Kivilahti quit the band and was replaced by Marko Paasikoski, a founding member of Tricky Beans.

From late 2000 to late 2001, the band worked on composing and recording their next album — Silence — which was released in June of 2001. An extensive tour followed, which included concerts throughout Europe (together with Gamma Ray) and Japan. In 2002 Sonata Arctica made its first incursion to America, making shows in Brazil and Chile. According to some of the musicians from the band, it was one of their best tours to date — the other being the Japanese tour from 2003. A live album entitled Songs of Silence was also released on that year.

By the end of 2002, keyboardist Mikko Härkin left the band due to personal reasons. Thus, their third album — Winterheart's Guild — was recorded with the help of the seasoned keyboard player Jens Johansson, from Stratovarius, who recorded the keyboard tracks together with Tony Kakko. Keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg then joined the band, in time to take part in the tour that followed the release of the album. Most of the concerts on the tour were sold out.

With the end of their contract with Spinefarm Records, the band received invitations from most European recording labels, and eventually opted out for Nuclear Blast.

In early 2004, the band was chosen as the opener for Iron Maiden's Japanese tour. In March of that year, Tommy Portimo became a father; his wife gave birth to a baby girl.

Reckoning Night was recorded in three months and released in October. Both the single and the EP of this release remained on the top of the Finnish charts simultaneously for over six weeks. A promotional tour was to follow, but Sonata Arctica got invited by the popular Nightwish to join their European tour, and thus made a change of plans. The concerts that followed were played for audiences of over ten thousand people.

In early 2005, Nightwish invited the band to open the concerts of their North American tour. This tour eventually got cancelled, but the members of Sonata Arctica opted to still make a short tour, playing concerts in Canada and in the USA.

The band has three releases scheduled for the end of 2005 and for the beginning of 2006. Foremost, a live CD and DVD recorded in Tokyo in February of 2004, which will also include footage from the European 2004 tour and from the North American 2005 tour, with at least one acoustic song played in the Reckoning Night Japanese promotional tour. Its proposed release date is late 2005 in Japan and early 2006 elsewhere. Second, Spinefarm Records has decided to release a compilation album in order to get the most out of their contract with the band, since Sonata Arctica changed their recording label. The compilation album entitled The End of This Chapter is set to be released in early 2006. Last, vocalist Tony Kakko has stated more than once that their next studio album is scheduled to be released in late 2006; the album is yet untitled.

Line-up

• Tony Kakko - Vocals
• Jani Liimatainen - Guitar
• Marko Paasikoski - Bass
• Tommy Portimo - Drums
• Henrik Klingenberg - Keyboards

Former members

• Mikko Harkin - Keyboards
• Janne Kivilahti - Bass

Guest musicians

• Jens Johansson - Keyboard passages in the album Winterheart's Guild and song UnOpened
• Nik Van-Eckmann - Spoken passages in Silence and Reckoning Night
• Timo Kotipelto - Sings in "False News Travel Fast"
• Renay Gonzalez - Female passage in "End of This Chapter"

Discography

Albums

• Ecliptica (1999)
• Silence (2001)
• Songs of Silence - Live In Tokyo (Live, 2002)
• Winterheart's Guild (2003)
• Reckoning Night (2004)

Compilations

• The End of This Chapter (2006)

EPs

• Successor (2000)
• Orientation (2001)
• Takatalvi (2003)
• Don't Say a Word (2004)

Singles

• Friend 'till the End (Demo, 1996)
• Agre Pamppers (Demo, 1996)
• PeaceMaker (Demo, 1996)
• FullMoon (Demo, 1999)
• UnOpened (1999)
• Wolf & Raven (2001)
• Last Drop Falls (2001)
• Victoria's Secret (2003)
• Broken (2003)
• Don't Say a Word (2004)
• Shamandalie (2004)

Cover songs

• "Fade to Black", by Metallica
• "Wind Beneath My Wings", by Bette Middler
• "Die With Your Boots On", by Iron Maiden
• "World in My Eyes", by Depeche Mode
• "Two Minds, One Soul", by Vanishing Point
• "Still Loving You", by Scorpions
• "I Want Out", by Helloween
• "Silent Jealousy", by X Japan

External links

• Sonata Arctica's official website
• German/English fansite
• French fansite
• Italian fansite
• Spanish fansite
• Official Dutch Fansite
• Template:Last.fm

• Finnish heavy metal musical groups
• Power metal musical groups