I ordered the japanese version mainly so I could get it a month before the euro release (should have it in a week or two). But I couldn't help it when it leaked and have heard it all.
It is definately very different at first listen. No more speedy drums and the guitar suffers from the downtuned syndrome. I was pretty angry on first listen but since it still has that unique SA sound it has grown on me after quite a few listens in my car. I think it is ok but definately not their best. The only way I will be really angry is if they continue this style from now on because the speedy drums and guitar is a big part of what has defined SA for me. I just wish they could have done it more like Reckoning Night because I understand that they don't want to be defined as just a speed band that sounds the same and generic on every song. In RN they had a perfect balance with normal paced and fast paced music. Don't Say A Word was a pretty fast song but was still not stereotypically fast. It also had good song structure that was more than just speed, yet at the same time it still had speed. Unia should have been like half of the types of songs it actually is and the other half faster songs (some stereotypical SA speed songs, and the rest semi fast RN type songs). To me Unia is "Blinded No More" the album. I feel like they are trying to sound more like Nightwish than themselves, hell, Paid In Full sounds just like Nemo at the very beginning, its scary.
Overall it has grown on me since it is SA. Unfortunately if they keep this path I might cry since I feel RN was really bringing them in the right direction, guess it didn't...
I hope one of the japanese bonus tracks is old speedy SA flair though. Out of three bonus tracks one is just a instrumental version of the worst song on Unia, The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden. This song is so bland and I heard it was originally created for their upcoming PC game Winterhearts' Guild. Of the other two bonus songs one is a cover song so it probably is not fast either. So there is one track that I can have a decent amount of hope will be speedy. Guess I am screwed...
It is definately very different at first listen. No more speedy drums and the guitar suffers from the downtuned syndrome. I was pretty angry on first listen but since it still has that unique SA sound it has grown on me after quite a few listens in my car. I think it is ok but definately not their best. The only way I will be really angry is if they continue this style from now on because the speedy drums and guitar is a big part of what has defined SA for me. I just wish they could have done it more like Reckoning Night because I understand that they don't want to be defined as just a speed band that sounds the same and generic on every song. In RN they had a perfect balance with normal paced and fast paced music. Don't Say A Word was a pretty fast song but was still not stereotypically fast. It also had good song structure that was more than just speed, yet at the same time it still had speed. Unia should have been like half of the types of songs it actually is and the other half faster songs (some stereotypical SA speed songs, and the rest semi fast RN type songs). To me Unia is "Blinded No More" the album. I feel like they are trying to sound more like Nightwish than themselves, hell, Paid In Full sounds just like Nemo at the very beginning, its scary.
Overall it has grown on me since it is SA. Unfortunately if they keep this path I might cry since I feel RN was really bringing them in the right direction, guess it didn't...
I hope one of the japanese bonus tracks is old speedy SA flair though. Out of three bonus tracks one is just a instrumental version of the worst song on Unia, The Worlds Forgotten, The Words Forbidden. This song is so bland and I heard it was originally created for their upcoming PC game Winterhearts' Guild. Of the other two bonus songs one is a cover song so it probably is not fast either. So there is one track that I can have a decent amount of hope will be speedy. Guess I am screwed...
nice
