Sonata Arctica with Sovereign Council and Operus at The Opera House

Finnish progressive Metal band Sonata Arctica crossed over the ocean to kick-off their North American Tour on March 25^th. The melodic, orchestral metal act performed at the Opera House on March 31^st, 2016 to a packed house.

Local talents, At Dawn’s Edge, Operus and Sovereign Council opened the show.

Well I will admit, although they have been around for over 15 years I had never heard of Sonata Arctica. Like all other assignments, I checked them out on Youtube and was pleasantly surprised as to what they had to offer. Being partial to Metal acts, I knew I was going to enjoy the show.

Their music leads you on a journey with a not so typical metal singer, heavy melodic riffs, completed with some slow to fast tempos and heavy double bass drums.

The one thing that I noticed with the crowd was that Sonata Arctica didn’t induce crowd surfing or mosh pits. The crowd mostly had horned hands, and as singer Tony Kakko would encourage the crowd to follow his waves they would sway back and forth. I suppose the melodic aspect of the band kept the audience at bay.

At one point Kakko sat down at stage right and told the crowd that it would be a perfect opportunity to selfie images with him, which at that point the crowd directly in front of him started snapping away.

Individually, the members of Sonata Arctica where lively with their stage presence, thrashing and exchanging places throughout the show. Kakko engaged the audience and made jokes throughout the evening between songs. And the fans ate it up.

It was certainly a great show, with talented musicians. A must see if you’re into melodic metal.