I'd rather say it's avarage. but you are right, it's poor compared to old Sonata.

Probably it is like with most of the "famous" bands? the longer they play and put out albums, the worse the ratings are, because as the time flows, they just cannot came with something new that easily...

(i never heard Unia album, so i am really uncertain in opinion on this stuff, just repeating what i have heard)

Written by Ellrohir on 27.07.2009 at 02:41

they just cannot came with something new that easily...

actually, the problem was that they came up with something really new..

Written by Janne on 27.07.2009 at 03:27

Written by Ellrohir on 27.07.2009 at 02:41

they just cannot came with something new that easily...

actually, the problem was that they came up with something really new..

i wouldnt call it new, it's more like slow and less powerful, aka, a ballad album.

Written by Janne on 27.07.2009 at 03:27

Written by Ellrohir on 27.07.2009 at 02:41

they just cannot came with something new that easily...

actually, the problem was that they came up with something really new..

Exactly! People who loved the Sonata Arctica albums before Unia, were shocked to find Unia so different from what Sonata did before. Instead of seeing the positive side that the band is actually moving on and doing something new, people just blame them for making a bad album. I'm not saying that it's among my favourites of all the Sonata Arctica albums, but it has some good songs on it too.

One thing Sonata hasn't been able to renew are their life shows. I can already guess the 3 first and 3 last songs of their set at Sunday's Ankkarock. That's why I'm seriously considering skipping their gig.

I might be only one who thinks that Sonata have get better by every album, and yes, UNIA is their best album IMO.

about those album covers, those are similar, but the particles comes from different things
Sonata have always had this four seasons thing going on and celesty have their elementical story lines

"Unia" was a great album. The fans who don't like it are just the fans who like their speedy, double-bass stuff. "Unia" is not that, but that doesn't mean it's no good.

So has anyone here actually HEARD "The Days of Grays" yet? I'm dying to hear it. I plan on buying it, but I'd love if I could somehow hear it before then.

I like Unia. Sure it's very different from their earlier work in terms of speed, but it's just more complex and maybe more mature. As some of you say many people were just shocked that they actually tried something new instead of just "business as usual" (for which they would have been criticized too)

Of course they have been criticized both for not being like previous Sonata albums and sometimes for being like the rest of Sonata albums, but they can't please every single fan every time they release and album or a single. I know a lot of people didn't like Reckoning Night, I loved it. I know some people really liked Unia, I haven't been able to like it yet, just a couple of parts from songs. Still, they're a great band and I have high hopes for the new album.

In my opinion Unia is just too full of everything. I don't really enjoy listening to the whole album, only a couple of songs at a time, after which I have to take a break. If I listen to all the songs in a row, I feel exhausted afterwards. I don't really know why. I think Unia has a lot more emotions in it than the previous albums that were all about wolves and fairy tales. After all, the band went through some hard times while making the album, so Tony must've put all that in those songs.

Written by Italics on 27.07.2009 at 10:03

"Unia" was a great album. The fans who don't like it are just the fans who like their speedy, double-bass stuff. "Unia" is not that, but that doesn't mean it's no good.

So has anyone here actually HEARD "The Days of Grays" yet? I'm dying to hear it. I plan on buying it, but I'd love if I could somehow hear it before then.

I haven't heard it but I've read a song by song. check it out!

Written by Ernotar on 27.07.2009 at 09:11

One thing Sonata hasn't been able to renew are their life shows. I can already guess the 3 first and 3 last songs of their set at Sunday's Ankkarock. That's why I'm seriously considering skipping their gig.

That's only your problem (or luck). I'm sure I won't be bored of them in a long time because I can only see them once in a year. So I wouldn't care even if they put up the same show every year

Written by Ernotar on 27.07.2009 at 14:24

In my opinion Unia is just too full of everything. I don't really enjoy listening to the whole album, only a couple of songs at a time, after which I have to take a break. If I listen to all the songs in a row, I feel exhausted afterwards. I don't really know why. I think Unia has a lot more emotions in it than the previous albums that were all about wolves and fairy tales. After all, the band went through some hard times while making the album, so Tony must've put all that in those songs.

I recently read an interview with Tony that he did a couple years ago, like right around the time of Unia's release. He basically said that he always had written a bunch of slow songs during the other albums, but scrapped them because the fans of the band wanted to hear faster, speedier, melodic songs. With Unia he basically wanted to let the slower, more emotional songs steal the show, so that might have something to do with it.

Written by Ernotar on 27.07.2009 at 14:24

In my opinion Unia is just too full of everything. I don't really enjoy listening to the whole album, only a couple of songs at a time, after which I have to take a break. If I listen to all the songs in a row, I feel exhausted afterwards. I don't really know why. I think Unia has a lot more emotions in it than the previous albums that were all about wolves and fairy tales. After all, the band went through some hard times while making the album, so Tony must've put all that in those songs.

Umm... all their past albums were about wolves and fairytales?
Eacn album has ONE wolf song... and they don't have any fairytale songs... there's "ain't your fairytale," but that's the one wolf song on "Reckoning Night." Besides that they sing about normal topics (love, war, etc.)
I don't know where people get the idea that just because SA is a power metal band they must sing about dragons, swords, etc. because they never have and never will.

