Sonata Arctica Transform Hits and Deep Cuts on 'Acoustic Adventures Vol. 2'
In January, Sonata Arctica released Acoustic Adventures Vol. 1, which re-imagined some of their hits and fan favorites in stripped down acoustic forms. It was a bold move for a band known for the anthemic bombast that gives power metal its name. The album was well-received by fans so the band released Acoustic Adventures Vol. 2 on Oct 1 and, in some ways, it's better than the first one.
Acoustic Adventures Vol. 1 featured many of Sonata Arctica's biggest hits, leaving Vol. 2 room to explore more of their deep cuts. This served the dual purpose of being a huge pleaser for superfans of the group who were already familiar with the album cuts and stripping away the preconceptions of the more popular songs to let these acoustic renderings speak for themselves. And speak they do.
The best thing about albums like this one is that it tends to shine a spotlight on an artist's influences, whether direct or just as forefathers of their genre. For Sonata Arctica, that influence sphere casts a wide net. Probably the most direct example of an influence sound is on “Half a Marathon Man.” Always a criminally underrated cut from Pariah's Child, it's the hardest rocker on this acoustic collection and, if I didn't already know the song, I would have looked it up to make sure it wasn't a cover of a King Crimson song. The band channels Robert Fripp and company perfectly.
The most surprising influence sound, and the one I am least confident the band themselves would cite as influence come from the Winterheart's Guild cut “Gravenimage” and Reckoning Night's “Shamandalie”, both of which call to mind British folk trailblazers Fairport Convention. “Gravenimage” especially would not sound at all out of place with Richard Thompson (or even Sandy Denny) on vocals.
Other standouts on the album include a jaunty, almost pirate metal, rendering of “Flag in the Ground”, a heartwrenching strip down of “Letter to Dana”, and “I Have a Right” which manages to pull off being a power ballad despite being completely acoustic.
While the songs, vocals, and instrumentation stand for themselves as they always have with Sonata Arctica, the delight of this album is that you can tell the band is having a blast finding new facets of songs they've played hundreds of times on stage. Will there ever be an Acoustic Adventures Vol. 3, delving even farther into the album cuts? I don't know. But I'd be down for it and I suspect many of Sonata Arctica's fans would be as well. For now we've got Vol. 2 to enjoy and enjoy it I have.