Piippo wrote:It's a very long article, so I'll compress it a bit. Don't worry, I'll keep the important stuff:
So basically the press was invited to the Sonic Pump studio to have a pre-listen to STGHN. The writer has been a big fan sicne pre-Ecliptica so he was very excited about this opportunity.
1. Only The Broken Hearts (make you beautiful)
"The album begins with a Nightwish-style keyboard, and the first song OTBH is a typical Sonata opening track. The middle-tempo song is like RN's Misplaced or Unia's In Black And White. Modern, typical, playsafe feelgood Sonata. The chorus and the guitar solo sticks in mind."
2. Shitload Of Money
"If the first track was basic Sonata, on the second track the band really shakes the press. The song starts with disco - the bassbeat beats like in -95, followed by wailing guitars, and in joins Tony with a unusually harsh voice.
The song's 'disco'ing' and heavyness reminds of Nightwish, this time like I Wish I Had an Angel. Heavy guitar, steady drums, obedient keyboards; sometimes the guitar strays off to clear waters. Starting from this song I had a feeling that we'll be hearing more of Elias Viljanen's touch on the album. The song has hard-rock riffs, but the guitarsound is very heavy - very heavy for Sonata.
The heavyness and the keyboards gives Dream Thieves-like feelings, the continuosly crushing bridge points in Wildfire's direction, and the song reminds overall of RN. This theme seems to stick through nearly the whole album.
The song has also a strong but repetitive chorus, where the line "she's got a shitload of money" is repeated over and over again (later you find out why, though). The song has lyrics unlike the band's style, and it doesn't really seem to fit.
The song leaves a confused feeling. Basically hard rock, but the wailing industrial sound at the beginning as well as the overall heavyness is recognizable as Sonata only because of the typical Tony-choir. Traditional 80s heavy with modern crushing guitarsounds?"
3. Losing My Insanity
"The classical-influenced piano intro last for about 20 seconds 'A lonely pianist practices lightly, until he hits the final key - mark!' says my notes.
The song itself starts with a 80s heavy guitar. The tempo is fast. The guitar comp gallops on; later, you notice the band's Queen-influence ranges from vocal harmonies to brianmay-esque guitars now.
The proge-ish solo - 'genius or crazy?' as it says in my notes - reminds of Champagne Bath from WHG. Again, we're going back in time, just as the band said. Straightforward WHG-like fireworks, but a very familiar sounding song, and no wonder as it seems to be the song Tony wrote for Ari Koivunen.
Easily 'digestable' as well."
4. Somewhere Close To You
"The second surprise on the album after the disco on #2. Maybe Nino Lauranne from Sonic Pump has had his fingers in the mix, when the guitars remind of the heavyness of the few latest Thunderstone albums.
The song has few melodies, the prime things are rythmic gizmos, technicality, wailing vocals and a pumping rythmsection. Plays heavily and rythmically. Easy to bang your head to. Live this might just get my hair going. It both rolls heavily and proceeds easily. The sirens [as in alarm] wail and again I get the Dream Thieves-feeling. So a little of experimentality especially at the end. Something new and different."
5. I Have A Right
"And the surprises continue. Sci-fi keyboard playing and a Broken-style intro is where we're at. Now, at the latest, can you hear the theme or style of the album: This is the kind of Sonata that once split from the RN path towards Unia. Now we're back a few years, with some added heavyness in there.
I Have A Right is also a hit-like song, the chorus is guaranteed to work live but could use some more backing vocals - or then the choice is deliberant, and the backing vocals are left for the live audience to perform. And it won't be hard, since you learn the chorus after one listen. I think it's the new The Cage, even though it's not as fast, and not as fluid.
Eurovisionism [yes, I just made that word up, don't ask me what it means], easy chorus, and catchiness - yep, this song will be heard live."
6. Alone In Heaven
"Tony humms somewhere at the borders to soul, or at least softly and gently. This up-tempo song reminds of Gamma Ray, and via them of Queen again. Straightforward, big backing vocals. Sounds like a basic Sonata song.
From Elias, a stylish solo, with a lot of feeling, and less speeding and fast picking. A strong chorus, beautiful song; and the lyrics - they are talking about heaven after all - reminds me of Queen's Made in Heaven. Now they have clearly found the Philosopher's Stone they've been looking for since RN. It feels like this is what they've been aiming for. And after a few derailed steps, we're back at where we left at in 2004."
7. The Day
"The obedience continues. Pianoskill joined with heavier riffs. Then we're back again at the heavier stuff heard earlier on the album.
A brave A Capella midpart, from which we carry on with light vocals but heavy drums. The obedient keyboards play around in the background of the mid-tempo heavy-ing.
Nothing sticked in the mind after the first listen. Filler?"
8. Cinderblox
"And so continues the night of surprises. This is something no one would have expected. Yes, proge-hillbilly-banjoheavy-whatthefuck, with falsetto screams sealing the deal. Very experimental, confusing, almost party-ish discoheavy with Tony screaming on top of his lungs.
And this isn't just a half-minute funny intro, but the theme of the whole song. The same weirdness goes on in the mid-part. Cinderblox is like Wildfire on steroids. Or hung-over. Or at the asulym.
