Pariah's Child

Background and recording

In a June 2013 interview concerning keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg's own band Silent Voices, he confirmed Sonata Arctica would go into recording for their eighth studio album in September 2013. Concerning the progress and style of this new album, he also mentioned "The bulk of the album, we already have the demos..." as well as "we want to focus on making songs that work live."

During rehearsals, Henrik mentioned on his blog that songs they were rehearsing for the new album seemed to hearken towards Sonata Arctica's earlier days, and that they would try to record a 10-minute track. He also commented that, differently from their previous album, they recorded everything at the same place, as a band.

On January 9, 2014, the band announced via their official website that the album would be titled Pariah's Child and would be released on March 28, 2014.

On February 12, the band released the video for "The Wolves Die Young" via Radio Rock.

Songs and themes

Kakko has described Pariah's Child as "the album that should have been done after Reckoning Night besides Unia." He also commented:

The album also marks the return of wolf-themed songs, which were absent in their previous album, Stones Grow Her Name. According to Kakko, "wolf is just once again a metaphor, for instance, for fear and processing it in your life. Fear make people do things. Or actually denying the fact that you fear something."

He also commented on the album artwork upon the release announcement:

The art was once again made by Janne Pitkänen, also known as Toxic Angel.

The opening track and first single, "The Wolves Die Young", was described by Henrik as a typical Sonata Arctica song. It was one of the first songs to be written for the album.

"Running Lights" was originally planned as a Japanese bonus track, but the band was so pleased with its final form that they decided to make it a regular track. Tommy Portimo described his drum work at the track as a tribute to Jörg Michael. Tony said he wrote the lyrics on a train ride to the studio the day after Lou Reed died, and the track was in a way a tribute to him.

Henrik considers "Take One Breath" as the most progressive song of the album, with a piano work that demanded bigger efforts from him. Guitarist Elias Viljanen says the song moves towards the "newer" Sonata Arctica. Tony described it as one of the heaviest songs. The lyrics cover the topic of transhumanism.

The second single, "Cloud Factory", was written much before the other songs, when the band was still rehearsing for Stones Grow Her Name. Henrik described its melody as "annoying" and thus it would be a good choice for a second single, so that other people are "annoyed" too.

"Blood" is another of the heaviest songs. The keyboard intro was made by Tony and it was one of the latest songs to be rehearsed. Pasi and Elias have both described it as one of their favorite songs of the album, and the lyrics are about fear.

Henrik described the lyrics of "What Did You Do in the War, Dad?" as the saddest he ever heard by Tony. After Tony finished writing the song, he texted Tommy saying he had written the best song of the album. Tony also stated that the song made him cry sometimes and that the song is "something new for Sonata Arctica, lyrically at least."

"Half a Marathon Man" is "definitely not a serious song", according to Henrik. It is a "simple, easy and fun" rock song, and one of the last to be rehearsed for the album. It was played just twice by the band before recording, just 24 hours after it was written, the fastest pace ever by the band.

"X Marks the Spot" is a comic song. Henrik consider it to be close to Stone Grows Her Name's "Cinderblox" in feeling and attitude. He also said the song has some guest vocals, but he didn't specify by whom.

The third single and second video "Love" is a short ballad. Tommy used two different drum kits in this song, whereas Pasi played the fretless bass guitar. The song reminded Elias of Silence's "Tallulah". Regarding the lyrics, Tony said that people always say he doesn't write happy love songs, so he decided to write this story about two partners who meet at a young age and stay together for all their lives.

Ending the album and clocking at just nearly ten minutes, "Larger Than Life" is the third longest song ever by the band (second longest being The Ninth Hour's "White Pearl, Black Oceans - Part II, By the Grace of the Ocean", longest being Silence's "The Power of One"). The song will feature some orchestrations, including a harp. Henrik consider it the next great, big thing by the band since Reckoning Night's "White Pearl, Black Oceans [Part I]" Tommy said he considers it at the moment his "all time favorite song". According to Elias, the song has sad and happy moments, like life itself. The lyrics tell the story of an actor at young age that gets a role that makes him very famous, and life eventually provides him with everything an artist could wish. However, he didn't make a life for himself, and he decides to give that role to someone else and start a new life.

Track listing

All tracks written by Tony Kakko.

Personnel