Sonata Arctica is a quartet known for their orchestral remakes of European heavy metal music style. The band was formed in 1996 and it featured such musicians as vocalist Tony Kakko, guitarist Jani Liimatainen, drummer Tommy Portimo, keyboardist Mikko Harkin, and bassist Janne Kivilahti.
Sonata Arctica debuted with their first single in July of 1999. The single was called "UnOpened” which was released on on Spinefarm Records. The band issued their debut album in 2000 signing a contract with Spinefarm and Century Media Records. Producer Mikko Karmila was of great help to the band when they were recording their first album called Eliptica.
