Finland's Sonata Arctica have checked in with the following announcement:

"Sonata Arctica will play a setlist 'as requested by fans' at Kivenlahti Rock Festival (Espoo, June 7th). Which songs would you like to hear? Find a list of songs at this link and vote for your 10 favorites among them. Enter your name ('nimi'), e-mail address ('sähköposti') and click 'send' ('lähetä') to vote."

Sonata Arctica's new studio album, Pariah’s Child, entered the charts worldwide. Among others, the album made it to #1 in their Finish home-country again!

Chart positions:

Finland: #1

Switzerland: #13

Czech Republic: #16

Austria: #30

Germany: #31

Netherlands: #52

Spain: #78

UK: #127

Hendrik Klingenberg commented: “Somehow it never gets old to get your album to be #1. We're of course very pleased and want to say a huge thank you to all our fans for making this possible! Apparently people seem to be awake in other countries as well and we're very happy that our album is doing good all over the world. At the moment we're touring in Europe, playing the new stuff live has been really great and we're looking forward to tour into 2015 as well. See you all at the shows. Cheers!”

Today, the video for the song 'Love' is released. Tony Kakko commented: “I've been at times asked how all Sonata love songs are just cruel and sad and something is or goes always wrong. Well: Happiness is boring. That's why all the tv-series are full of drama. 25 seasons of fucking sunshine and ice cream does not sell. Anyway, this is my attempt to navigate the uncharted waters of Happy. Sometimes you see these really old couples, who walk hand in hand, like they've done since they were mere kids. 'Love' is a song about that life long love we all would deserve. It's just beautiful. And rare.“

Pariah’s Child is the band’s eight studio album and the follow up to their successful Stones Grow Her Name. The artwork and tracklisting follow:

'The Wolves Die Young'

'Running Lights'

'Take One Breath'

'Cloud Factory'

'Blood'

'What Did You Do In The War, Dad?'

'Half A Marathon Man'

'X Marks The Spot'

'Love'

'Larger Than Life'

The band recently launced the second track-by-track video for the new album. In the new episode the whole band gives an insight on creation of tracks 6 - 10 on Pariah’s Child. See both clips below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

‘Cloud Factory’ lyric video:

The Pariah's Child World Tour will mark the North American on-stage debut of Sonata Arctica’s new bass player, Pasi Kauppinen (SILENT VOICES, ex-REQUIEM, WINTERBORN), who replaced long-time band member Marko Paasikoski this past summer.

Tour dates:

September

3 - Mexicali Live - Teaneck, NJ
4 - Stage 48 - New York, NY
5 - The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
6 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
8 - Club Soda - Montreal, QC
9 - Imperial de Quebec - Montreal, QC
10 - Mavericks - Ottawa, ON
11 - MOD Club - Toronto, ON
13 - Soundstage - Baltimore, MD
14 - Altar Bar - Pittsburgh, PA
16 - Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
17 - Mojoes - Joliet, IL
19 - Park Theater - Winnipeg, MB
20 - The Exchange - Regina, SK
21 - Starlite Ballroom - Edmonton, AB
22 - The Republik - Calgary, AB
24 - The Venue - Vancouver, B.C.
25 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
26 - Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR
28 - The Grand Ballroom at the Regency - San Francisco, CA
29 - House of Blues - West Hollywood, CA
30 - The Grove - Anaheim, CA

October

1 - Club Red - Tempe, AZ
4 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
5 - Granada - Lawrence, KS
7 - Tricky Falls - El Paso, TX
8 - Backstage Live - San Antonio, TX
9 - Trees - Dallas, TX
10 - Scout Bar - Houston, TX
12 - Diamond Pub & Billiards - Louisville, KY
13 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
14 - House of Blues - Lake Buena Vista, FL
15 - Orpheum –Tampa, FL

The band will tour Russia in November during their Pariah's Child World Tour. In addition to that they will also visit the Ukraine and Belarus for the first time.

Tour dates:

November

2 - Volta - Moscow, Russia
3 - Premio Centre - Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
5 - Bingo - Kiev, Ukraine
6 - Re:public - Minsk, Belarus
8 - Avrora - St. Petersburg, Russia

Tickets are available here.