Sonata Arctica: Acoustic Adventures (Vol. 2)

Finland’s power metal staple band Sonata Arctica brings us the follow-up to their previously released Acoustic Adventures (Vol. 1) album, a musical journey where they acoustically reimagine twelve additional tracks, naming the album Acoustic Adventures (Vol. 2). As in Vol. 1, the lineup is comprised of Tony Kakko on vocals, Elias Viljanen on guitars, Tommy Portimo on drums and percussion, Henrik Klingenberg on keyboards, and Pasi Kauppinen on bass.

An easy-listening album, for anyone… and that must have been a portion of the goal here, to take their music to different frontiers, new listeners, and to indulge their fans with a different and unique approach to their music. One of the cool aspects of doing this type of experiment is that the vocals have a more important role because they lack the powerful support they usually get from the band’s ferocious instrumentation, forcing Tony to sing even better and even calmer, allowing the listener to not only appreciate his ability but also dig better into the lyrical content. In some songs the magic works spectacularly like in “Black Sheep�, “Letter to Dana�, “FullMoon�, “San Sebastian�, and “Flag in the Ground�, and in others not that much. That group of songs flawlessly preserve their hooks, enchanting and catchy melodies, the great vocal harmonies, the beautiful and folky intricate playing between the Mellotron-sounding keys and guitars and seem to fit perfectly fine inside this refreshed musical approach they’ve suffered. The rest of the album is still a good one but doesn’t necessarily present better versions of classics like “My Land� or “Broken�, and sometimes the reshaping process brings the song too low and mellow for my taste, like “Half a Marathon Man� or the appraised closer “Victoria’s Secret�. However, this album will be more than a curiosity for fans of the band, fans that will love and enjoy having “new� music from their idols, with a fresh sound and appetible twist to some of their best songs and hits.

Track Listing:

1. I Have a Right (4:39)
2. Black Sheep (4:00)
3. Half a Marathon Man (4:59)
4. Broken (5:12)
5. Letter to Dana (6:17)
6. Full Moon (4:52)
7. Shamandalie (3:56)
8. San Sebastian (3:39)
9. Gravenimage (5:10)
10. Flag in The Ground (3:53)
11. My Land (4:55)
12. Victoria’s Secret (3:01)

Added: November 2nd 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 542
Language: english

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