A decidedly mature sounding and emotional lyric-filled platter from the Finns, this is more Winterheart’s Guild than Ecliptica, with acoustic guitars and symphonic collaborators outshining the band. Not sure how these dozen compositions will play with metalheads, but the young girl/core audience should eat it up! ‘In Black And White’ is typical Sonata, upbeat, built around guitar and more so, keyboards. Even first single, ‘Paid In Full’ (detailing longing/self-loathing aftermath of a broken relationship) is lively. ‘For The Sake Of Revenge’ (unrelated title to their second live album and accompanying DVD) downshifts to ballady territory, from which the mid-tempo, classical strings-backed ‘It Won’t Fade’ can’t completely extricate itself. ‘Under Your Tree’ follows, a true ballad, acoustic tinged meandering. A female voiceover introduces the grandiose-composed, mid-tempo ‘Caleb’, which talks about emotional pressures/issues a father put on his son. Autobiographical? With Tony Kakko (singer) it usually is. ‘The Vice’ lifts spirits again, with classical underpinning and multiple voices reminiscent of Queen. Always a wordsmith with titles, ‘My Dream’s But A Drop Of Fuel For A Nightmare’ is Unia’s verbose champion. Beginning solely with piano and Kakko, it graduates to multi-voice and symphonic - nearly all the classical instrumentation can be heard. A staccato ‘The Harvest’ employs yet more dual voices and disjointed delivery. The short, dreamy ‘The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden’ starts with muffled/modulated vocals. Seems like an hour since the last power chord, as ‘Fly With The Black Swan’ kicks off, but it’s soon joined by a bluesy slide acoustic; thankfully it’s just a blip. Then without warning, things change to a bombastic show tune! Queen impression again, but works less favourably than the aforementioned. As a finale, ‘Good Enough Is Good Enough’, might be the album’s motto. The band apparently given an early vacation, only violins, piano and Kakko recount another tale of unrequited love, ending it, the fade of pizzicato strings. The roller coaster ride continues.
