Songs Of Silence (Live In Tokyo) - Sonata Arctica > Reviews > Songs of Silence - Without it I could not live

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Just brilliant 100%
Disadvantages:	They have too many great songs to fit all of them on one album .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

" Without it, I would not live.............Silence"

Definately one of the most fun live albums to listen to!

There are a few live sonata songs floating around on some of the other Cd's which are not great performance wise, there are some dodgy guitar solos and some out of time tracks, however this album is just spot on.

The band have definately proved that they are a force to be reckoned with for live performances. If only I could be so lucky to see one but they barely tour the UK. This album is filled with some great choices for a live album.

Starting with the chilling tones and voiceover of the intro: "Well well, how are you" taken straight from "the end of this chapter" but even more scary than it is on the track. Kicking into "Web allergy" which is a spot on performance just as good as the studio version. Then shooting straight into "Kingdom for a heart" also performed flawlessly.

Im sure somewhere he says: "If I only had a Hard-on"

So anyway, it goes into "Sings in Silence" and the crowd are stunned by its brilliance apart from one guy who screams in anticipation. "False News Travells Fast" is next and its a very fast song but they still pull it off amazingly well. Practically no rest for the band and it goes right into "last drop falls" which is fantastic (im running out of words to describe their brilliance).

"Respect the wilderness" is next, lots of crowd chanting and you can imagine everyone bouncing up and down in the crowd. I dont know how they do it without a break, just one word in finish and some piano tinkling takes you into "Fullmoon" with a funky bass line i never heard before over the intro. They go a bit crazy at the end with a big finish and finally have a (very short) break. Through the silence you hear a telephone ring that sends shivers down your spine. Yes its "The end of this chapter" and its performed very well, slightly dodgy timing in the middle because of all the tempo changes. His voice gets really evil on the quiet stalker section and its great!

Hang on! sounds like its raining and theres a storm, but its not, its "The power of one" - Father, I have killed many angels. Its so haunting and scary. Its just so long and played so accurately and merges seemlessley into "Replica". This is a classic live track from the band and it always goes down well with the audiance and the listener alike. There is some funky funky synth going on in it thats not on the original but its quite complimentary. Before the last note (or drop) has fallen "Welcome, To my land" and "my land" is upon you, the crowd helping out with some "Whoa-oh-oh" on the introduction.

This runs straight into "Black sheep" in which the guitar riff is performed at high speed and fantastically spot on. After a little crowd singalong its time for "Wolf and Raven" even faster than black sheep and still perfect. Im really running out of things to say about them now all the songs are just awesome to listen to and so full of energy and life. So anyway, the penultimate song is "Blank File" and the ending is very good with some really nice whole band orchestra hit style things going on and then its sad, but we are on the last song. "Land of the free" This has the fastest keyboard and guitar solo going on midway through and its so crazy!!! (in a good way). Thats the end unfortunately (unless you have the special edition with "Peacemaker Studio version on"

Well that was quite long (for whoever said my last review was short). Overall I have to say its a brilliant live album, full of energy. Peacemaker at the end has that sort of after gig feel, the song you listen to in the car / bus home while trying to get your own hearing back.

There is another great live album where the end of "sing in silence" morphs fantastically into the start of "end of this chapter" and "Black sheep" has some Iron Maiden references in it but thats another review for another day.

I would definately recommend this album to anyone who wants the experience of the live sonata experience and is unable to see them. Even if you can see them its a good memory. The choice of tracks is perfect and they complement each other very well.