My friend showed me Sonata back in 99 or so when they first came out with Ecliptica. I remember hearing it and thinking it was just too happy sounding from what I was listening to at the time ('tera, megadeth, maiden, etc). Thennn around 2001 or so when they came out with their second album, I came across the Wolf & Raven video online and just took it from there. I was a huge Sonata fan all through high school and was lucky to catch em on their last tour with Jani back in 2006 here in TX!
Cant say I enjoy their more recent stuff tho...