Metal Reviews

Because of everything you've said so far in the thread.



You weren't objective for The Days Of Grays, you CAN'T be objective with Sonata Arctica ever. The fact that the new Cain's Offering is better than The Days Of Grays is making you jealous. No matter what we say you'll keep saying SA is the best band in world and The Days Of Grays is the album of the year. Maybe Cain's Offering is not better than Ecliptica or Silence but it sounds much more like them than the new Sonata. Only fanboys like you will deny that.

You can't compare the two. It's a completely different approach to songwriting and power metal. It's a fallacious comparison and bullshit to say that it's making me jealous. Of course Cain's Offering has the better power metal album, SA aren't TRYING to be fucking power metal!

Bull. Even when they are trying "not" to be power metal, they are still power metal. Just really bad power metal.

Uh oh. This is growing on me. Some of these songs just take a lot of time. Right now I'm really digging Juliet.

When I heard the song Flag in the Ground I actually thought this album would be great. Turned out I really hated almost every single minute of it, unfortunately. 15/100

Cain's offering does sound like ecliptica and silence. The structures are the same as old sonata, even tony has admitted to Jani structuring the old songs. So undoubtedly the songs structured by Jani now will sound like Jani structured songs just as songs structured by Jani then sound like Jani structured songs.

If it were Tony singing, people would no doubt hail it as the best sonata arctica album since silence. Also, the only reason people put Silence and Ecliptica on such a high pedestal is because the nostalgia associated with them. If the Cain's offering had come out before any other SA album(with Kakko), than the standard would have been set by it as it would have been the introduction to the band.

Days of Greys sounds like unorganized metal trying to be emo while being symphonic too.
On that note, if anyone else had released Days of Greys as a first album, the band might have had a chance in Omaha as a Saddlecreek release like Bright eyes or any of the other emo shit that has come out around here. The songs are well produced, but sound very amateur in structure and content. [/i]

Seriously... holy shit, Cain's offering is not very good.. Im not even defending Sonata Arctica, Cains offering is just bad and I cant figure out where the praise is coming from at all and Im so sick of hearing about them, ugh.. I've now listened to the album like 5 times and I LOVE cheesy power flower metal and even I think the Cains Offering album is complete ass. The shit is gayer than a Freedom Call ballad... why is it loved so much?

"Amateur in structure and content"?? Are you fucking crazy?

And Bright Eyes kicks ass, bitch.

He is right.

And I'm surprised Silent Man doesn't dig Cain's Offering. You usually like everything I like, becasue I tell you to do so. My powers must be fading. I feel... weak and tired. I must regenerate somehow.

Bright Eyes are alright. Not heard this new SA album yet, got a bit of catching up to do with them in general.

A bit of advice Fridge, don't take other people's opinion so personally. Everyone complained when I first reviewed Muse and now Body Count barely gets a " " and all the way along I cared not a penny whistle.

I prefer Cain's Offering, The Last Days Of Gray has it moments but guitarist Elias Viljanen is very under used, what a waste.

Not a bad album per say, definately not worthy of a grade that high. It has some great melodies and atmosphere but lacks in memorable songs. The guitar work is very basic, and most of the songs need to inject more energy.

I give it a 7/10

I have listened to this since probably a dozen times since it was released in NA, I hope that is enough time for it to fully sink in. Understated and complex albums tend to take longer.

My thoughts are somewhat like GrandBazaar's in that I feel some of the songs could use more energy. I am one of the minority who thinks Reckoning Night is their best effort, and the big driving melodies and arrangements are sometimes missed. I read somewhere that Toni had a lot of assistance with the arrangement of songs in the past, and if true then that is probably the reason for the at times soupish soundscapes found on Unia and for the undoubtedly improved yet still sometimes obscuring mixtures found here. However, that's not an honest criticism in the end. I'm not necessarily looking for energy, I'm looking for good.

There is a lot of quality songwriting here to absorb and appreciate. There are quality choruses and instrument melodies, you just have to look for them a little bit harder than in the past. The Last Amazing Grays itself still delivers in spades what I have always loved about SA (besides being memorable), and the whole CD is like (to me) a beautiful tapestry. I can't remember every bit of it but I sure like listening to it.

