Sonata Arctica To Re-Record Debut Album "Ecliptica"

While currently on another world tour, this time to support the "Pariah’s Child" album (reviewed here), Finnish melodic metal heroes Sonata Arctica swung by the studio to re-record debut album "Ecliptica," which was originally released 15 years ago.

This new version will be released on October 24th under the banner "Ecliptica – Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition" through Nuclear Blast.

Way back when, "Ecliptica" was recorded at Tico-Tico studios and mixed at Finnvox by Mikko Karmila. The album was promoted live on tour with Stratovarius and Rhapsody. Henrik 'Henkka' Klingenberg comments:

"When it first was suggested to us by our Japanese label that we’d re-record our debut album 'Ecliptica,' it felt a bit weird, but somehow the idea grew on us. Being that only Tony and Tommy played on the original one, we thought that it would be a fun thing to do, to give these great songs another run.

"We’re definitely not trying to re-write history, the original 'Ecliptica' is the starting point of this band and a very special album with a certain feel of innocence and enthusiasm which cannot be recreated as such since we’re not teenagers anymore. Having said that, this new version is more of a tribute and an update on how these songs sound when played by our current line-up.

"We wanted to stay true to the original album as much as possible and not turn this into some weird re-arranged project where you couldn’t tell which song was being played. So here it is, the 15th anniversary version of 'Ecliptica'.

"Hope you enjoy it, we certainly had a good time digging into these songs and laying down the tracks."

The track listing is:

1. Blank File
2. My Land
3. 8th Commandment
4. Replica
5. Kingdom For A Heart
6. Fullmoon
7. Letter To Dana
8. UnOpened
9. Picturing The Past
10. Destruction Preventer Bonus:
11. I Can’t Dance (Genesis cover)