The Days of Grays
2009 studio album by Sonata Arctica From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Days of Grays is the sixth full-length studio album by Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica. The album was released in South America on 8 September 2009, on 16 September in Finland, 18 September in Europe and 22 September in North America through Nuclear Blast.[6] The special edition of the album includes the album along with an orchestral CD as a digipak.[7][8]
| The Days of Grays | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 8 September 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2009 at Tico Tico Studio (drums and bass) Fantom Studios and Magic-7 Studio (guitars) Lanceland 2 and Kakkos-studio (keyboards) Studio 57 (hammond organ) Kakkos-studio (vocals) Rock Valley-Studios (cello) Great Sounds Studio (female vocals) | |||
| Genre | Power metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal | |||
| Length | 59:20 | |||
| Label | Nuclear Blast | |||
| Producer | Tony Kakko, Sonata Arctica | |||
| Sonata Arctica chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Days of Grays | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Lords of Metal | 62/100[2] |
| The Metal Circus | |
| Metal Storm | |
| Metal Symphony |  [5] |
It is the first album with guitarist Elias Viljanen and also the first since 1999's Ecliptica in which vocalist Tony Kakko also plays the keyboards.
History
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Perspective
Sonata Arctica keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg described the album as:
a bit darker and maybe not so complex as [2007's] "Unia". Nevertheless, it's definitely not a back-to-the-roots album with fast power metal. All the trademark SONATA stuff is on there, solos, lots of singing [and] some slower songs.
— [6]
The first single from the album is "The Last Amazing Grays". It was released by Nuclear Blast Records only in Finland on 26 August. The band ran a fan art contest to choose the artwork for their second announced single, "Flag in the Ground" which the press release calls "an uplifting story about a young couple fighting their way to freedom and their own land in North America back in early 1800s."[9] The winner of the contest was Simo Heikkinen from Finland.[10] The name for The Days of Grays apparently took a very long time to come to as the band had a name for the record that was deemed more appropriate "for a death metal band or something" according to Henrik Klingenberg. In a French interview, Tony Kakko stated that the original name was Deathaura, the name of a song on the album.[11]
The track "Juliet" continues the so called Caleb saga, a series of songs that started on Silence's "The End of This Chapter", was continued on Reckoning Night's "Don't Say a Word", Unia's "Caleb" and would be later continued on The Ninth Hour's "Till Death's Done Us Apart"[12] and Talviyö's "The Last of the Lambs".[13]
"Everything Fades to Gray" features the lyrics "It's not fair, it's not fair, there was a time now" relating to the Twilight Zone episode Time Enough at Last and "The Truth Is Out There" is about the popular TV series The X-Files.
Track listing
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Perspective
All music by Tony Kakko except "Nothing More" by Henrik Klingenberg, all lyrics by Tony Kakko, songs arranged by Sonata Arctica.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Everything Fades to Gray (Instrumental)" | 3:06 |
| 2. | "Deathaura"
| 7:58 |
| 3. | "The Last Amazing Grays" | 5:40 |
| 4. | "Flag in the Ground" | 4:08 |
| 5. | "Breathing" | 3:55 |
| 6. | "Zeroes" | 4:23 |
| 7. | "The Dead Skin" | 6:14 |
| 8. | "Juliet" | 5:59 |
| 9. | "No Dream Can Heal a Broken Heart" | 4:33 |
| 10. | "As If the World Wasn't Ending" | 3:49 |
| 11. | "The Truth Is Out There" | 5:03 |
| 12. | "Everything Fades to Gray (Full Version)" | 4:32 |
| Total length: | 59:20 | |
All tracks are written by Tony Kakko.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "In the Dark" | 5:21 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deathaura" | 7:56 |
| 2. | "The Last Amazing Grays" | 5:10 |
| 3. | "Flag in the Ground" | 3:55 |
| 4. | "Juliet" | 6:02 |
| 5. | "As If the World Wasn't Ending" | 3:56 |
| 6. | "The Truth Is Out There" | 5:06 |
| 7. | "In the Dark" | 5:22 |
| Total length: | 37:27 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "In My Eyes You're a Giant" | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Nothing More" | 3:55 |
| 14. | "In My Eyes You're a Giant" | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paid in Full (Live in France)" | 4:26 |
| 2. | "Black Sheep (Live in Italy)" | 5:56 |
| 3. | "Draw Me (Live in Switzerland)" | 4:06 |
| 4. | "It Won't Fade (Live in France)" | 6:22 |
| 5. | "Replica (Live in Switzerland)" | 4:38 |
| 6. | "Don't Say a Word (Live in Switzerland)" | 6:08 |
| Total length: | 32:06 | |
Personnel
- Tony Kakko – vocals, additional keyboards
- Elias Viljanen – guitar
- Marko Paasikoski – bass guitar
- Henrik Klingenberg – keyboards, Hammond
- Tommy Portimo – drums
- Johanna Kurkela – female vocals (on 2, 9)
- Perttu Kivilaakso (Apocalyptica) – Cello (on 1, 6, 11, 12 and "In My Eyes You're a Giant")
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] | 52 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] | 96 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] | 50 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] | 2 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[20] | 41 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] | 24 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] | 56 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[23] | 40 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] | 31 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] | 26 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[26] | Gold | 17,807[26] |
Release history
| Region | Date |
|---|---|
| South America | 8 September 2009 |
| Finland | 16 September 2009 |
| Japan | 16 September 2009 |
| Rest of Europe | 18 September 2009 |
| North America | 22 September 2009 |
References
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