A good time for an epic(ish) rant about Sonata Arctica...
It's fair to say that I do not like what Sonata has done post-Reckoning Night. Unia was an incoherent mess of an album which jumped from one thing to the next without any sense of direction, though it had a few half-decent moments. Days of Grays was just so fucking boring. I did not dare go anywhere near Stones Grow Her Name (so yeah, it could be better than Powerslave for all I know, but I wouldn't put money on it).
But I feel it worth mentioning that for one thing, I don't feel all that angry or bitter about it. This is mainly because I don't think any musician owes me anything (apart from a good performance if I buy a ticket to see them). It's also partly because I have a bad feeling about making somebody create something if their head is not in the right place to create it. I highly doubt that would turn out well. Also, I always worry that I listen to too many bands anyway, so it kinda feels good having one less band to worry about. In fairness, I think that most people demanding a return to the old style would just shrug their shoulders and move on to the next thing if they didn't get what they wanted.
For another thing, I don't think that a lot of people demanding a return to the old style really appreciate just what absolute masterpieces Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night are. Ecliptica and Silence are brilliant albums by a band that obviously had the talent, but WH and RN were the albums when they took it to a new level, creating bodies of work that are beautiful, poignant, sad, fantastical, and occasionally even angry (and very few of their songs can be called "happy"). And all some people seem to want is more super-fast double-bass. I love super-fast double-bass as much as the next power metaller, but I'm sure Sonata were so much more than that. They created plenty of great songs that weren't super-fast double-bass, back in the first 4 albums. (though I would be happy if they did put out "Ecliptica pt. 2")
And a last mote about Pariah's Child. An album that I would like a lot if it wasn't for all of the quirky shit spoiling everything like weeds in a flower bed. It really spoils the momentum of the songs in the way that Themat202 says. Also Toni's difficulty with writing proper intros to his songs becomes a serious problem on this album. He comes up with some great melodies but seems to have no sense as to what he's doing with them, so rather than the song leading into a great part (eg. a chorus) properly, the part of a song just comes up because it comes up, reducing it's effectiveness. I do know what he means when he says that it's the album that should have come out between RN and Unia. It does feel like a "transition" album between the 2 Sonata styles.
