Winterheart's Guild

Winterheart's Guild is a fulfilling third album on which Sonata Arctica combines fast-moving gorgeous keyboards, sharp guitar and soaring, expressive singing, building dramatic power metal with a very large emotional rise and fall. While keeping the early speed, it further deepens its expression. The songs, even when speeding, always firmly keep deep sorrow and a sure accessibility in their choruses. A record where the band’s maturing ability shines. From the power of the speeding opening classic “Abandoned, Pleased, Brainwashed, Exploited” and the dramatic popular “The Cage” to a cut like “Silver Tongue,” every song is engaging, while cuts like “Victoria’s Secret” and “Gravenimage” convey the work’s fullness. While fully showing outstanding technique, at its center is purely the sure earnestness of the melody. A record that binds the Nordic transparency and deep drama at extremely high density. It inscribes one peak of the early speed-type power metal. In particular, “The Cage” still boasts high popularity as a live staple. A powerful, engaging masterpiece symbolizing the golden age of Finnish melodic power metal — a record where the band’s fullness shines.