Sonata Arctica - The Ninth Hour review

The release of Sonata Arctica’s ninth studio album The Ninth Hour is definitely a highlight of the year for me! I was a little nervous about this one. Their last two releases weren’t exactly worth their while on the long term, so I could only hope that my favorite Finns still knew how to create good music, But it is hard to remain skeptical once the first tunes of The Ninth Hour reach my ears, because Tony Kakko and his pack have done it again: the grin on my face while listening to this gem is inerasable!

De ball opens with the single Closer to an Animal; a no-nonsense song with a nice flow and very satisfying melodic twists and turns. Generally speaking a very relaxed start of the album. With the lyrics handling the theme of our role on this earth and what we do with it, it forms a nice introduction to the subject of The Ninth Hour, that mostly deals with environmental pollution and other fucked up things we do to our planet and the stubbornness of mankind that refuses to do anything about it.

But thankfully this album is not all about the big mean people species. Life is a merry song that invites to lalala along with it. No heavy lyrics, just a good old sing-along chorus about living life and singing with friends. How happy can a song get? A little cheesy here and there, but hey, you gotta have a good guilty pleasure. Or as Tony himself admits: “It is a dumb thing to say but the fact won’t wane away.” And that, my friends, is the truth!

Tony Kakko’s sarcastic and satiric traits are exposed in Fairytale. Sonata’s reaction to the current presidential elections in America. When it comes to the music, there are a lot of elements that will please a lot of fans from the old days. A nice and speedy pace, a starring part for Henrik Klingenberg and his keytar and a chorus that digs in your brain in no time and stays there.

Nightwish’ Troy Donockley has been called tot the stage to add his part to the bittersweet We Are What We Are.  And indeed, while listening tot the intro you would get the impression that you’re listening to a Nightwish song, but the characteristic sound of Elias Viljanen strumming his guitar tells us who this song belongs to. Another anthem for the improvement of the world with some very honest but tough lessons about us as a species.

The notorious stalker saga, up till now composed of  the classics The End of this Chapter, Don’t Say A Word, Caleb and Juliet gets another installment with Till Death Done Us Apart. It reminds a lot of Juliet and it has these fantastic, maniacal elements

“Ding-dong ding-dong, and everything did go wrong…”

Tony shows his psycho traits once again and Sonata delivers another impressive chapter. One of the more complex songs on the album, with quite some heavy parts and genius melodies.

After their debuting hit Fullmoon we finally have another werewolf song, titled Among the Shooting Stars. Though pretty entertaining, I think it is one of the lesser songs on an otherwise genius album. Quite a safe recipe for Sonata’s doing and it kind of just rumbles along low and slow.

Rise a Night is another small party with all the good stuff of old and new Sonata styles. Clearly written to shut up all those crybabies that are whining for years for the return of the double kick drum. They certainly succeeded in this, with a song that is driven by Tommy Portimo’s fiery feet and Elias’ blazing fingers. Throw in a keyboard-guitar battle solo, and a pounding breakdown near the end, and Sonata proves to be headbang worthy again!

Fly, Navigate, Communicate is a very interesting two-headed beast. In the first half it’s not really clear in what direction this song wants to go. It builds up with a mellow melody as base, with the occasional drum peaking here and there. Halfway the whole thing explodes into a power party where Tony even shows of some quite brutal screams. Other than that, Tony comes chiming out of all the corners of his vocal range and that only adds to the wild brilliance of this remarkable song.

After the touching What Did You Do In The War Dad from previous album Pariah’s  Child, the theme of war and children continues with Candle Lawns. A moving story about two friends and veterans of which one leaves the other to learn his son to live with what the war has taken from him. Daddy isn’t coming home, only a box containing a Purple Heart. Again beautifully and tragically displayed by Tony’s emotion filled voice, soaring guitars and lyrics that touch you in places rarely touched.   

The tragical and among Sonata fans so dearly loved story about a lighthouse keeper, a ship and a forbidden love gets a sequal with White Pearl Black Oceans II – By The Grace of the Ocean. Delightfully nostalgic when the song opens with the familiar tunes of the chorus of the Reckoning Night classic, and continues to greet the listener with the new stuff. Where part 1 ended with the death of the two protagonists, they are revived here for a second act. Though musically phenomenal, I think it’s a tad bit forced. Why bring back the dead for a cheesy happy ending while the blunt, dark ending of part 1 was exactly one of the thins that made the story so great?

If we look at the music there is no shame in calling it epic, and definitely on par with what we expect from such a loved saga, but a little on the slow side. The ghost of WPBO part 1 comes haunting trough the synths from time to time, and that gives a great atmosphere to this part as well. It winds and twists its way on the symphonic path that was paved by songs like Larger Than Life.

The festival ends where we started it: with On The Faultline, Closure to an Animal. The melody is mostly the same as the opening track, but this is a slower, more melancholic and personal version. Where Closer to an Animal dealt with humanity as a whole, this one has its focus on the individual person. A person that can’t seem to find a balance between life and love, and wanders lonely on the fault line in between. The added echo effect on Tony’s vocals underlines the words “Am I the only human here.” In a very smart, artistic way. It also has this peculiar Queen or David Bowie-like feel to it.

A sad sounding whistle puts an end to The Ninth Hour. An album that really pleasantly surprised me with depth, chaos and brilliance that Sonata seemed to have lost the last few years.

The mix, again done by bass player Pasi Kauppinen, still has room for improvement. With his last endeavor we had Tony floating loosely from the rest, but with this one the vocals often drown under a thick layer of bass and guitars. But this is not nearly as big as a nuisance as his previous works.  

But still, we can once again rejoice. There is something for everybody on this album, and you can’t possibly with for a better effort to satisfy all the fans. Really their best record since The Days of Grays, and feels like the missing link between all Sonata Arctica’s different era’s. The Ninth Hour will certainly stand the test of time with better scores than the previous two! This die-hard fan, in any case, is greatly satisfied.