Successor

Two words to perfectly describe this EP. The songs Sonata Arctica writes seem very honest, and portrayed through Tony's vocals, they seem very truthful to him, and sound so soulful. Sometimes it may sound like Tony sounds like a young boy, but I don't find it to be that bad, really, he still performs well.

Although, in practically every song, the guitars are almost completely drowned out by the thick keyboard sound, which I don't agree with, because a guitar can be a very driving instrument, and it should be on top, or just about, of the mix. Apart from the solos, which while they may not be the most technical thing you've ever heard, they are still very good, and definately suit the songs they're played in.

The two covers on this album are good, but nothing spectacular, and in Still Loving You the guitars actually drown out the keyboard, which is great, as you can hear the actual riffing that the guitarist is capable of, despite it being on someone else's song.
San Sebastian is an awesome song, but with far too much keyboard layered in it. Despite this, the rest of the instruments and the vocals are well-performed.
Shy is my favourite song on here, and it's a tear-dripping ballad, and sets a brilliant mood with the vocals and lyrics. It's probably one of my top ballads of all time.
The live tracks are all pretty non-descript, as the production isn't all that great, as the vocals never really get blasted out like they do in the studio. Replica is still one of my favourite songs by this band, and I'm glad I had a chance to hear a live version of it.

The CD is really worth it if you're a completist, or a complete and utter fan of the band. Although, if you like power metal and ballads, I'd say it's worth it with just Shy and San Sebastian alone.

No, that's not a typo. I did not mean to say 'stellar'; I mean 'staller', as in "We haven't quite figured out how we want Silence to go so we're putting this out to stall our fans." It's not bad, and there are some good covers on it, along with one of Sonata Arctica's best songs that is completely overlooked by the mainstream metal community.

There are several highlights on this short little number. Still Loving You is a very well-done cover of the classic by The Scorpions, and the same can be said (although even more so) of I Want Out, originally performed by the immortal Helloween. All they need now is a Rainbow cover to fill out the set.

And then there's San Sebastian. It has great vocals. It has really cool lyrics. It has a very catchy melody. It has great riff work. It has stellar solo sections. It is very fast. It is very fun. It is a Sonata Arctica classic. It is sad that nobody seems to get that fact. Therefore, it is necessary that I point out how utterly cool this song is.

Not everything is that well done, however. The Full Moon edit cuts out the classy piano introduction as well as part of the keyboard solo, and I really don't know why, because those are some of the key parts of the song. The two live albums sound like they were recorder by pumping the sound out of the speakers and through a toilet bowl into the receivers in the studio (that's not good, for the slower among us).

All in all, you should buy it, though, because San Sebastian kicks some serious ass, and along with the covers, this is about as good as most EP's can be expected to get.

Not much new stuff on this MCD.
The edit-version of fullmoon is the same as original just a bit shorter.
The two cover songs just rocks. A heavy version of scorpion’s “still loving you”, which is many times better than the slow original.
And a version of Helloween’s “I want out”. Also a bit heavier, and more modern sound.
San Sebastian is a great fast song. But Tony’s voice is like a 14 year old boy’s voice in this song…
Shy tear dripping ballad without drums. Great song.
The livesongs blows. The sound quality is really bad. And the songs are played way too fast.
Just something to fill the time between Ecliptica and Silence.