SONATA ARCTICA guitarist Elias Viljanen will perform at the Ultimate World Guitar Exhibition 2010, taking place in Bologna, Italy on May 15th. Entry is free. Go to this location for event details.

Sonata Arctica's tour schedule is now as follows:

May

21 - Metalfest Open Air - Budapest, Hungary
22 - Metalfest Open Air - Plzen, Czech Republic
23 - Rock Hard Festival - Gelsenkirchen, Germany

June

13 - Kivenlahti Rock - Espoo, Finland
19 - Provinssirock - Seinäjoki, Finland
28 - Peace & Love Festival - Borlänge, Sweden

July

6 - Metal Camp - Tolmin, Slovenia
8 - Rock Harz Open Air - Ballenstedt, Germany
11 - Ruisrock - Turku, Finland

August

13 - Bloodstock Open Air - Walton on Trent, UK

September

30 - Alcatraz - Milan, Italy (DVD shoot)

BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai recently caught up with Sonata Arctica frontman Tony Kakko to discuss the band's latest album, The Days Of Grays. An excerpt from the story is available below:

“Unia was a huge shock for some people, but it was something we really needed to do,” states Kakko. “We gained a lot of new fans with that album and we won’t be going back to our old direction, as you can hear on the new album. There are actually one or two songs that could have appeared on the Reckoning Night album, though. I think this new album is much easier to get into than Unia.”

The Days Of Grays screams of a Unia II. Beginning with a three minute instrumental, the album kicks into gear with the eight minute symphonic-prog piece ‘Deathaura’, a track sporting Blind Guardian epic stripes coupled with present day Nightwish bombast. Admittedly, a very strong tune in spite of sounding nothing like the Sonata Arctica of old.

“When I write songs it’s always an adventure; I have no idea where I’m going with it,” Kakko says. “I just do what comes naturally and what feels good. That song is a case of something small and beautiful turning into something huge and massive and epic. It started out as a tiny song with a guitar, piano, and one vocal line, but at some point I started adding stuff to it. Suddenly it’s eight minutes long (laughs). The song wrote itself, basically. I never take anything out, and that’s probably my downfall (laughs). I just keep writing as long as I can.”

Go to this location for the complete story.