Stratovarius Community

GAGAGO wrote: What did I say? Weird! Weirdest! Most weirdest! Weirdestest!

Yep, and your post on how it's the weirdest is the reason why I bumped it, of course also because I wanted to give my two cents on the preview.

Sonata always manage to surprise me. They are not my favorite band for coincidence. I wasn't expecting UNIA, I wasn't expecting The Days of Grays, so I'm not expecting ANYTHING for this one.

That's the best way to get ready... I think

I still think that I will like the album once it's released.

I finally realized why I hated Days of Gray and will likely hate this next album...

The rhythm guitars suck. That's what started it back when I first heard Flag in the Ground. They were there, but the production on them was atrocious and they weren't punchy at all, and then the rest of the album just didn't have them. Viljanen is a perfectly great lead guitar player, but man do the compositions suck for rhythm guitar.

Rebel wrote:I finally realized why I hated Days of Gray and will likely hate this next album...

The rhythm guitars suck. That's what started it back when I first heard Flag in the Ground. They were there, but the production on them was atrocious and they weren't punchy at all, and then the rest of the album just didn't have them. Viljanen is a perfectly great lead guitar player, but man do the compositions suck for rhythm guitar.

You make a pretty good point actually, I just feel like it's a shame because Elias is a damn good guitarist as shown by his solo records but he didn't really get to show off his skills in Days of Grays.

Rebel wrote: The rhythm guitars suck. That's what started it back when I first heard Flag in the Ground. They were there, but the production on them was atrocious and they weren't punchy at all, and then the rest of the album just didn't have them. Viljanen is a perfectly great lead guitar player, but man do the compositions suck for rhythm guitar.

I agree 10000% and observed the same thing when listening to the latest samples. Elias' guitar sound is just annoying static. It sounds like total shit.

other from production, the rhythm guitar in their other albums is not much different composition wise.

icecab21 wrote:other from production, the rhythm guitar in their other albums is not much different composition wise.

It is, and is a guitar player who's telling you this.
Is very different for me to play 8th Commandment than In Black and White. The later actually would need a 7 string guitar, but I manage to play it on a 6 string guitar.

The chord progressions are very different. The problem with The Days of Grays, is that the album is very much oriented towards atmospheres rather than melody or catchy riffs, and the most important part of that album, is the voice, which seems to lead the rest of the music behind it.

We still have to wait to see if Stones Grow Her Name will be vocal-based, keyboard-based or guitar-based.

The reviews of the pre-listening sessions talk about a very heavy guitar, and I don't usually trust teasers.

Elysium teaser didn't show how amazing the album really was.

This wating period will be the longest of this year to me

a lot of the songs just have powerchords just being hit once a bar or in a rythem or some 16th notes on the root. lowering the guitar to a 7th string or using different chord progressions was not in my mind very different but ok.

Are you still mumbling here about that patetic band ?

Poverchords how can you go on about them. Make them and keep them for yourself.

Why? because they D tune it for that album? Bruce Dickinson did the same thing for his solo albums.

I had no idea. And why did he do that?

why not do it? does it magicly get better or worse depending where on the fretboard you put the powerchord or the tuning and strings you use to play the powerchord? it may be a bit different for a guitar player to play, but the audiance still hears a powerchord

I am not sure I understand what you will say with this. What can be different? The powerchord or the guitarista? I think this is over my accordionview and you are surely right.

Great band. Let's hear what they've come up with. Any previews?

They have a few clips however they haven't released a music video yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W7wn2ZC ... e=youtu.be

they played 3 new ones at a festival recently. somehow the only video i have seen so far is 30 seconds of i have a right.

icecab21 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W7wn2ZC ... e=youtu.be

they played 3 new ones at a festival recently. somehow the only video i have seen so far is 30 seconds of i have a right.

That was short
I miss Tony's more elegant look on stage from the UNIA & TDOG tours

Whatever

Rebel wrote:I finally realized why I hated Days of Gray and will likely hate this next album...

The rhythm guitars suck. That's what started it back when I first heard Flag in the Ground. They were there, but the production on them was atrocious and they weren't punchy at all, and then the rest of the album just didn't have them. Viljanen is a perfectly great lead guitar player, but man do the compositions suck for rhythm guitar.

Dead Skin?

Well if you can't listen to music without rhytm guitars then don't bother with classical music since rhytm guitars in classical music suck!

HinatAArcticA wrote:

icecab21 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W7wn2ZC ... e=youtu.be

they played 3 new ones at a festival recently. somehow the only video i have seen so far is 30 seconds of i have a right.

That was short
I miss Tony's more elegant look on stage from the UNIA & TDOG tours

Whatever

I seriously do miss his elegant look too


Seriously one of the best moments in the TDOG 2011 tour. Picture taken by my brother's phone, I sharpened it a little bit in Photoshop as it was too blurry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s16qysevGzo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3bMf3IkcTM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0STSJwcSz0

a few songs from the new album played live

I really liked I Have a Right until the scream, the song sounds pretty cool but the scream just ruins it, it'd be so much better without it.

Losing my Insanity sounded pretty cool though, probably will be the best song on the album.

The intro is part of Wildfire III

So far it sounds really cool to me, I'm pretty sure I'm going to like this album.

icecab21 wrote:other from production, the rhythm guitar in their other albums is not much different composition wise.

and that production can make ALL the difference. If it's crunchy or punchy or some other really solid approach, you have something awesome like say... Don't say a word.
If you gut the production and throw the rhythm section in the backseat, you get something much limper, like say... Flag in the Ground

yes, but to say the rythem writing is bad does not make sense like saying the production is bad. produce the album differently with the same writing and its a very different story.

I always thought that Flag in the Ground should have never really been recorded as it was. I felt like it was made as a crowd-pleaser... something like...

Oh... what? they want a fast song again?... well... let's do this?

If you listen to Nothing More, the japanese bonus track, sounds a lot better, and that was Henkka's composition.

This gril in the SA Forum, Wolf's Eye posted on her review that Stones Groe Her Name sounds really fresh, new, and that has elements for all tastes. Other reviews also list Wildfire III as the fastest Sonata song in years, which should make the song skip both UNIA and The Days of Grays. The reviews also say the album has a closer sound to Reckoning Night.

I don't think The Days of Grays should be compared to just about any other Sonata album, mainly because it has a lot of orchestal stuff, and that's unique for that album. Gives it a VERY different sound. Not to mention, the reviews also talk about solos, and we've seen Elias' solo for Losing My Insanity.

I've been wondering for some time now, why does The Days of Grays sounds so different, and I realized is just because of the orchestral stuff. It's not produced in a... "bad" way, but it's just impossible to produce an album the same if you add a full orchestra. It's not like My Dream's but a Drop of Fuel for a Nightmare's orchestral section, that has only a few strings. That's why Nothing more sounds a bit more Reckoning Night like, because it has no orchestra.

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(Wildfire III should be faster than that)

The live versions of the new songs sound well, but to compare it properly to the other albums, we should wait for the studio release.

And now...
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I would absolutely love to hear Elias compose more on the next album, this song proves that he's a great composer and a really good guitarist. Sadly, he doesn't get a chance to show it in Days of Grays or what we've heard of Stone Grows Her Name so far.

I agree, I also would love to hear a few extra compositions from Elias.

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