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SONATA ARCTICA Parts Ways With Bassist, Announces Replacement

Manos Spanos
Finnish melodic metallers SONATA ARCTICA have parted ways with bassist Marko Paasikoski. Says Marko in a statement: "I have come to a situation in my life where being a part of a touring band is not an option for me anymore and it's time to explore other things. "I wish to thank all the fans and my bandmates for all the good times, great shows and adventures that we have had over the last decade. The memories from this time will stay with me forever but at the moment I don't have the motivation or the passion that is required to be in the band so it's better for all parties involved that we go our separate ways. I wish all the best for the guys." Added the remaining members of the band: ""We understand Marko's decision and this is, of course, a thing that we have talked about during the last tour. We appreciate Marko being a stand-up guy and finishing up the 'Stones Grow Her Name' world tour. Thank you, Marko, for all these years and best of luck and fortunes with your future endeaveurs. We'll miss you, bro. "Our new bass player is Pasi Kauppinen (SILENT VOICES, ex-REQUIEM, WINTERBORN). We've known him for many years and he has mixed both our DVDs as well as recorded parts of our last three studio albums. He will join the band starting with the upcoming album. "SONATA ARCTICA will start rehearsing in September and enter the studio in October. The new studio album will be out next spring with a world tour to follow." According to Timo Isoaho of Finland's Soundi magazine, SONATA ARCTICA vocalist Tony Kakko has written around 50 songs for the follow-up to 2012's "Stones Grow Her Name", with plans to track and mix the effort over a three-month period.
03 min read

DARK TRANQUILLITY: Bassist-Less With ‘Great Results’

Manos Spanos
Swedish melodic death metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY have issued the following update: "As most of you know, we're hard at work preparing the live set for the upcoming 'Construct' touring cycle. Spirits are high and we're confident that we have a lot of very special shows ahead of us. Those of you located on the North American continent will be pleased to know that we'll announce some good news tomorrow. "On another note: Those of you who have seen us play this year might have noticed that we haven't had a bass player on stage. "'Construct' was written and recorded as a five-piece, and since the band chemistry is at an all-time high and we've never been the ones to shy away from new creative solutions, we wanted to try out playing with the bass on a backing track as opposed to bringing more flesh and blood to the fold. Much to our delight, the results have been great, and we have decided for now to let the band be represented on stage by the five people who have spent a total of more than 100 years in the service of DARK TRANQUILLITY." DARK TRANQUILLITY's tenth studio album, "Construct", was released on May 27 via Century Media Records. The CD was mixed by Jens Bogren (PARADISE LOST, OPETH, KATATONIA) at his Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden. DARK TRANQUILLITY filmed a music video for the song "Uniformity" on April 13 with Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among others.
03 min read

AMBERIAN DAWN Releases First Video With New Singer, Parts Ways With Bassist

Manos Spanos
Helsinki, Finland-based, female-fronted symphonic metallers AMBERIAN DAWN will release a compilation album of songs released on their first four albums — "Circus Black" (2012), "End Of Eden" (2010), "The Clouds Of Northland Thunder" (2009) and "River Of Tuoni" (2008) — to showcase new singer Päivi "Capri" Virkkunen after the departure of Heidi Parviainen. "Re-Evolution" will be made available on June 14 in Finland, distributed by Suomen Musiikki. Comments AMBERIAN DAWN guitarist Tuomas Seppala: "We all thought that the best way to introduce our new singer Capri to our fans is by re-recording a compilation album of our best songs. It was very important for us to give you all a broad overview about Capri's great talent in all its facets and present her vocal sound and way of singing to you before we start recording a whole new studio album. We hope very much that you like the fresh sound created through Capri's voice and the re-recording of the music parts which was necessary due to some required key changes. I believe that this compilation album is an excellent 'visiting card' of the newAMBERIAN DAWN sound and style, all in all we all are really happy with the results we achieved."
02 min read