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The show on November 18th had to be moved to a new venue “Seifenfabrik” in Graz (Austria) because the venue in Ljubljana (Slovenia) has been closed down.

See all upcoming Sonata Arctica tour dates here.

On November 12th Sonata Arctica will start their European headliner tour in Prague (CZ). The two support bands for that tour will be Delain (NL) and Winterborn (FIN).

Check the complete tour list with all upcoming shows.

After Sonata Arctica’s new album “The Days Of Grays” hit the official Finnish album charts on #2 and sold GOLD on the day of its release, here are some more chart entries:

Finland: # 2
Germany: # 24
Switzerland: # 26
Sweden: # 31
Norway: # 46
Netherlands: # 50
Austria: # 52
US chart positions:
Heatseeker’s: # 19 (Top New Albums Billboard)
Current Hard Music Albums Core Stores: # 9
Indy/Small Chain Core Stores: # 70
Top Hard Music Albums: # 41

The new Sonata Arctica album “The Days Of Grays” entered the official Finnish album charts on #2.

The brand new SONATA ARCTICA album “The Days Of Grays” reached GOLD status by selling 15,000 copies in their home country Finland on the day of its release. Congratulations!

Their last effort “Unia” was certified GOLD in Finland back in May 2007 and is about to go PLATINUM for more than 30,000 records sold.

Along with the release of the sixth studio album, “The Days Of Grays”, the Official SONATA ARCTICA website got a facelift and a number of updates. The new album has been added to the discography section, some new audio samples, new promotional photos, and the video to “Flag In The Ground” can also be found on the website now. Last but not least the band member profiles were updated as well… believe it or not!

Release dates:
Finland & Japan: 16.09.2009
Europe: 18.09.2009
North America: 22.09.2009

The summer festivals and the Sonata Arctica Open Air were just the beginning…

SONATA ARCTICA will start with the first leg of their tour in support of the new album at Monterrey Metal Fest in Mexico on September 16th, followed by a tour in support of DragonForce through North America with seven additional headliner shows. After a short break the touring continues throughout Europe and at the turn of the year the band will play their first shows ever in Australia including a New Year’s Eve gig at Screamfest in Sydney!

See below how some of Europe’s metal magazines rated SONATA ARCTICA’s new album “The Days of Grays”:

Metal Hammer (D) 7/7
Terrorizer (UK) 9/10
Metal.de (D) 9/10
Rock Hard (D) 8,5/10
Rock It (D) 8,5/10
Rock City News (D) 8/9
Legacy (D) 12/15
Spark (CZ) 6/6
Rock Hard (F) 8/10
Soundi (FIN) 4/5

“A rollercoaster ride in intensity and harmony through dreamlike
sonic landscapes.” –  Janne Strang, Hufvudstadsbladet FIN

“Back to the roots, more progressive, more accomplished, less dark.
 The new masterpiece of 2009.” – Metal Obs FRANCE

We have teamed up with our long time partner, Royal Artist Club, to bring you an exclusive opportunity to win some great, autographed prizes. Be sure to check out our blog at the link below for instructions on the Sonata Arctica Caption Competition.

SONATA ARCTICA’s new single THE LAST AMAZING GRAYS entered the official Finnish single charts at #4 this week (edit: on the second week it climbed up to #3!).

The bands’ keyboardist Henkka comments:

“Our last single Paid in Full took the pole position so naturally the only way from no.1 is down 😀 Right now we’re rehearsing new songs for our upcoming US-tour so there’s really not too much time to dwell on these kinds of things anyway. We’ve played through around half of the songs from the album and there will be some cool surprises in the setlist. It’s been around 10 months since our last proper tour so we’re really excited about getting back on the road. Cheers !!”

Both the single The Last Amazing Grays and the video song Flag In The Ground can also be heard on the band’s MySpace site now.

The SONATA ARCTICA artwork contest has come to an end and the band have picked their personal favorites!

The WINNING piece will be the new artwork for the SONATA ARCTICA promotional single “Flag In The Ground” and was done by: SIMO HEIKKINEN (Finland)!
Congratulations!
 
2nd winner: Artwork done by Dilyana Delcheva (Bulgaria)
3rd winner: Artwork done by Rodrigo Larreteguy (Argentina)
 
Commented singer TONY KAKKO:

“On behalf of the whole Sonata Arctica, I would like to thank all of you, who sent artwork suggestions for our promotional single “Flag In The Ground”! Fantastic!
The range of different ideas and styles was staggering and our decision was far from easy. I think at the end we all had our own personal favorites!
But there can be only one! In this case one winner, one 2nd and one 3rd.
So we actually had to build an extremely complex voting system to come up with the winner and even then it was not all that easy.
And honestly, I think you are all winners, and you should think so too. You worked hard to complete the artwork in extremely limited time frame.
And you did it. Ovations.
As I am writing this message, I still only have the artwork jpg’s with different names and no idea who is behind which work.
Just so you will know; if the winner happens to be my mother, it is simply because her work was THE BEST!

Without any drum rolls, behold! The mighty winner! The best of the best of the best!
Thank you people!
See you on tour!“
 
~Tony – Sonata Arctica
 
The single “Flag In The Ground” will have its premiere on the band´s MySpace page on September 4th! Do not miss!

The new album “The Days Of Grays” will be out on September 18th via Nuclear Blast!