Thanks for the brilliant review, you made my day! I was getting really frustrated while reading reviews for the album here and there, not because people not liking it but because of all the million theories about what Tony tried to do and failed. I personally don't believe he tried to do anything but another SA album, the result is here and you either like it or not.

Your review could have been written by me word by word, also the only thing I have problem with is lack of solos and guitarwork in generally. I have listened the album.. I don't know, over 100 times!? and each time I'm loving it more and more.

I personally do not understand why people still compare everything to Ecliptica and Silence, for fucks sake those are stuff from 10 years ago.. I love the both albums to death but it is like missing childhood days, how fun it was and such a fond memories but I wouldn't go back for real.

The Days of Grays is very solid album, I absolutely adore the orchestral stuff and Tony's vocals are so much more diverse.. instead of screaming his lungs out he is using his voice as a proper instrument. Song structures are interesting and very hooking, the whole album is extremely haunting in a good way. It's not an easy album true, but I'm not for easy albums personally anyways.

Lyrical themes are the best we have heard from SA so far, I've been waiting for him to get into real issues!

And for the record, I don't consider myself as a progmetal fan at all and I didn't like Unia. In a way it was very good album but I just didn't get it even I tried and tried to listen it.. I can't compare tDoG to Unia because I have no clear opinion about Unia.. I don't like to critize something I don't understand. But I'm incredible and crazily happy that I'm on the same page with Tony and the band again

After seeing them live over 20 times I'm a bit concern how these new songs works live but that remains to be seen as they get back to the good ol' homeland.. If I only could see them with a real symphony orchestra I could die in peace

Without a doubt for me this is the Album of the Year.

Thanks for the kind words, glad you liked the review, and more importantly the album. Cheers!

I concur about the album's lethargy compared to earlier works, but at least it isn't a huge mess like Unia. After all this time, I still can't listen to the songs on that album.

That's the point of this album, it takes a good 5 listen to really show its value, I'm at about 20 now and this is the best album since Silence, PERIOD !

I hated Unia, though I will have to revisit it to see if listening to it 5-6 times was maybe not enough and that I might have misjudged it, but this album ROCKS !

Its mature, its complex and yet its still Sonata Arctica, sure its not I'm trying to be the new Stratovarius like Ecliptica was, and I still love it to death to that day, BUT, it shows a maturity and great song writing overall, and what's more, its showing a unique personality, something that is rare in this particular branch of metal. Bravo Sonata, keep on this direction if you ask me. To me its like Avantasia's, the last one had not much to do with the name, but taken out of its context its Earth Shattering, well, this has little to do with the first albums, but as an album with a different style its still a masterpiece !

Definitely in the album of the year list for me too !
I was just sad someone on the team had reviewed it yet ;).

Just my 2 cents,
Chris

PS : Juliet is my favorite song though I love the album as a whole and never skips any tracks when listening to it, I might repeat Julia up to 2-3 times sometimes though .

Aw shucks, Chris, I'm sorry
Hope you found the review "worthy", at any rate.

Now go and listen to Unia again

Ive listened to this album extensively in the past week or so and I dont think its as bad as most people here claim it to be. Its certainly not as good as their work prior to Unia and if I had to rate it I would give it somewhere between 80-85.

You're saying you wouldn't want them to put out an album on the same level as fucking Ecliptica, one of the greatest power metal albums ever? You're either insane or retarded.

As for this album, I just heard it and the only songs that hit me were Flag in the Ground and Deathaura, otherwise the rest just blended together in a boring soup of power metal. I'll give the album some time, but fuck me, there are almost no memorable moments.

Honestly for those who think that this is the second coming, do yourselves a favour and listen to Ecliptica again. Fuck it, listen to Reckoning Night again, and tell me if TDoG is still on the same level as those albums, after hearing the more straight forward but definitely superior songwriting. I'm giving this a 50 until I hear it some more.