Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica (1999)

Finnish band Sonata Arctica have become one of the leaders of the power metal genre, with a sound that owes more than a little to fellow countrymen Stratovarius, right down to the strong keyboard presence of singer Tony Kakko.
This debut is quite enjoyable, without offering anything particularly outstanding. The track that works best is "FullMoon", while the opening "Blank File" impresses with both its speed, and the fact it starts up straight away, without any prologue or slow build up that had already become a power metal cliche by 1999.
This is a good listen, but not a great listen. One hopes they can kick on from here.

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