Songs of Arctica

Which band Jack London join if he would be a heavy metal musician? It should be something not too heavy obviously, something very related to nature, strength, a little survival, and definitely with good melodies. Something more symphonic rather than rocky. I think today's band - Sonata Arctica - could be a great host for such writer as Jack London and his northern stories about man and nature.

Sonata Arctica was founded in the 96s, first named Tricky Beans. Soon they realised it was not enough and called themself - Tricky Means. But finally settled down on Sonata Arctica, which reflects the sense of music - power metal, and probably texts a bit. But I might be wrong here. It's a pretty straightforward music squad from the deep north. If you look to the map of Finland, there is a big piece of cold water called Bothnical Bay. The motherland of Sonata Arctica band members is at the most top shore of this bay, close to Sweden's border.

I always wondered why people start a band. Especially such a power metal band. Especially in Finland, where there are hundreds of such. I can imagine sitting at home deep north in winter, with nothing to do. Nowadays people watch Netflix and surf the internet. But back in 90's or before, I would imagine young folks reading books (apart from drinking strong spirits). Books, especially fantasy, have a lot of material of honesty, bravery, adventure, and survival. Such qualities can be a good source of inspiration for such power metal music.

Speaking of which - I listened to several tracks of Sonata Arctica. Of course, they follow a similar schema of symphonic metal. Good melodies, a little bit of riffs, which are not annoying. Drum section, which is a little too fast for the melody. And a singer with a very high voice, singing about freedom, fighting, and good deeds. Sonata Arctica deserves its name because it really feels as symphonic music. It reminds me a huge bookshelf filled with fantasy books. Not sure if I read the whole series, but every single one is quite good!