  
"Stones grow her name" is the oddly named seventh album from Sonata Arctica. It's been three years since the veteran Finnish Power Metallers released their last album (The days of grays). With all six of their earlier albums going Gold in Finland then they obviously have a lot to live up to.
Some brief comments on a few of the songs...
"Shitload o' money" is an unusual name for a song, but lets be honest the name is fairly unimportant as long as the song itself is good enough, and this song is certainly a good strong song.
"Cinderblox" is an unusual track - totally unlike the rest of the album. It opens with a rapid melody on the banjo before the rest of the band kick in giving it a Hillbilly heavy metal feel. At the times when the banjo isnt used then it sounds like typical Sonata Arctica, but while the banjo plays it has a totally different feel. It's not moved as far from Metal as Al Jourgensen (Ministry) did with his country project, Buck Satan and the 666 shooters, but its a similar idea, and it's certainly interesting to hear.
"Wildfire Part III - Wildfire Town: Population 0" opens with some crushingly heavy guitar riffs which make this the heaviest song on the album. At a fraction under eight minutes it's also the longest song on the album.
"Stones grow her name" is a good album. It's heavier than other songs by the band that I've heard, but not being an expert on Sonata Arctica then I'm not going to make any bold claims such as "it's their heaviest album yet". Whether it's going to persuade cynics that the band has still got what it takes is something I can't predict, but certainly this is an album that's good and definitely worth listening to.
"Stones grow her name" will be released on 18th May via Nuclear Blast.
Sonata Arctica are:
Tony Kakko - vocals, keyboards
Elias Viljanen - guitar
Marko Paasikoski - bass
Henrik Klingenberg - keyboards
Tommy Portimo - drums
Track listing:
1. Only The Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful)
2. Shitload O' Money
3. Losing My Insanity
4. Somewhere Close To You
5. I Have A Right
6. Alone In Heaven
7. The Day
8. Cinderblox
9. Don't Be Mean
10. Wildfire Part II - One With The Mountain
11. Wildfire Part III - Wildfire Town: Population 0
Bonus track (Deluxe-Digipak only)
12. Tonight I Dance Alone
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