This St. Valentine’s Day is going to be a long-lasting memory for all who are in love – in love with Melodic Power Metal. Moscow and Saint Petersburg will see one of the world’s best bands of the style!
A bit over a year ago, the group visited this country for the first time and played successful gigs in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now the hot Finnish guys are eager to present to their Russian fans material from their new album, The Days of Grays.
The new album, released in October 2009, caused much stir among the band’s fans and the critics. Sonata Arctica has managed to surprise them once again. While on their previous album, Unia, the musicians gravitated towards a more progressive and complex kind of music – The Days of Grays is more likely to be a comeback to the band’s early compositions. “The Days of Grays is about a lot of death and difficult subjects. The necessary gray areas. Just stories, no different than any other fiction piece you may find, with some historic spices,” comments frontman Tony Kakko.
The Days of Grays’s tone is somehow close to one of Sonata Arctica’s most atmospheric albums, Winterheart’s Guild, with lots of keyboard parts, with the northern fairy tales’ theme, and lyrical ballads such as Breathing. The album also has some technical features a la Unia which, however, fit in well to the new material. Johanna Kurkela’s voice is another highlight on the album – together with Tony Kakko, she’s performed the songs Deathaura and No Dream Can Heal A Broken Heart.
Many of their Russian fans must have listened to the Finns’ new album, and very soon Sonata Arctica’s compositions from The Days of Grays (as well as the greatest songs from their previous albums) will be performed live in Moscow and Saint Petersburg – at their Russian gigs within a world tour.