Songs like “Weballergy”, “False News Travel Fast”, “San Sebastian”, “Wolf & Raven” do not leave any lasting impression on me and come across as throwaway songs, written without giving too much thought to arrangement or song development. There are also many tracks that are played very fast and straight, losing a lot of the nuance that had characterized the best moments of the debut album. The five musicians are clearly talented, with singer Tony Kakko and guitarist Jani Liimatainen showing particularly impressive chops throughout the album.Īlthough there are multiple songs on this album that I find pleasant and interesting, there are also a lot of tracks that feel fairly uninspired to the point of coming across as “filler” material.

The Finns also stand out thanks to their superior sense of melody, which allows them to pen some incredibly catchy and memorable songs. This mixture of influences and styles contributes to make Sonata Arctica’s music interesting and relatively fresh compared to other bands in the genre. While the former adds both grit and melodicism to the songs, the latter conveys a sense of melancholy that is not very common in power metal records. The Finns, however, also bring in some slightly unusual influences, like a penchant for 80s pomp/arena rock and for gothic metal (HIM / Sentenced). The basic coordinates of Sonata Arctica’s sound remain neoclassical metal (Rainbow, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen) and Scandinavian/German power metal (Stratovarius, Helloween). It is more formulaic, slightly less exuberant, and replete with one too many unexceptional songs that in the end bog down the overall listening experience. However, Silence is slightly less accomplished than its predecessor. By and large, Silence confirms the strong qualities of the Finnish combo: strong talent, a great ear for melodies and a touch of originality in a genre (that of power metal) that already at the time was in great need of fresh oxygen. Sonata Arctica’s debut album Ecliptica left a very positive impression on me so I was looking forward to listening to the Finnish band’s follow-up record released two years later in 2001.

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