Sonata Arctica is a Finnish
power metal band from the town of
Kemi,
Finland. Created as a hard rock band named
Tricky Beans, they later changed to
Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. They often include
symphonic metal elements, and their later releases contain several elements typical of
progressive metal, as well. The current line-up consists of singer, keyboardist and songwriter
Tony Kakko, guitarist
Elias Viljanen, bass guitarist Pasi Kauppinen, keyboardist and keytarist
Henrik Klingenberg, and drummer Tommy Portimo. All the musicians of the band's history except Portimo also acted as backing vocalists.