Clearly Christmas means a lot to Tony Kakko. Power metallers Sonata Arctica have announced they will be releasing a Christmas EP…and it will apparently include a couple of surprises!

Kakko is well known to be embedded in the Christmas circuit, with him getting involved in some metal version of Christams songs every year. This year he has decided to take matters into his own hands and release a Christmas EP with his own band Sonata Arctica.

The EP will be entitled ‘Christmas Spirits‘ and will be released December 18th via Nuclear Blast.

The band commented on the announcement:

“Hello everyone out there! Christmas is just around the corner so we decided to cheer you all up with a nice Christmas story. ‘Decided’ might be a bit strong in this context since the ‘Christmas Spirits’ song has been around for about ten years now, we just never had the time to record it. Finally during the Pariah’s Child sessions we managed to do the basic tracks and this autumn we finished the song. I guess the main reason for the delay was getting the lyrics done, it’s nearly impossible to get into the Christmas mood unless it’s actually… you guessed it, Christmas. Hats off to Tony since he did it anyway, this autumn, and without any snow, we might add. Be that as it may, here’s our latest piece of art: ‘Christmas Spirits’!”

Hats off to Tony indeed! He is ensuring that the metal Christmas spirit is bright all around!