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Review: Sonata Arctica - Clear Cold Beyond
Sonata Arctica
www.sonataarctica.info
Clear Cold Beyond

Label: Atomic Fire Records
Year released: 2024
Duration: 50:55
Tracks: 10
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
4.25/5


Review online: February 15, 2024
Reviewed by: MetalMike
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Rated 3.59/5 (71.82%) (22 Votes)
Review

As anyone familiar with my reviews here at The Metal Crypt over the past 15 years knows, I'm a fan of Sonata Arctica. Read any of my earlier reviews of the band for the full story. I don't think I'm alone in feeling that their output has been uneven starting with the release of Unia in 2007, and we've heard "This is the album where Sonata Arctica gets back to their roots" numerous times since then, but their eleventh album of new material, Clear Cold Beyond, is being called a return to their early days by no less than singer/songwriter Tony Kakko, who has commented that he enjoyed getting back to writing the kind of songs he did when the band was first starting out. Let's find out.

Clear Cold Beyond kicks off with several very good songs. "First in Line" and "California" are speedy, double-kick tracks in the vein of classics like "San Sebastian" and "Blank File." The kind of songs you'll be singing along with while desperately trying to tap your feet as fast as drummer Tommy Portimo. "Shah Mat" and "Dark Empath," the latter a continuation from "The End of This Chapter" from Silence, are slower but still hook-filled and melodic slices of Sonata Arctica goodness. The rest of Clear Cold Beyond maintains a high level of quality, even as it skews towards newer albums like Pariah's Child and Talviyö in its songwriting style and overall tone (the laughter on "Angel Defiled" is reminiscent of "X Marks the Spot" from Pariah's Child, for example). What separates Clear Cold Beyond from its predecessors is its consistency. Yes, it has varied songwriting and isn't a simple collection of double-kick power metal songs, but feels more cohesive from start to finish, almost as if Sonata Arctica has finally found the formula that honors the past while existing in the present.

Nothing will ever replace their early albums in my mind, mostly because new releases have the nostalgia I now associate with Silence, Ecliptica, etc. to contend with, but that doesn't mean Sonata Arctica can't make a good album anymore. They did it with Pariah's Child and they've done it again with Clear Cold Beyond.

See below for more reviews and interviews... ↓
More about Sonata Arctica...
Review: Clear Cold Beyond (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Ecliptica (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Ecliptica (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Ecliptica (reviewed by Pascal Côté)
Review: Ecliptica - Revisited (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: For the Sake of Revenge (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: Pariah's Child (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Reckoning Night (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Reckoning Night (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Silence (reviewed by Christian Renner)
Review: Sonata Arctica Tour 2014 (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Stones Grow Her Name (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Talviyö (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Days of Grays (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: The Days of Grays (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: The Days of Grays (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: The Ninth Hour (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Unia (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: Unia (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: Winterheart's Guild (reviewed by Christian Renner)
Review: Winterheart's Guild (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Interview with keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg and bassist Pasi Kauppinen on September 9, 2014 (Interviewed by MetalMike)
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