On September 6th, Finnish melodic metal titans Sonata Arctica will release their tenth studio album, called Talviyö (translated: Winter Night), including eleven new tracks. Today, the band proudly announce their The Raven Still Flies Over Europe tour, that is going to kick off on November 11th in Stockholm. On the tour, Sonata Arctica will be accompanied by Edge Of Paradise and Temple Balls.

Keyboardist Henrik "Henkka" Klingenberg: "After working our asses off since last summer with our new album, we finally got it done and now is the time to go back out on the road with some exciting new material and new shenanigans and what have you. Last spring we had a really amazing time touring in Europe with the acoustic stuff and I'm sure it will be just as fun to come back once again and make some new memories together. We got a couple of killer support bands with us so there's definitely some great nights ahead for all of us."

Tour dates are as follows: 

November
11 - Stockholm, Sweden - Kraken
12 - Oslo, Norway - Parkteatret
13 - Trondheim, Norway - Byscenen
15 - Trollhättan, Norway - Folkets Park
16 - Aarhus, Denmark - Train
17 - Berlin, Germany - Bi Nuu
18 - Mannheim, Germany - MS Connexion Complex
19 - Leipzig, Germany - Hellraiser
21 - Zvolen, Slovakia - Rates Arena
22 - Cluj Napoca, Romania - Form Space
23 - Sofia, Bulgaria - Music Jam Club
25 - Budapest, Hugary - Barba Negra
26 - Vienna, Austria - Szene
27 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
29 - Padova, Italy - Hall
30 - Milan, Italy - Live Club

December
1 - Lyon, France - Le Ninkasi Kao
2 - Paris, France - La machine du Moulin Rouge
4 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
5 - Barcelona, Spain - Salamandra
6 - Limoge, France - Cc John Lennon
7 - Izegem, Belgium -Cultuurhuis De Leest
8 - Pagney, France - Chez Paulette
11 - London, UK - The Electric Ballroom
12 - Tilburg, Netherlands - 013
13 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
14 - Bochum, Germany - Matrix

The pre-order for tickets will start on July 11th on Eventim and on all other ticket seller pages on July 13th.

"The idea was to create an album that is musically in line with at least the previous two albums", says vocalist Tony Kakko and adds: "I am very happy with the songs and the general mood of the album. Some career highlights there, I feel."  

"We recorded a bunch of kick ass songs and tried some new stuff as well. I'm really proud of how we managed to record the band sounding more live, playing together instead of just tracking everything one by one", states Klingenberg.

Sonata Arctica recently released their new single called "A Little Less Understanding", along with a lyric video found below.

"The song is lyrically somewhat a follow up for 'I Have A Right' and talks about the difficulty of making the right choices with the upbringing of a new human being," explains Tony Kakko.