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| | The Days of Grays | | | Music Artist : | | Sonata Arctica | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Nuclear Blast Americ | | Release Date : | | 2009-09-22 | | Store Price : | | $15.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $13.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Everything Fades to Gray [Instrumental]
2. Deathaura
3. Last Amazing Grays
4. Flag in the Ground
5. Breathing
6. Zeroes
7. Dead Skin
8. Juliet
9. No Dream Can Heal a Broken Heart
10. As If the World Wasn't Ending
11. Truth Is out There
12. Everything Fades to Gray [Full Version]
13. In My Eyes You're a Giant [*]
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Sonata still has it
Submitted on: 2009-11-10 |
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I bought this album as soon as I could. I knew it was going to be an extension from Unia based on interviews I read with Henrik Klingenberg (Keyboards), but since Unia is an album that I will literally listen to exclusively for a month, I was okay with that. Let me say that I love early Sonata Arctica. I love those speedy riffs and the rapidfire drums. However, when Unia departed from that into a realm with more crunchy power chords and traded rhythmic speed for complexity, I still liked it.
Grays is like Unia, but goes farther into that territory. It also branches out into quieter music. As If The World Wasn't Over is a very laid back song for Sonata. However, Deathaura is as heavy as anything they have ever done. There is a slight return to earlier habits with Flag In The Ground.
If you are a Sonata fan, you don't need to be reading this. If you are new to Sonata, Grays is a perfectly good start as long as you realize that it is so far not typical of their career. If you heard their early work and thought it was too speedy for you, this new heavier/slower stuff will probably tickle your ears a bit more. If like Sonata only for the solos, this album is not for you at all.
My favorite track is probably Deathaura. I love how it changes so many times. It reminds me a little of My Dream Is But A Drop Of Fuel For A Nightmare from Unia, but it seems punchier. |
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WOW!
Submitted on: 2009-10-30 |
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| Let me introduce myself as a Sonata fan from the beginning. I have always loved their fast, double-bass laden power metal. As an objective listener who like GOOD MUSIC and not just double-bass crazy fast stuff, I can say that this is definitely one of their best albums. Sonata Arctica has made a truly epic album full of hard, melodic rock that fans should love despite a slight slow-down in speed. But please note that it is definitely an increase in tempo and power from Unia. I get bored with Unia, but have been listening to Days of Grays constantly since I bought it in September. As with most albums from groups you love that have been around a long time, I was a little disappointed as I listened to the album the first time around. But that's basically a result of having to distance the new songs from the band's previous songs that are ingrained in your mind. the second time around was a charm, and I recommend this album to anybody that likes rock, likes rock with good lead singer voices, and likes rock with melody. GO SONATA! |
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 Another Great Band Loses Its Way
Submitted on: 2009-10-21 |
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I've been a fan of Sonata Arctica since Ecliptica. I've bought every CD, including the live CD's. Reckoning Night was the first CD I didn't really like as much as the others. It was like Winterheart's Guild, but without the Awesome. Unia was (in my opinion) a better disc--different, but still a good album. Well, this new one is a misfire, plain and simple.
There's so much going on here. The disc is a cacophany of dissonance and noise. Where are the hooks? Melody is lacking, although not altogether missing. The mixing is strange....it's like they recorded the music twice, first as a metal band's album and then as an orchestral recording...then they layered the two over one another and this is what we get. Only it doesn't really work. Listening to it is the audio equivalent of looking at two superimposed images--both are transparent, neither one is really there, neither is complete.
I'm not saying this is a bad album, but it just may be the second Sonata Arctica CD I wind up selling (the first was Reckoning Night). There's some decent stuff here, but when I'm in the mood for Sonata, I can't imagine this EVER being the disc I reach for. It's far and away my least favorite Sonata disc.
So...what happened? Tony (the songwriter) apparently got tired of writing for his fanbase and decided to get a bit too experimental. As a side note, I think the band photos on the insert are kind of funny. They're all looking bored, moody or whatever...apparently to tie into the "Days of Grays" theme...but they really all look like they're just tired of the project itself.
There IS a large component of the band that's missing this time around. Jani (founding member and guitar player extraordinaire). What's he doing these days? Check out Cain's Offering's new CD, "Gather the Faithful." It'll take you about 10 seconds to contrast with the "Days of Grays" and know just what's missing from Sonata these days: Passion, Fire, Melody, Speed, and GUITARS!!!
Sorry Sonata, but Cain's Offering wins hands down. I can't get that disc out of my head. And that's another thing missing from "Grays"--anything really memorable. |
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Huge improvement over Unia--the missing link
Submitted on: 2009-10-17 |
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This album thoroughly impressed me upon its first listen. After being in some sense disappointed with Unia (mostly since it was an album you had to really take time to appreciate and get to like), I was expected an even more complex, softer, and less coherent album in The Days of Grays. Fortunately, I was very surprised! This album is fantastic and instantly grips you with melodies. I feel this should have been the album in between Reckoning Night and Unia. It touches on Sonata's ever-growing complexity, yet keeps it's melodies in tact. So far, every song is very well composed. I still wish Tommy would sing in a deeper voice (like in the first three albums), his voice has become somewhat whiny in later albums. Despite this, the vocals are still impecable, along with all the other members in the band.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this album for any Sonata fan, or progressive metal fan for that matter. It's a huge improvement over Unia, and shows Sonata still has what it takes!! |
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Very artistic
Submitted on: 2009-10-12 |
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| When I first heard this album, it reminded me so much of the music on The Nightmare Before Christmas. It sounds really great, I think Sonata Arctica showcases more of their abilities as musicians more than ever. Keep up with the good work. |
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