"Pariah's Child", the eighth studio album from Finnish melodic metallers SONATA ARCTICA, has registered the following first-week chart positions: Finland: #1 Switzerland: #13 Czech Republic: #16 Austria: #30 Germany: #31 Netherlands: #52 Spain: #78 UK: #127 Commented SONATA ARCTICA keyboardist keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg: "Somehow it never gets old to get your album to be #1. We're, of course, very pleased and want to say a huge thank you to all our fans for making this possible! Apparently people seem to be awake in other countries as well and we're very happy that our album is doing good all over the world. "At the moment we're touring in Europe, playing the new stuff live has been really great and we're looking forward to tour into 2015 as well. "See you all at the shows. Cheers! SONATA ARCTICA's video for the song "Love" can be seen below. The band's lead singer, Tony Kakko, commented: "I've been at times asked how all SONATA love songs are just cruel and sad and something is, or goes, always wrong. Well: Happiness is boring. That's why all the TV series are full of drama. 25 seasons of fucking sunshine and ice cream does not sell. "Anyway, this is my attempt to navigate the uncharted waters of Happy. Sometimes you see these really old couples, who walk hand in hand, like they've done since they were mere kids. 'Love' is a song about that lifelong love we all would deserve. It's just beautiful. And rare." "Pariah's Child" track listing: 01. The Wolves Die Young 02. Running Lights 03. Take One Breath 04. Cloud Factory 05. Blood 06. What Did You Do In The War, Dad? 07. Half A Marathon Man 08. X Marks The Spot 09. Love 10. Larger Than Life Commented Tony Kakko: "There are some instant SONATA 'greatest-hits' songs there, which feels good. "I think we reached the result we had in mind, each of us in our own field. "We went on to create the next SONATA ARCTICA power metalesque album and I think we achieved it adequately. "I have to say that I had drifted pretty far away from those 'days of thunder,' that speedy, happy-go-lucky attitude. "I was happy to notice this style can still make me smile. It's good. Music has to do that to me. It also shows the other older songs in a totally new light for me. "I can now understand and appreciate why the fans enjoy what we did in the early days." Regarding the new CD title and cover artwork, Kakko said: "As always, it's pretty hard coming up with a name for the new baby. I tried to approach it from many angles; how this is our eighth album and how easy it would be to abuse that fact. All the symbolism of figure eight, eternity and so on. But that just did not feel right, as it's been done so many times. Then I started to think how we'd in ways abandoned our 'totem animal,' the wolf and all what comes with the territory. "As the music on the album is bowing more towards the 'old' SONATA, meaning more power metal-style elements and wolves in many of the songs in one form or another, it was clear we need a wolf on the cover. An abandoned wolf. A pariah. Or pariah's child, actually. The new generation to bring the old logo back." SONATA ARCTICA last August parted ways with bassist Marko Paasikoski and replaced him with Pasi Kauppinen (SILENT VOICES, ex-REQUIEM, WINTERBORN).
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