Simple guitarwork, proceeds like a porcelain store in an elephant [what?]. A bit of a save-up there with some hammond organ and speedy solos.
At some point you start to wonder, can it get any weirder from this?
And apparently it can.
And it does.
Now the milk in teh band's cereal has turned into strong booze. This isn't Sonata. More like gogolbordello or some whiny weirdness.
After the song the press crowd is completely silent. Only one comment is said out loud: 'What the f***?"
That sums up the whole song: What the f***?
The band members must be laughing in their beards. Or cereals. Or porcelain stores. This pondering makes as much as sense as the song did on the basis of the first listen."
9. Don't Be Mean
"After the poor journalists have been hit with disco and hillbilly weirdness, the next song is luckily much more familiar. A power ballad, very Sonata-ish with Tony's voice alone with the keyboard. And the man sings almost like one Freddie Mercury with his stretched "To my tear...". Sensitive. And do I hear a saxofone in there?
The song has some of the strongest Tony ever, the man pushes himself like never before. The whole song plays on Tony's terms. The rest of the band are reduced to extras for this performance."
10. Wildfire II
"What hell is this hillbilly-infection the band has caught?
Again we're off. I guess this is music, when the big bass is 'plunking', the violin is whining and the background is booming. The start promises a big boom, and it does come, not surprisingly.
The militant drums beat on precisely like a 40s German Gentlemanna marchband. The snarte drumming reminds of Impaled Nazarene's Total War Winter War.
Elias hits it back with a rythmic galore, and Marko soon joins in. Still, this isn't music yet, but just rythmics.
Until a scream with special effects signals the song is - maybe? - starting. It's heavy, and again I smell Thunderstone. Nino, Nino, if this is your work... The band can be recognized as Sonata solely by Tony's voice, because otherwise this is just HEAVY.
The chorus luckily drops us on the right planet again, taking us through the Sonatasphere [another of my brilliant new words ] back to familiar soundscapes. The chorus is layered with choirs, after all."
11. Wildfire III
"Wildfire was Rn's, and pretty much Sonata's career's, heaviest song. In #10 the second coming continued even heavier, and the album-ending third incarnation... well, the records are broken again.
The legacy of Wildfire is apparent throughout the album. Now, the second sequel takes the feeling towards White Pearl, Black Oceans, until the mid-part rumbles. Crushes. The heavy artillery is here. The drums double their beat and all and any obstacles are torn down. The song title is an omen, it sounds just as you imagine. The third dimension of heavyness.
A little catch of breath is allowed during the piano mid-piece, but then we're off again: birdsong and doublebass, heavy, straightforward. The song is disrupted by birds' song. And it repeats. The contrast is huge.
The song is off again with Tony's edgy vocals and very heavy guitarwork. The different sides of the song are confusing. The contrast is enormous, when the guitar is ramping out one of the band's career's heaviest guitar sounds in unison with doublebass drums, while a light piano palys in the background. It's also the fastest and speediest Sonata in a while. Or a long while.
The third Wildfire doesn't sound like a live braveur, but as a heavy song it proceeds like the previously mentioned porcelain store's owner in front of the elephant. The panic is probably of the same magnitude. And in addition to this massive brutality, the vocals are aggresive. In the mid-part there's screaming, and in the next part they're pulling the rug with Queen-harmonies. The strings and soft vocals ease in the breathing pauses. The tempo calms down. A big, fat, calm, majestic moment.
A calm before the storm?
The heavy guitar starts, but nothing goes off just yet. Big orschestras sound, and then we're off again. The track is proge when it comes to the sections of the song, but otherwise straightforward. A lot of variation.
The end you can guess: doublebass, crunching - and some weird squeal. The last push is followed by sounds of nature again. There's also ana nnoying whispering sound, a computer-effect.
The song isn't over 'til the fat lady sings (metaphorically, an opera section is just what was missing...), but when the bird has sung.
And the bird did sing."
Final Words
"Well, this didn't really sound like Sonata" is heard from the crowd of journalists. And I have to agree: hard rock, thrash, weirdness, almost Slayer-like heavyness. The RN-feeling is very prominent, so there's been some backing in time. The first listen left a slightly confused feeling, though. Even so, it felt more intresting that TDoG for me.
SGHN is much more guitar-centric that its successor, and Elias picks much heavier than before. It feels like Tony's had less space to work. And at the same time, keyboards have fallen to the background.
One reason for the added heavyness might be the studio, since it's build with heavier metal in mind. Let's see if it sounds as heavy on my rig at home. I almost hope it wouldn't - on the other hand, Thunderstone's heavier music has also caught me, so perhaps a more concentrated listen will change my mind.
The sounds and heavyness can also be explained by the fact that we heard the un-mastered version of the album. And all the recording haven't even been done: after the pre-hearing the band announced that the very journalists present in the room would get to be a part in the making of the album!
And we also learned the reason behind track #2's chorus' repetitiviness and unfinished feel. It was missing the "hey" shouts. The twenty-ish people large crowd of journalists then got to shout "hey" for a couple of takes. And that sealed the pre-hearing of Stones Grow Her Name."
Really hope you guys enjoy the tet. Took a lot of time to translate it
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Weird! Weirdest! Most weirdest! Weirdestest!