The Ninth Hour: CD

Although Sonata Arctica’s sound is still dominated by fast guitar solos, catchy keyboard melodies and Tony Kakko’s unmistakable vocals, a gloomy sense of world-weariness is creeping through their new studio album ‘The Ninth Hour’. “I am not a very religious person at all,” admits frontman and lyricist Tony Kakko. “So I actually had to study the background and different meanings, once I came up with the title ‘The Ninth Hour’, which was meant to underline the fact this is our 9th studio album.”

The album was produced by Sonata Arctica and mixed by Pasi Kauppinen, creating a typical yet refreshing sound that defines the spirit of the band in the year 2016. After 17 years as a team, the band have moved from classic power metal to more progressive shores but went back to their initial roots on the last release ‘Pariah’s Child’.

“The album itself is not particularly gloomy, I think. Our music has mostly been happy sing-a-long stuff, but the lyrics never really fit that mould. If you are familiar with my lyrics in the past, I’d say we swim in similar oceans. I deal with my worries about the state of this planet, human greed, love, relationships, tragedy, death, but also war and politics in semi-tongue in cheek fashion (I feel the US elections are an endless chest of unbelievable wonders…). Our ‘murder-ballad-saga’ continues AND an old, epic lighthouse related tragedy now has a second part…”

Tracklist:

1. Closer To An Animal
2. Life
3. Fairytale
4. We Are What We Are
5. Till Death’s Done Us Apart
6. Among The Shooting Stars
7. Stars
8. Rise A Night
9. Fly, Navigate, Communicate
10. Candle Lawns
11. White Pearl, Black Oceans Part II – “By The Grace Of The Ocean”
12. On The Faultline (Closure To An Animal)
13. Run To You (Bonus Track)