Astronomy | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 13 November 2006 | |||
Recorded | January – September 2006 at Studio Fredman, Gothenburg, Sweden | |||
Genre | Power metal, progressive metal, symphonic metal, melodic death metal | |||
Length | 60:51 | |||
Label | Century Media (Europe, North America), King Records (Japan) | |||
Producer | Patrik J., Olof Mörck, Henrik Udd | |||
Dragonland chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Chronicles of Chaos | [1] |
Astronomy is the fourth studio album by Swedish power metal band Dragonland, released in Europe on 13 November 2006 and in North America on 28 November 2006. While their third album Starfall focused heavily on keyboards and had a more upbeat lyrical tone, according to guitarist Olof Mörck, Astronomy is "gloomier, more stygian and packed with crunching guitars; both furiously fast and bone-grindingly heavy."[2]
All tracks are written by Olof Mörck, except "Intuition", by Tony Harnell, Ronni Le Tekrø
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Supernova" | 5:09 |
2. | "Cassiopeia" (featuring Elize Ryd, solo by Marios Ilipoulos of Nightrage) | 4:06 |
3. | "Contact" | 4:25 |
4. | "Astronomy" (featuring Jake E) | 3:20 |
5. | "Antimatter" (featuring Jimmie Strimmel) | 3:00 |
6. | "The Book of Shadows Part IV: The Scrolls of Geometria Divina" | 4:04 |
7. | "Beethoven's Nightmare" | 6:11 |
8. | "Too Late for Sorrow" (featuring Elize Ryd & Jake E) | 3:36 |
9. | "Direction: Perfection" (featuring Jimmie Strimmel) | 4:29 |
10. | "The Old House on the Hill Chapter I: A Death in the Family" | 4:30 |
11. | "The Old House on the Hill Chapter II: The Thing in the Cellar" | 3:08 |
12. | "The Old House on the Hill Chapter III: The Ring of Edward Waldon" | 6:18 |
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
13. | "Intuition" (TNT cover) | 4:25 |
14. | "The Last Word" | 4:11 |
In a February 2007 interview[3] with Metal Reviews, guitarist Olof Mörck went into details about some of musical and lyrical influences in Astronomy:
As suggested with the album title, many of the songs on the album are based around space subjects:
Another point of interest is the song "Beethoven's Nightmare" which intertwines heavy guitar riffs and classical piano melodies to tell the story of Beethoven writing a symphony about a tragedy that is consuming his life, while he laments about being deaf and wishing he could hear a sound "that could open my mind".