Takatalvi

If there’s one band in the whole world deserving the term flower metal, it almost certainly is Sonata Arctica (well, ok, Rhapsody’s close too). That being said, I’ve been something of an on-off fan of this band since my rather humble beginnings with the excellent genre of music that we commonly call metal. My attention has been caught by this enjoyable little seven-song EP because of its last song, whose original version I’m a big fan of (then again, who isn’t? but more on that later).

Takatalvi starts off with the original version of San Sebastian, meaning that it’s the version from the Successor EP and not the Silence album. This song’s quite a good choice for an opener, being filled with joyful energy, both in the vocal department and in the instrumental section, featuring a superb high-speed solo dead in the middle of the track. The drumming is somewhat repetitive but effective given the context of the song (fun, rocking out to catchy music). Aside from the guitars, the main highlight is probably Tony Kakko’s usually good vocal work, especially during the chorus and the sections with the unique (unique my ass, he does it during half of the band’s songs but eh…) vocal effects.

The fun continues during the rest of the EP, especially on the very next song, Gun, which is almost as catchy is not more so than its predecessor. Half of the remaining songs (including Gun if my proportion is to be considered correct) are covers, namely of Scorpions, Helloween and Metallica. Their version of Scorpions’ I’m Still Loving You is about one thousand times more energetic and in-your-face than the original, especially during the middle part containing the solo, which is played similarity to the one in San Sebastian (i.e. very fast). Needless to say, it’s very good, perhaps even better than the original. I originally thought that the cover of I Want Out (Helloween) wasn’t too bad yet rather bland before I had heard the original (yeah I know; shame on me…). Then I went ahead and listened to the original. It absolutely buries Sonata Artica’s version, there’s no question about it. I Want Out is thus the weak link in this EP, being vastly inferior to the original version.

This EP also contains its fair share of slow-paced, massively emotion-heavy songs. The first of these is the Sonata Arctica’s own Shy, a beautiful ballad of conservative length which is a complete success, once again mainly because of Tony Kakko’s vocals, whose vocals reach an impressive range during the chorus and have a strong effect when combined with the subtle keyboard work. The other song which is certainly on the slow side of the EP is the Metallica cover: the mighty Fade To Black. Now I love the original and consider it to be one of the best Metallica songs ever written (actually not an incredibly hard endeavour if you ask me…) but this cover is just, well, perfect. The instrumentals are enhanced in certain places when comparing the cover to the original version and Tony’s vocals fit the depressive and highly emotional nature of music much better than James’ ever will. The lyrics flow much better with Tony than with James and the addition of the signature “unique Sonata Arctica vocal effects” at the 4:30 mark is an amazing boon to an already well-composed song. Basically, Sonata Arctica takes what started as a ballad and ended as a half-thrash song and turns it into a pure ballad from beginning to end. It’s obviously softer this way, but I’d say that it’s more fitting than the original, although many will dismiss it for this very reason.
Although rare because of its Japan-only release, this EP is very enjoyable, truly a slab of excellent power metal. About two thirds of it consists of fast-paced, rocking power metal living up to the word “power” while the last third consists of two great ballads. Its only real flaw is the Helloween cover, which simply pales in comparison to the original. I’d suggest that anyone even remotely interested in power metal seek this out, perhaps download it because of its limited availability in most parts of the world, as it’s very good.