SONATA ARCTICA — Winterheart's Guild (review)

SONATA ARCTICA — Winterheart's Guild album cover Album · 2003 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Time Signature
The cage...

Genre: Euro power metal

There are no major stylistic changes on the "Winter Heart's Guild" in comparison with the debut album "Ecliptica" and the sophomore album "Silence" - so fans of the two previous albums can safely invest in this one.

On this, their third album, the band deliver their standard type power metal with a rapid thundering double bass drums, epic and extremely catchy choruses, and a couple of emotional ballads every now and them. Some might argue that this is a formula that gets tired very fast, while others might argue that - well, if it ain't broken, why fix it?

It would be untrue to claim that no development is to be traced on this album in comparison with the previous two ones. I think for example that the synths are progressively allowed to be more and more dominant, and synths are much more prominent on this album than on its predecessors. It also seems as though Sonata Arctica strive even more after an epic sound on this album than on both "Ecliptica" and "Silence", but it may just be a result of the use of dominant keyboards here. There are still some neoclassical elements to be heard - as in the introduction to 'Champagne Bath' (which also contains a cool exchange of keyboard and guitar solos) - but the on the whole the neoclassicisms on "Winter Heart's Guild" are less prominent than on the two predecessors. Also, Tony Kakko's singing style seems less intense and more relaxed on this album.

Sonata Arctica still make use of their greatest asset on this album - namely the catchy choruses, and the ones in 'The Cage', 'Silver Tongue', 'Victoria's Secret', 'Champagne Bath' and 'The Ruins of My Life' are some of the best of their kind.

If you've heard "Ecliptica" and "Silence", I think you would also "Winter Heart's Guild", but you might find that is has less of an impact on you than the other two albums do.
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