Sonata Arctica – “For The Sake of Revenge”
This live cd/dvd sounds like an honest recording of a traditional heavy/power metal formation from Finland that has been gaining a larger audience with each release. The dvd is longer than the cd, which only has a portion of the entire set of the dvd recorded in Japan. The dvd’s “extras” has nothing interesting, just the usual, discography, a boring “documentary,” etc. The live performance is a professional one, while still acting a bit silly on stage, during the keyboard/guitar solos/tradeoffs, etc. The mid-tempo, slower songs sound like hard rock with sweet melodies. The speedy songs are more metal, but still with a pop sensibility. The group does well their mix of rockers and mid-paced songs. No point in listing the tracks they play in this early 2005 show. They’re all good. The dvd has some 17 songs, the cd 13.