Front-man Tony Kakko adds, “This is a song about persons who think that it’s possible and okay to charm and have any and all people for themselves – use and lose – and who don’t care about the amount of pain and broken hearts left behind. And now you’re the target, but you know better and make sure that this will not happen until ‘California falls into the sea,’ what I’ve come to understand is impossible and will never happen, at least in the sense of science fiction. Simply put: The track deals with self-protection. If you’re strong enough, you can of course give such persons a serving of their own poison what can be satisfying.”
Clear Cold Beyond contains 10 tracks reviving the band’s penchant for power metal-esque tunes following their trip to acoustic landscapes during the pandemic. It’s packed with strong songs and fuses the best of all periods of SONATA ARCTICA‘s multifaceted work: From high-speed anthems such as ‘First In Line’ and ‘California’ to emotion-laden tracks such as ‘The Best Things’ and the closing title track, this record offers something for each and every SONATA ARCTICA fan. The album’s artwork, reminiscent of their early works, was created by Niko Anttila and the band returned to mixing engineer Mikko Karmila (Finnvox Studios; »Ecliptica« [1999] – »Stones Grow Her Name« [2012]). Final mastering was handled by Svante Forsbäck (Chartmakers West; RAMMSTEIN, KORPIKLAANI, DELAIN, THE 69 EYES, DEATHSTARS etc.) who has also been part of other SONATA ARCTICA productions.
SONATA ARCTICA are:
Tony Kakko | vocals
Elias Viljanen | guitars
Pasi Kauppinen | bass
Henrik “Henkka” Klingenberg | keyboards
Tommy Portimo | drums
