January 22nd, 2010

NEW SONATA ARCTICA COLLECTION ‘TAKATALVI’ AND TWO CLASSIC CATALOGUE TITLES TO BE RELEASED IN THE UK ON FEBRUARY 8TH 2010

FINNISH POWER METALLERS Sonata Arctica will have a brand new collection of career-spanning material made available in the UK on February 8th 2010 via Spinefarm Records UK.

Titled ‘Takatalvi’, this 11 track album comprises of a mix of original, cover and acoustic recordings previously only available on Japanese EPs; featured tracks include the first ever version of ‘San Sebastian’ (which later appeared on the band’s 2001 album ‘Silence’) plus a varied selection of covers: ‘Fade To Black’ by Metallica (“I love the melody, lyrics and general mood of the song” – Sonata mainman Tony Kakko), ‘Die With Your Boots On’ by  Iron Maiden (“This felt like a song we could fit into the Sonata mould”), ‘Still Loving You’ by the Scorpions (“I love the original which is very nice for softer occasions, but this one rocks!”), ‘I Want Out’ by Helloween (“This is very cool to play live. Everybody knows the song!”) and... ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings’ by Bette Midler (!) (“I thought it would be great to present this beautiful and touching song to those music lovers who hate Bette Midler!”)

Also on February 8th, Spinefarm Records UK will be releasing two classic titles from the Sonata catalogue; ‘Songs of Silence – Live in Tokyo’ & ‘Winterheart’s Guild’ are the albums in question, dating from 2002 and 2003 respectively, and this is the first time that either record will have been officially released in the UK...

‘Songs of Silence – Live In Tokyo’ features 13 live tracks drawn from the band’s first two albums (‘Ecliptica’ & ‘Silence’); including such classic material as ‘FullMoon’, ‘Black Sheep’, ‘Wolf & Raven’, ‘My Land’ & ‘Replica’, the album was recorded at Shibuya On Air East in Tokyo on September 4th 2001.

‘Winterheart’s Guild’, meanwhile, saw the group adopting a generally heavier approach, as well as making good use of keyboard maestro Jens Johansson (Stratovarius); amongst the 13 featured tracks are such melodic metal anthems as ‘Victoria’s Secret’ , ‘The Cage’ & ‘Ruins Of My Life’.

 ‘Winterheart’s Guild’ is also the name of a long-awaited RPG game by Zelian inspired by and designed in collaboration with Sonata Arctica themselves.

http://www.sonataarctica.info
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