Sonata Arctica – Live in Finland (2011)

Rounding up the year, we are treated with a great live album of one of our favorite bands: Sonata Arctica. In “Live in Finland”, the band delivers a massive package for fans with 2 DVD’s featuring live performances in Finland (of course!!) and two bonus CD’s featuring select tracks from these performances (which is what we are reviewing).

In the first CD, we have a total of 14 tracks that range from some of the band’s latest tracks from the album “The Days of Grays” to some of their biggest hits like “Paid in Full”. Through this album we get to listen to Tony’s excellent voice shine in the live setting and the band showing their skills when playing each intricate song. Being a live CD, the only drawback is that the crowd interaction is in Suomi, but this can add and authentic feeling for some people.

We are not know to say much about live CD’s, but we have to recognize that the audio quality is superb in both CD’s, a signature of all the live albums that Nuclear Blast has released in the past few years. Moving on to the second CD, this one features an Open Air appearance of the band and they still sound as tight as on the first CD, very impressive indeed.

If you like to listen to your older hits (“Paid in Full”, “Tallulah”, “Fullmoon”, “Caleb” and “White Peral, Black Oceans”), or you like some of the newer “The Days of Grays” stuff, you will find this live DVD/CD combo of great value. As we mentioned, the sound is crystal clear and nicely transports you into the energetic live performances that this excellent band always gives. We truly recommend this (the CD section at least) to any super fan of the band.

Release: November 29th, 2011

Country: Finland