Formed in Finland in 1996 (initially as a non-metal act known as Tricky Means), Sonata Arctica quickly established themselves as a power metal force with their debut, Ecliptica, and really hasn't looked back since. The style here is classic melodic Euro power metal, with their closest soundalike perhaps being countrymen Stratovarius. As with a lot of bands in this arena, Sonata Arctica score high points for presentation, musicianship, and overall class, with low marks for sheer originality -- as good as they are at what they do, it's hard to really say that they are a lot different from several other European bands playing this style. Thus, Sonata Arctica aren't about broadening the horizons of metal, but rather perfecting their art of crafting fine melodic speed metal tunes. They are among the best in their field, and highly recommended to those into bands such as the aforementioned Stratovarius or Gamma Ray.