Sonata Arctica – The Clear Cold Beyond Album Discussion
Interview with Tony Kakko
1. How did the experience of releasing the “Acoustic Adventures” albums in 2022 influence the direction and sound of “Clear Cold Beyond”?
TK: Not very much really, but certainly we felt super ready to do something different after getting the acoustic albums out of the system and having a ten week tour in Europe playing those songs. After the tour we were VERY ready, despite it was fun and rather easy-going travel with the acoustic stuff. Other than that it did not really influence the album itself much at all.
2. You mentioned feeling a need to get “heavier” after previous albums. How did this desire manifest in the songwriting and production of the new album?
TK: “Talviyö” did not leave too many songs in our live set, at least right now it feels like it, but perhaps we should revise that thought in some point. I much like the songs there, I just don’t like the way I sang the album for some parts. So after feeling like that with the previous album and after the acoustic things AND the 25th anniversary shows where we played a lot of the older Sonata songs, the power stuff too, we had a very clear feeling this is the way we want to go. So I very deliberately and decidedly started composing songs that would fit the power metal prescription. Took me a while to get on the right “groove” but once I got the first of those out, the songs just kept coming. Production wise we definitely needed to search our way back into the sound of earlier Sonata as well, so Mikko Karmila was a natural choice for mixing the works.
3. Can you discuss the significance of “Clear Cold Beyond” as the band’s 11th album and its relation to their previous discography?
TK: I have said this before with some of the earlier albums, and sort of have to say it again, that “CCB” in many ways has everything we´ve ever done in one album, with a strong emphasis on the earlier power metal vibes and sound. I think it truly is. Certainly there are some new things in the mix as well, but I’m sure the fans of all ages of Sonata will find something to like here. But as said, it heavily leaning towards the early Sonata albums.
4. The production of the album was handled by Mikko Karmila, a key figure in the band’s early days. How did his involvement impact the overall sound and feel of the record?
TK: Mikko mixed our first seven albums, then he was not available due to some schedule problems and we sort of fell off that wagon after “Stones Grow Her Name”, but he certainly knows to how make us sound like Sonata. It has always been a nice collaboration at least from our side hahaha, but yeah, it was rather easy to just ask him to aim for the “Sonata sound” and maybe update it a little bit. As usual back in the day, we did not involve him in the early production or recordings, but just in the mix, but that has always worked really well for us.
5. What were some of the challenges and highlights of the 25th-anniversary tour, and how did it influence the creative process for “Clear Cold Beyond”?
TK: It was fantastic to see how people reacted to our earlier stuff, very much so. I personally was a little iffy about the whole thing, as I´ve witnessed SO many times how some fans of our more… “versatile” stuff have been like wtf when we´ve suddenly played a set with more early power stuff. Haha, it´s a weird feeling when you are trying to give the fans what they´ve asked for and then this is the reaction you get, haha! But anyway, the reaction we got on those shows were just very very good and we had so much fun, it certainly filled us feeling like ”THIS is what we want, more of this please!”. So…let´s make an album that fits the bill.
6. You mentioned writing the album during the autumn of 2022, was as a period of heightened creativity. Can you elaborate on the songwriting process for this album and any specific inspirations behind its themes?
TK: Music comes first, 99% of the time. The lyrics I write then later, trying my best to find a theme and feel that fits the vibes I get from the music, melodies. After the past few years of collateral funk around the world, I wanted to do my best to have as many positive feel songs as possible. I don’t know how much it helped at the end of the day, but I wrote vast majority of the lyrics while we were touring Latin America last year. Sitting by the pool, under a palm tree, on a warm day… certainly it was a very different environment in comparison to my usual creative environment. Also I did not have much options with this as we were already in middle of recordings at that point. Just had to do that one tour we had postponed again and again aaaand again since march 2020.
7. “Clear Cold Beyond” is described as dealing with existential issues and the destruction of the planet, yet also containing uplifting and escapist elements. How did the band balance these themes throughout the album?
TK: I did not even try to balance anything really, haha…just, as usual, wrote stuff that “flows” out of me somehow… with certain filters, heh. These are things I´ve always written about. Nothing new per se, same themes. Love, sadness, hope, friendship, “you can do this” -attitude, some fantasy elements escapism. You can write millions of songs around these themes.
8. The epic track “Dark Empath” is noted as a direct sequel to the classic “Don’t Say A Word” from 2004. Can you delve into the storytelling and thematic continuity between these songs and their significance within the album?
TK: I am not completely sure now, I actually haven´t kept track, but “Dark Empath” must be like 7th or 8th song in the “Caleb”-saga that started already on our 2nd album “Silence” back in 2001 with song “The End of This Chapter”. “DSaW” was the second song and since there have been songs like “Caleb”, Juliet”, “Till Death Do Us A Part”, “The Last of the Lambs”… so seven songs? It´s not a chronological story, but rather a reoccurring theme with same characters, each song bringing new things in to the soup. To be continued, I´m sure.
9. How do you see “Clear Cold Beyond” fitting into the larger narrative and evolution of Sonata Arctica’s sound and identity as a band?
TK: As mentioned earlier, CCB has just about everything we´ve ever done, but with a strong power metal vibe emphasis, leaning towards our earlier material. I´d like to think it´s a sort of re-launch of the power metal version of Sonata Arctica.
10. You mentioned having half-finished songs for the next album already. Can you provide any insights into the direction or themes the band might explore in their future work based on this early stage of songwriting?
TK: We actually even finished recording one of them, a fast power metal song, a VERY good one, but I was not perfectly happy with the track, I think it can be even better, so I decided to pull it out and work on it some more. Was not a hard decision really, as we had more than enough material ready as is. That songs deserves to be the best version of itself and will be on the next album then together with a bunch of other half ready stuff I managed to write before we had to decided which songs we´re gonna record and put on this album. It feels good to have some solid blocks ready for the future. I can´t wait to start working on those. But first: let´s tour!
Information: Sonata Arctica – Official Website
