Following the withdrawal of AFTER FOREVER, it was Norwegians PAGAN's MIND who opened tonight's show with a 45 minute set. Their musical style is not too dissimilar from the headline band and often gets described as progressive power metal. Their main asset is frontman Nils K. Rue, who has an extremely powerful voice and enjoys a good rapport with the audience.

Four albums into their career, PAGAN's MIND had plenty of material to choose from in order to impress the SONATA ARCTICA fans, and by the end of the set, they had undoubtedly won over the vast majority of the Dudley faithful. The likes of 'Through Osiris's Eyes' and set opener 'New World Order' are well worth a lesson and the ferocious 'Atomic Firelight' showed that the band has another gear, with this song definitely falling into the speed metal league. Overall, this was a good set and I was impressed with what PAGAN's MIND had to offer.

Finish metal heroes SONATA ARCTICA are one of those many metal bands, who despite being very popular elsewhere in Europe, are only beginning to scratch the surface in the UK. Unfortunately, the opening pair of songs 'In Black and White' and 'Paid in Full' were the victim of poor sound mixing as Tony Kakko's vocals could barely be heard. After that was corrected though, the sound for the gig was perfectly balanced, and allowed the rest of the evening to be enjoyed the way it should be in this day and age.

The crowd really started to get going when 3 consecutive songs were played from the band's excellent 1999 debut album and power metal classic 'Ecliptica' - with the melodic masterpiece 'Replica' giving the 350+ crowd a chance to sing-a-long - a chance which they grabbed with both lungs! Latest album 'Unia' was a bit of a disappointment, and the songs played form the album didn't stand up to the rest of the set - all receiving a lukewarm reception. Instead, the likes of 'Black Sheep' and 'Wolf & Raven' stole the show with magnificent teamwork from guitarist Elia Viljanen and keyboard king Henrik Klingenberg. Just before the hour mark, the classic, and arguably best SONATA ARCTICA song, 'FullMoon' brought the main set to a close.

The encore started with frontman Tony Kakko taking to the stage alone to enjoy some unique banter with the audience. He split the crowd into 3 sections, telling the left hand side to make the sound of a crash symbol (tshhhh), the middle to make the sound of a snare drum (bang!), and the right to make the sound of a bass drum (boom!). He then sat down on a stool and literally played drums using the crowd. It really was a good bit of fun and nice to see a band having an idea like that to involve the crowd.

It was then back to business with four more songs, including the wonderful 'Don't Say a Word' which portrays symphonic metal at it's very best. To signify the end of the UK tour, the band enjoyed a swig of vodka before ripping through a quick fire rendition of 'Vodkaa (Hava Nagila)', much to the amusement of the crowd. This ensured that everyone left the gig with a smile on their face - a smile that had almost certainly been there for the past hour and a half. A superb performance from SONATA ARCTICA, and an absolute pleasure to see them perform in the UK.

SONATA ARCTICA Setlist: In Black and White / Paid In Full / Kingdom For A Heart / Replica / 8th Commandment / Shamandalie / Caleb / Black Sheep / The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden / Wolf and Raven / FullMoon / It Won't Fade / Gravenimage / Don't Say A Word / The Cage

PAGAN'S MIND Setlist: New World Order / United Alliance / Hallo Spaceboy / Atomic Firelight / Enigmatic Mission / Through Osiris' Eyes / Alien Kamikaze

Ratings:

SONATA ARCTICA: 4.5/5.0

PAGAN's MIND: 3.8/5.0

Review by James Allman

Photography by Alexander Shaw

SONATA ARCTICA

PAGAN's MIND