Sonata Arctica was born with the name of Tricky Beans in 1995 in the town of Kemi (north of Finland). The band initially plays covers of Spin Doctors and Megadeth, but the leader Tony Kakko was not really satisfied with those stuff and decides to start writing his own songs. With the name of "Tricky Beans" the finnish band release three demos: "Friend Till The End" and "Agre Pamppers" in 1996 and "Peace Maker" in 1997.

After some change in the line-up which saw Janne joining the band as bass player, Tricky Beans takes the new name of Tricky Means and in 1999 they release their fourth demo "FullMoon". This is the first release where the band has a sound more similar to the one which will characterize Sonata Arctica records: songs are heavier, faster and more keyboard oriented than in the previous works. The high quality of this last release gives to the Tricky Means a certain fame in Finland and above all it keeps the attention of one of the most important Finnish's label, Spinefarm, which will publish next works of the band. Signing with Spinefarm, the band also changes the name for the last time taking the one of Sonata Arctica.

In the summer of 1999 the first single, "UnOpened", is released, and it shows with its two tracks all the progress made by the band in last years, placing definitely Sonata Arctica in the european Power Metal scene. With the first release it happens an unusual fact: during the mix of "UnOpened", the first track of the single is unintentionally slowed down. The mistake is discovered only after the distribution of some copy and approximately 200 of them are sold before the problem was solved.

Few months after the distribution of "UnOpened", it's time for the first full length to be released. "Ecliptica" contains 10 tracks (with "Mary-Lou" as bonus for the Japanese edition) and it's released in autumn in Finland and all over the world in the following months. The album have a wide success and Sonata Arctica are called to partecipate with "Sill Loving You" and "I Want Out" to two tribute albums, respectively the one of Scorpions and Helloween.

After the first experiences on stage Tony Kakko, leader of the band, decides to concentrate mainly on singing. So during 2000 Mikko Harkin joins the band as lead keyboard player. With this new change in the line-up Sonata gains more power on stage and they can, when is needed, having two keyboardists, 'cause Tony doesn't leave his previous role.

To confirm the success of "Ecliptica" Sonata Arctica is chosen in 2000 as support band by Stratovarius and Rhapsody for their European Tour. The tour, the first one for Tony & co., begins in April and it gives to the band the chance to play in some of the most important cities of Europe. This tour was really important for the band and as said in some interviews by Tony it remains one of the more intense experiences of his career, also for the opportunity to play with Stratovarius which initially have influenced a lot the style of Sonata.

After the long tour it's time for a new release, it's an ep called "Successor" containing the two covers above mentioned, the edit version of Fullmoon, two unreleased songs ("San Sebastian" and "Shy") and some live track recorded at Provinssi Rock. The release causes some confusion in the collectors 'cause the ep is published in different versions for different countries, any featuring a couple of different live tracks.

To end of the long list of events which interest Sonata in 2000, there was a new change in the line-up, when Janne decides to leave the band, playing with Sonata for the last time in Kite on the 20 of June. His place is taken by Marko Paasikoski, who was the one of the founding members of Tricky Beans. For this reason the new change was smooth.

From the autumn of 2000 since the first months of 2001 the band works on the new record, whose songs are written as for the previous album by Tony Kakko. The first single "Wolf & Raven" is released in may, soon followed by the full length "Silence" firstly published in Japan and some week after in the rest of the world. This choice is justifified by the fact that only in the land of the rising sun "Ecliptica" sold more than 30000 copies and for the same reason Sonata starts the new tour from Japan. "Silence" contains 13 tracks including a new version of San Sebastian, and as for Ecliptica a bonus track titled "Respect The Wilderness" for the Japanese market.

The months which follow the release of the new album are really intense and they see Sonata engaged in a long tour which counts more than 40 shows, 30 of them in Europe with Gamma Ray and Vanishing Point. During these months, "Last Drop Falls", the second single from "Silence", is released and also a new EP titled "Orientation" is published. This last release, available only in Japan, also contains the videoclip of "Wolf & Raven", the first made by the band.

In 2002 Sonata is engaged in some new gigs and in a short tour in South America. and in may, the first live album of the band is ready. It's titled "Songs Of Silence - Live In Tokyo" and it was recorded in Tokyo during the previous Japanese tour. The album is released first in Japan and some week after in Europe. For the Japanese market is also released a limited edition of the record which contains a 3 tracks bonus cd.

