The Days of Grays

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 September 8, 2009, on September 16 in Finland, September 18 in Europe and September 22 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
Studio album by
Sonata Arctica
ReleasedSeptember 8, 2009
Recorded2009 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)
GenrePower metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal
Length59:20
LabelNuclear Blast
ProducerTony Kakko, Sonata Arctica
Sonata Arctica chronology
Unia
(2007)		 The Days of Grays
(2009)		 Live in Finland
(2011)
Singles from The Days of Grays
  1. "The Last Amazing Grays"
    Released: August 26, 2009
  2. "Flag in the Ground"
    Released: September 2009
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Lords of Metal62/100[2]
The Metal Circus[3]
Metal Storm[4]
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

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 August 26. 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

All music by Tony Kakko except "Nothing More" by Henrik Klingenberg, all lyrics by Tony Kakko, songs arranged by Sonata Arctica.

All tracks are written by Tony Kakko.

No.TitleLength
1."Everything Fades to Gray (Instrumental)"3:06
2."Deathaura"
  • "The Premonition" (1:32)
  • "The Witch-Hunt" (0:38)
  • "Exposing the Heathen" (0:38)
  • "Envy" (0:20)
  • "The Fear" (0:38)
  • "The Grudge" (0:32)
  • "The Curse" (0:26)
  • "The Flames" (0:20)
  • "Endless Inquisition" (Instrumental) (2:04)
  • "...Together, Today, for All Eternity" (0:50)"
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
Limited Edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
13."In the Dark"5:21
Limited Edition "Orchestral Bonus CD"[7]
No.TitleLength
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
U.S. Edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
13."In My Eyes You're a Giant"4:42
Japanese Edition bonus tracks[14]
No.TitleLength
13."Nothing More"3:55
14."In My Eyes You're a Giant"4:42
Japanese Edition "Live Bonus CD" - Official bootleg live around Europe 2008[14][15]
No.TitleLength
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

Charts
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Belgian Album Charts 41[16]
Finnish Albums Chart 2[16][17]
Ö3 Austria Top 40 52[16][18]
Dutch Albums Chart 50[16][19]
French Album Charts 41[16]
German Albums Chart 24[20]
Swedish Music Charts 31[16]
Swiss Music Charts 26[16][21]

Personnel

Release history
Region Date
South America September 8, 2009
Finland September 16, 2009
Japan September 16, 2009
Rest of Europe September 18, 2009
North America September 22, 2009

References
  1. "The Days of Grays - Sonata Arctica | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  2. "Sonata Arctica - The Days Of Grays | Review | Lords Of Metal metal E-zine - issue 95". Lordsofmetal.nl. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  3. themetalcircus.com. "SONATA ARCTICA - The Days of Grays". The Metal Circus. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  4. "Sonata Arctica - The Days Of Grays - Metal Storm". Metalstorm.ee. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  5. Metal Symphony. "Sonata Arctica: The Days of Grays // Nuclear Blast ( PIAS Music )". Metal Symphony. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  6. "Sonata Arctica: New Album Details Revealed". blabbermouth.net. July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  7. "SONATA ARCTICA | The days of grays - Nuclear Blast". Nuclearblast.de. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  8. "Sonata Arctica | Official website". Sonataarctica.info. 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  9. "Sonata Artica Lets Fans Design Cover Artwork". blabbermouth.net. July 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  10. "Winner of Artwork Contest". SonataArctica.info. August 18, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  11. "INTERVIEW Tony Kakko, chanteur de Sonata Arctica". La Grosse Radio. August 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  12. "Sonata Arctica reveals details about Finnish Tour 2018". Sonata Arctica's official Facebook page. Facebook. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  13. Giffin, Brian (3 September 2019). "SONATA ARCTICA // A Little Understanding". Hysteria Magazine. Hysteria Media PTY LTD. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  14. "The Days Of Grays Sonata Arctica [CD]". Cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  15. "The Days Of Grays Japan Limited Edition van Tony Kakko Fan Page JPN op Myspace". Blogs.myspace.com. 2009-08-23. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  16. "swedishcharts.com - Sonata Arctica - The Days Of Grays". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  17. Suomen virallinen lista
  18. "Suchergebnisse in den österreichischen Charts" [Search results for the Austrian charts]. Charts.de (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
  19. "Suchergebnisse in den niederlänischen Charts" [Search results for the Dutch charts]. Charts.de (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
  20. "Suchergebnisse in den deutschen Charts" [Search results for the German charts]. Charts.de (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
  21. "Suchergebnisse in den Schweizer Charts" [Search results for the Swiss charts]. Charts.de (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 2012-07-15.
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