The Ninth Hour (album)

The Ninth Hour
Studio album by Sonata Arctica
Released October 7, 2016
Recorded 2016 at Studio57 in Alaveteli, Finland
Genre Symphonic metal, Power metal, Progressive metal
Length 62:04
Label Nuclear Blast
Producer Sonata Arctica
Sonata Arctica chronology
Pariah's Child
(2014)		 The Ninth Hour
(2016)
Singles from The Ninth Hour
  1. "Closer to an Animal"
    Released: August 11, 2016
  2. "Life"
    Released: September 16, 2016
  3. "We Are What We Are"
    Released: October 20, 2016

The Ninth Hour is the ninth studio album by Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica. It was released on October 7, 2016 by Nuclear Blast.

Background and recording

Vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter Tony Kakko confirmed Sonata Arctica would start recording their ninth studio album in April 2016 in several home studios in Finland, with the main recording and mixing taking place at the Studio57 in Alaveteli, Finland. He also described the artwork of this new album, explaining:[1]

“ The artwork of our ninth studio album The Ninth Hour depicts a future utopian landscape on the background. Nature and human technologies are in balance. In the middle we have an hour glass contraption with a knob for us to meddle with. The right-hand side cup represents the nature side with no humans left, on the left we have the human dystopia after we have destroyed Nature. The idea I had was, that turning the knob will tilt the hour glass in one direction or another, and the other cup will slowly empty and that future will be erased. Biblically we are expected to repent and sacrifice on The Ninth Hour...to dive right back to a more mundane reality, it’s a fact that we are currently living in critical, historical times. Our decisions will define the future. Not only ours as a race, but the future of this entire planet. We need to make sacrifices and in many cases we will repent our already made choices. ”

Kakko says musical inspiration for the album came by opening his eyes and ears and letting everything in.[2] The album title is inspired by The Ninth Hour described in the Bible, which is the moment when people are supposed to sacrifice and remorse according to that book.[3]

Song information

The album opener and first single is "Closer to an Animal", a track that Kakko worked on two years before the album recording and which was brought around midway through the sessions. It has a reprise, titled "On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)", which closes the regular edition of the album and marks keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg's first usage of an acoustic piano with the band. He mentions an influence of 80s music in his performance at the track.[2]

"Life" was the first song in which the band worked on, but also the last to be finished, which made it the most altered song throughout the sessions.[2] According to Kakko, "we had three different versions. I wasn't happy, the guys were totally excited by the first version and made it their own. But I thought it was pretty awful (laughs). I told them, 'We are putting it on hold.' I got back to it later and I think I got it right, edited some parts and changed things around".[4]

"Fairytale" is a satire on the political events of the United States by the time of the album sessions. "We Are What We Are" was one of the few songs Kakko prepared as a demo for the band to listen to before the recording sessions. Unlike what he did for Pariah's Child, he did not record a demo for every song he wrote for The Ninth Hour. The song features Nightwish's Troy Donockley on Overton low whistle. Kakko showed it to him amidst their North American tour and suggested the guest performance.[2]

Bassist Pasi Kauppinen saw some Finnish folk music influences on "Til Death's Done Us Apart". Kakko first introduced "Among the Shooting Stars" to the rest of the band during the Stones Grow Her Name sessions, but they rejected it. He then reworked it for this album. The song talks about a couple of wolves. "Rise a Night" revisits their early power metal sound and talks about a group of adventurers leaving their dying planet to find a new place for their kind, eventually arriving on Earth.[2]

"Fly, Navigate, Communicate" is a Devin Townsend Project-influenced song that compares human relations to flying procedures (flying, navigating, communicating). Kakko described it as "the hardest, most aggressive and speediest" song on the album. Some members were even reluctant about actually having it on the album.[2] "Candle Lawn" is another song reminiscent of Stones Grow Her Name's sessions. Kakko wrote it during the mixing of the album for a movie project by a friend in America and then reworked it for The Ninth Hour. It is about a child describing a graveyard.[2]

"White Pearl, Black Oceans - Part II, 'By the Grace of the Ocean'" continues the story introduced in Reckoning Night's "White Pearl, Black Oceans...". It was originally intended to be the album closing track.[4] Says Kakko:

“ I started writing it in April. I had this sample of symphonic-sounding music. I thought it could make a great intro or part of the song. [...] There's lots of pressure behind it because the first [part] has lots of big meaning and was in the hearts of so many Sonata Arctica fans. [...] I had to be really careful that the second part would be a worthy sequel. I didn't make that task easy by killing the two main characters at the end of the first one (laughs). ”

Track listing

All tracks written by Tony Kakko, except where noted[5]. 

No.TitleLength
1."Closer to an Animal"  5:25
2."Life"  5:07
3."Fairytale"  6:39
4."We Are What We Are"  5:25
5."Till Death's Done Us Apart"  6:06
6."Among the Shooting Stars"  4:10
7."Rise a Night"  4:28
8."Fly, Navigate, Communicate"  4:27
9."Candle Lawns"  4:32
10."White Pearl, Black Oceans - Part II, "By the Grace of the Ocean""  10:13
11."On the Faultline (Closure to an Animal)"  5:34
Total length:62:06[6]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the band's official website:[5]

Guest musicians
Technical staff

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[7] 43
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[8] 112
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[9] 53
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] 2
French Albums (SNEP)[11] 96
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[12] 22
Italian Albums (FIMI)[13] 68
Scottish Albums (OCC)[14] 96
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[15] 86
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 60
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 18

References

  1. ↑ "SONATA ARCTICA - The Ninth Hour Track By Track Video #1 Streaming". 30 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sonata Arctica: 'The Ninth Hour' Track-By-Track Breakdown". Blabbermouth.net. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  3. ↑ "SONATA ARCTICA - The Ninth Hour Video Trailer Part 3 Posted". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 G., Alexa (5 October 2016). "Sonata Arctica's Tony Kakko On The Ninth Hour, The Upcoming Tour, And More". Amps and Green Screens. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Ninth Hour (2016)". The Ninth Hour at Sonata Arctica official website. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Ninth Hour - Sonata Arctica". iTunes. Apple Inc. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Sonata Arctica: The Ninth Hour" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  15. ↑ "TOP 100 ALBUMES — SEMANA 41: del 07.10.2016 al 13.10.2016" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Sonata Arctica – The Ninth Hour". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
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