Sonata Arctica - Talviyö

Only three years have passed since the brilliant predecessor “The Ninth Hour”, three years in which the quintet has been anything but idle. “Basically I write songs all the time when it comes down to it” says Tony, “but at the beginning of 2018 I took care of the new album. The recordings then started in September last year, mixing and mastering were ready in May” he counts up and starts to laugh: “That sounds like a very relaxed schedule, but it wasn’t at all, since many shows and projects happened in the interim” explains the Finn, revealing that there was no concept in the classical sense in advance. “No, not really. As usual, I first wrote the music and only after that when I knew which songs would musically fit on the album, I started writing the lyrical side of things. I had some ideas ready as to what this and that song might be about, but the lyrics always tend to surprise me at the end. Just like the predecessors.”

“Talviyö” is a compilation of various pieces that are connected in a certain thematic way, “but not enough to describe the album as a closed concept work” Tony explains further, revealing that the band again took many liberties this time, resulting in a flowing, organic creative process. “The idea was and is to continue the string of albums we’ve released since `Stones Grow Her Name ́, which was a little side step. But that’s about it. And I’m not sure how well we‘ve pulled that off, being still too close to the process to see what kind of an addition `Talviyö ́ makes to the collection, but at least it feels like it connects with `Pariah's Child ́ and `The Ninth Hour´”, Tony explains, seemingly visibly pleased, “because the process itself then was more natural, where one thing leads to another.”

If one asks the exceptional composer about his source of inspiration for the youngest masterpiece, he doesn’t have to think for long. “Inspiration comes from the world around me. I very rarely write pure fantasy - there aren't many dragons and elves in Sonata Arctica songs'', he smiles charmingly. “As usual, the lyrics handle human related things, sometimes veiled in cloths of wolves, life, worrying about the state of this planet, what kind of a world we’re leaving for our children to live in, bits of world politics, nature and… well, winter time in Finland and the myths of northern light…”, he ponders. “My song writing process is a very difficult puzzle to explain, built one piece at a time over a long period of time, until a song starts to sound like a song, repeated many times until finally the album starts to sound like an album. As always, there’s something that brings old times to mind, both musically and lyrically.”

One thing rears its head very quickly, the fact that it has become a highly reflective, sensitive and certainly the most personal work of the Finns to date. Accordingly, Tony wants to leave it up to the listener to how they classify the songs, “because you know that what I say here or anywhere about the meaning of the songs, those are just my ideas and views about them. I base those thoughts on my experiences and emotional background. You have your own experiences and emotional range, if you will. Give the songs your own meaning! How you see the meaning today may be vastly different from the way you see them ten years from now, or after you’ve become a parent, or lost someone or just gained experience in life and a wider emotional keyhole you view the world through.”