After the live record, it begins to circulate some voice about the future projects of the band which concerns a standard full length and a chapter album on the style of "The End Of This Chapter". But before that the work on the new full length can begin, there was a new change in the line-up, this time more important and more soffered for the fans. In September Mikko Harkin leaves the band and Sonata remains without a keyboard player. The new is a big surprise but as any can read from the next interviews the other members knew that Mikko was not the right person to cover the role he had to do, and so they were only waiting his decision to leave. The real reason behind what happened is not clear.

Throught the official website was organized a contest to search the new keyboardist whose name was announced some month after when Henrik Klingenberg (ex Requiem) joins the band. Tony during an interview said that with Henrik the atmosphere in the band became more relaxed, and that this feeling was missing for a lot of time, another reason 'cause changing in the line-up was essential.

During the contest the band starts working on the new album and to replace Mikko (Henrik joins the band too late to play on this record) they've been helped by Jens Johansson, keys player of Stratovarius, with him they record the solos in four of the new songs ("The Cage","Silver Tongue","Victoria's Secret" e "Champagne Bath"). The recording of the new full length is done in a very short period, things that really disappointed Tony 'cause he haven't the possibility to work well with the remaining of the band. The record is finished in November, and in the same period Henka joins the band.

The release of the album has been anticipated by the one of the first single "Victoria's Secret" published in November 2002. "Winterheart's Guild" finally is released at the begin of 2003. It contains ten tracks and "The Rest Of The Sun (Belongs To Me)" as bonus and this album creates a division between the fans, 'cause it presents some change in the style of the band. Some song sounds different an distant from the classic speed/power genre which characterized the band and Tony sings in a more aggressive way than before too.

Also the tourdates are scheduled in a different way and also this fact create disappoint throught the fans. Gigs are mainly in Japan and Finland and the only other European countries reached at least by one show are France, Germany and Hungary.

Before the end of 2003 other two released reach the market. The first is the single "Broken" which contains also two unreleased songs "The Gun" and "Dream Thieves", as the other is an EP released in Japan with the title of "Takatalvi" and has been defined by the band as a Japanese "Successor" (released in 2000 and out of market now) and which features the two new songs above mentioned, old tracks released in previous single and the live-videoclip of "Broken".

Although there was some doubt during the months which follow the release of the new work, the album sells more than previous realised and faster and, above all, the band signs with Nuclear Blast: from now on this label will take care of the pubblication of the future works. The passage to Nuclear Blast means an important change for Sonata Arctica. Nuclear Blast, indeed, is well known for its support to its bands as promotional terms.

In 2004 Sonata come back to work for the new album, in which even Jani will participate as songwriter with this own song. The band, this time, has the chance to face the studio work with more tranquillity than the past and Henka can take part of recording too. The preparation of the new album is joined even by a studio diary written by the members of the band and pubblicated on the official site. In this studio diary, it finds one by one the titles of the single and of the album and the song written by Jani too.

The first months of 2004 bring other good news for the fans too, 'cause the new tour is announced with a wide advance. Sonata will play prevalently as support band for Nightwish, playing in some date as headliner, where this is possible. The chance to play with Nightwish is very important for Tony's band. Tony is a friend, since long time, of Tuomas and he can, like it happened with Stratovarius in the past tour, see fulfilles one of his wishes.

"Don't say a word" single is published at the end of august and, besides the namesake song, it contains "Ain't your fairytale", taken from the new full-lengh and 2 nes covers registered especially to give more thickness to the single. They're "World in my eyes" by Depeche Mode and "Two Minds, One Soul" by Vanishing Point. The first one is chosen by Tony and Jani, 'cause they're big fans of Depeche Mode, the second one is a tribute to a band not so famous which played with Sonata in the Silence tour.

"Reckoning Night", fourth full length by Sonata is published at 11 october in Europe and, like "Ecliptica" and "Winterheart's Giuld", is mainteined the same formula: 10 track and a bonus track for the Japan "Wrecking The Sphere". The album sounds like the union of what Sonata made in the third album with the typical sound of the first ones albums. There is a song totally written by Jani, like said above, and this is called "My Selene", defined by the guitar player like the most typical Sonata song on the album.