Sonata Arctica: Acoustic Adventures – Volume One (2022)

It is always interesting when a band decides to revisit their back catalogue in a new way, and this is the first of two albums from Finnish power metallers Sonata Arctica demonstrating just that. Over the years they had performed a few songs acoustically which were always well received, so in 2016 they decided to undertake some acoustic shows which also went down very well indeed. After the recording of their tenth studio album, 2019’s ‘Talviyö’, they again decided to perform some acoustic shows before setting out on the road again to tour in the normal format. That tour was of course heavily truncated due to the pandemic, so why not take the opportunity to record some old and not so old favourites in a fresh way?

The album is a delight from beginning to end, showing that if the guys ever wanted to take on the charts in a different manner then there are plenty of opportunities. One of the major successes is “A Little Less Understanding” from the last album, and I must confess after playing this a few times I went back to the original for comparison, and can’t help but wonder why they didn’t use the banjo on the metal version as this is superb. The reason the songs work so well is they have thought carefully about the arrangements and are not now just playing the songs on acoustic instruments but have rethought them in this context and singer Tony Kakko has far more room to fully express himself.

This album works as a standalone piece of work, and will be enjoyed not only by Sonata Arctica fans but by those who would not normally go anywhere near the style of power metal they normally employ. This is not music which has been stripped back but instead has been lovingly taken into a new format where it works incredibly well indeed. Apart from drummer Tommy Portimo, who has far more absent than normal due to this style, everyone has stepped up and is enjoying the different way of working as they take songs and reimagine them. Gone is the bombast and bluster, and instead there is time and space with sections of sheer beauty (the piano on “Tallulah” is sublime).

Here we have an album which will be widely received by fans of many styles of music, a joy throughout.

Rating: 9/10