Singles are a great way to get a preview of artist's upcoming album... They either result in a disappointment or increase your anticipation from before. With Sonata Arctica's single the case is far from the latter...

I was quite disappointed at the new Sonata Arctica material. The new songs were boring, mediocre songs. It seems that the best songs on this single are the covers (which gives an unpromising impression of the upcoming album). On the third track it sounds like Tony Kakko has listened to Threshold (I noticed some similarities).

Production is quite good... The mastering has been done very well, but the mix needs some work. Both Mikko Karmila & Ahti Kortelainen have mixed the songs too bassy (boomy). Although it makes the sounds fuller, it isn't so pleasant to listen in the long run. I never could have guessed that there will be a day when I have to complain about Karmila's skills... Maybe his studio monitors were broken?

This single doesn't give a promising impression of the upcoming Sonata Arctica album, but the covers were quite good. However, one must remember that sometimes the singles don't reflect the quality of the final material on album (single tracks might be the worst songs on the album). We'll see about that...

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- MAGE (17.09.2004)

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LINE-UP:
Kakko, Tony: Vocals & Keyboards Liimatainen, Jani: Guitar Portimo, Tommy: Drums Paasikoski, Marko: Bass Klingenberg, Henrik: Keyboards
Producer:	Staiger, Markus
Mixing by:	Karmila, Mikko (Tracks 1 & 2) & Kortelainen, Ahti (Tracks 3 & 4)
Mastering by:	Jussila, Mika

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Don't Say a Word (edit) 02. Ain't Your Fairytale 03. World in My Eyes (Martin L. Gore Cover) 04. Two Minds, One Soul (Vanishing Point Cover)