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

"It’s been some months since we released the re-recorded version of our debut album Ecliptica, and of course we couldn’t resist the temptation of attempting to play the whole album front to back live. Hence, we’re happy to announce the Ecliptica special shows in Europe. On these shows we’ll perform Ecliptica in it’s entirety as well as assorted hits from our catalog. This is a one time thing only, don’t miss it.

As special guest we will bring Freedom Call, who will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their Eternity album and play a special set around that album. See you all out there!"

The tour schedule us as follows:

April

30 - Lille, France - Le Splendid

May

1 - London, UK - O2 Academy Islington
2 - Eindhoven, The Netherlands - Effenaar
3 - Utrecht, The Netherlands - A1
5 - Hamburg, Germany - Markthalle
6 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos-Saal
7 - Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
8 - Bochum, Germany - Matrix
9 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
11 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon
12 - München, Germany - Backstage
13 - Budapest, Hungary - Club 202
14 - Krakow, Poland - Fabryka
15 - Warsaw, Poland - Progresja

In celebration of its 15th anniversary, Sonata Arctica re-recorded their debut album, Ecliptica, which was released in October under the banner Ecliptica – Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition via Nuclear Blast. Check out the band's very own clip for the Genesis cover of “I Can't Dance” below:

Back then, Ecliptica was recorded at Tico-Tico studios and mixed at Finnvox by Mikko Karmila (Nightwish, Children Of Bodom). The album was promoted live on tour with Stratovarius and Rhapsody. Henrik "Henkka“ Klingenberg comments: “When it first was suggested to us by our Japanese label that we'd re-record our debut album Ecliptica, it felt a bit weird, but somehow the idea grew on us. Being that only Tony and Tommy played on the original one, we thought that it would be a fun thing to do, to give these great songs another run. We're definitely not trying to re-write history, the original Ecliptica is the starting point of this band and a very special album with a certain feel of innocence and enthusiasm which cannot be recreated as such since we're not teenagers anymore. Having said that, this new version is more of a tribute and an update on how these songs sound when played by our current line-up. We wanted to stay true to the original album as much as possible and not turn this into some weird re-arranged project where you couldn't tell which song was being played. So here it is, the 15th anniversary version of Ecliptica. Hope you enjoy it, we certainly had a good time digging into these songs and laying down the tracks.

Ecliptica - Revisited; 15th Anniversary Edition tracklisting:

“Blank File”
“My Land”
“8th Commandment”
“Replica”
“Kingdom For A Heart”
“Fullmoon”
“Letter To Dana”
“UnOpened”
“Picturing The Past”
“Destruction Preventer”

Bonus:

“I Can't Dance” (Genesis cover)

Official album trailer with excerpts from "My Land", "Replica" as well as "Kingdom For A Heart":