@ Italics No need to take it so literally. I mainly pointed out the difference between the atmosphere on those older albums and Unia. Read Zelse's post above, it tells it all in a nutshell.

Yea. And honestly - maybe it's just me - I think Sonata is one of the few power metal bands that actually isn't included in that whole "power metal sings about dragons fairies magic lol" thing.

I think most "power metal haters" wont differ Sonata from other bands though...

Well no, but exactly, they're power metal haters. I think if they were like Lord Reg and actually had a decent stance from which to debate, that'd be different, but the vast majority of them are just generalizing tards who don't deserve the attention.

I hope Sonata Arcitca doesn't do many gigs before releasing their new album, since yesterday's gig was certainly the worst I've ever seen from them. Unless it then somehow magnificently changed after the 4th song, when I decided to leave...I seriously doubt that. It was like they had run out of battery. Tony was the only one who moved around, the others were like zombies. The set list wasn't the same however - this time the same songs came in a different order.

In an interview before the gig Tony said that the upcoming album will have more catchy sing-a-long songs than Unia, so I guess they're heading back to the style they had on their older albums.

They have posted a "Making Of" video of the music video to the song "Flag In The Ground". Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW-KhxB56qU It's sounds really great and a very "happy" song to me. Hope the album will be great like this song.

I love what I hear, it sounds folky and almost like a Winterheart's Guild song. Now I'm even more pumped for the single to come out and believe even more that this new album is going to rule!

Written by FeskarN on 06.08.2009 at 01:56

They have posted a "Making Of" video of the music video to the song "Flag In The Ground". Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW-KhxB56qU It's sounds really great and a very "happy" song to me. Hope the album will be great like this song.

When you said it sounds like "a very happy song", I thought it was gonna be cheesy, but the parts of the song sound real nice, and the video looks cool as well. Just like you said, hopefully the rest of the album will be like this or even better.

I don't like very much SA videos, very boring, well almost every metal video is boring as hell...

Written by FeskarN on 06.08.2009 at 01:56

They have posted a "Making Of" video of the music video to the song "Flag In The Ground". Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW-KhxB56qU It's sounds really great and a very "happy" song to me. Hope the album will be great like this song.

Wow, if the rest of the album turns out as good or equal to this song, i will be happy

Written by FeskarN on 06.08.2009 at 01:56

They have posted a "Making Of" video of the music video to the song "Flag In The Ground". Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW-KhxB56qU It's sounds really great and a very "happy" song to me. Hope the album will be great like this song.

I concentrated on the music and I liked it very much! it's great to hear such a song after Unia.

I can't wait to see the album released... The Making Of was amazing, it seems that is gonna be a great album...

Written by Crème fraiche on 06.08.2009 at 14:14

Written by FeskarN on 06.08.2009 at 01:56

They have posted a "Making Of" video of the music video to the song "Flag In The Ground". Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW-KhxB56qU It's sounds really great and a very "happy" song to me. Hope the album will be great like this song.

Wow, if the rest of the album turns out as good or equal to this song, i will be happy

If the whole album sounds like this song, I will be deceived. The best thing about this song is that they have recycled their sound from Winterheart's Guild, not quite Reckoning Night - it reminded me of "The Cage" and "Silver Tongue". Which is great - I never liked Reckoning Night that much except a couple of songs. Anyway, old Sonata Arctica albums are renowned for their diversity! What they should do right now is bring back that diversity that made each of the first three albums so marvelous and unique. Unia was something they needed to record, for personal, psychological and whatever reasons, but all songs had a similar structure to each other: the whole album has a uniform feel. That was the biggest mistake in Unia in my opinion. A new great ballad in the vein of "Last Drop Falls" or "Shy" and another floorfiller like "Wolf & Raven" or "My Selene" is the least we can ask for in the next album.

Caaan't wait the album to come out, "Flag In The Ground" sounded good, sounded much more like SA music than what Unia did. Hopefully new album will be like this, music to sing with^^ . Had to preorder that album as soon as it was possible, now only counting days to get it...

They were pretty unimpressive live, at Ankkarock. But then, I hadn't seem them since 2004-2005 or so. The song they started with (I dunno the name - some single of the latest album which I ever only heard once) was horrible, but luckily they continued with the amazing 8th Commandment. I got all nostalgic for a while, with Black Sheep and Replica too. I left during Tallulah, though.

That new cover reminds me of Silence, with the same theme. Let's hope it's in the same vein as that classic! I wouldn't mind new Sonata, if they dropped the crap they've done after the two albums, and returned to good old power metal. Winterheart's Guild was OK, but meh.

Written by IronAngel on 07.08.2009 at 23:18

They were pretty unimpressive live, at Ankkarock. But then, I hadn't seem them since 2004-2005 or so. The song they started with (I dunno the name - some single of the latest album which I ever only heard once) was horrible, but luckily they continued with the amazing 8th Commandment. I got all nostalgic for a while, with Black Sheep and Replica too. I left during Tallulah, though.

That new cover reminds me of Silence, with the same theme. Let's hope it's in the same vein as that classic! I wouldn't mind new Sonata, if they dropped the crap they've done after the two albums, and returned to good old power metal. Winterheart's Guild was OK, but meh.

Well, some of us prefer their newer material. I think Unia is their best album so far and I'm crossing fingers the new one will follow the same path. I can't quite get into the didlididliditaditadiii on their earlier works.