On August 8, 2007, Jani Liimatainen, founding member and guitarist of Finnish metal band Sonata Arctica, was replaced by Elias Viljanen. The reason, according to the band’s official website, was Liimatainen’s “messing around with his compulsory military-civil-prison duty, or rather, complete failure to take care of it.” All Finnish men are called to voluntary military service when they are 18 years old and failure to complete this, or another non-military service to benefit society, will result in imprisonment. That was the case for Liimatainen, which sent ripples of friction throughout the band.

“Jani was notified of this in May, and the separation was amicable. We wanted to give Jani the chance to get his life together before making this public, which is why we didn't make this announcement earlier,” the band’s official statement said.

This left replacement guitarist Viljanen with a lot on his plate. He not only had to learn the band’s material, he had to be able to fill Liimatainen’s boots. As keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg explains, Viljanen did just that during the summer tour.

“A lot of people were suspicious, because Jani was a great guitarist,” Klingenberg says. “After you’ve seen Elias live, then everybody understands that it’s no problem. I mean, Elias is quite a performer, so you have to watch out and make sure you don’t get knocked down when he’s jumping around.”

It seems that the band’s new guitarist has rekindled their fiery spirit. Sonata Arctica’s new album, Unia, has caused a stir among fans due to its radical departure from the band’s typical sound. It’s a more complex and challenging album, and next Monday’s show at the Warehouse promises an electric mix of speedy, hard-edged songs with slow and beautiful ballads.