No matter how different the album might be it still has moments that are unmistakably written by Sonata Arctica (some more obviously by Tony Kakko). I’m going to tackle the tracklist in a different way, it’s pretty easy to separate the songs based on tier and style. Obviously I could have just stuck to progressive metal for that, but I was really into Sonata Arctica circa 2011-2013 and I found myself drawn to their post Reckoning Night albums, something which my friends would call me crazy for contemplating. I won’t lie, on first listen Unia sounds schizophrenic, scattered and wildly inconsistent, it took me a few years to really appreciate this album, but I found that once I had gotten to know their first four albums intimately I got a little bored with the straightforward symphonic power metal approach and longed for something a little more complex and challenging. Reckoning Night is of course seen as their last power metal album and one of their greatest works, but people often forget that it was not their last album with Jani Liimatainen, Unia was and his influence is what takes a drastic change in style and approach and makes it not only palatable, but a really unique experiment that succeeds despite itself. Some of this toxicity is warranted, because after Unia for this band nothing would ever be the same again.

Sonata Arctica has become a rather difficult band to talk about, the narrative surrounding this band has become incredibly toxic and I won’t lie that has stopped me from listening to a band that I once adored. Review Summary: Controversial transformation that proves to be the end of Sonata Arctica's artistic ceiling in the prog/power metal genre

Sonata arctica silence album cover