The New Dark Age is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by the Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 power metal

Power metal

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...

 band Kiuas

Kiuas

Kiuas is a heavy metal band from Espoo, Finland. Their music has influences from power metal, folk metal and different styles of extreme metal. Influences from progressive metal can also be heard in some songs.-History:...

. The album was released through Spinefarm Records

Spinefarm Records

Spinefarm Records is a Finland-based record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. In 1999, a sub-label titled Spikefarm Records was started by Sami Tenetz from Thy Serpent...

 on March 12, 2008 for Finland with new dates to be announced for other areas. The song, "Conqueror", directed by Owe Lingwall was shot as a music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 on February 18, 2008. "Of Sacrifice, Loss and Reward" was released on February 20 as a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in Finland and topped the Finnish charts at number 1. The single will include two other songs and a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese bonus track exclusively to the single and Japan only. The album cover

Album cover

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...

 was designed by Niklas Sundin

Niklas Sundin

Niklas Sundin , is a musician best known as the guitarist of bands Dark Tranquillity and Laethora. He also wrote some of the lyrics for the first three and recent two Dark Tranquillity albums and In Flames' album The Jester Race, and...

 of Cabin Fever Media

Cabin Fever Media

Cabin Fever Media is a design studio founded in 1999 by the Dark Tranquillity guitarist, Niklas Sundin.Cabin Fever Media specializes in graphic design of album artwork, however, Cabin Fever Media also does various other commissioned work that involves illustration and design such as t-shirt design,...

, and guitarist for Dark Tranquillity

Dark Tranquillity

Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are one of the longest-standing bands from the original Gothenburg metal scene, and are one of the most integral pioneers of the melodic death metal genre of music....

. It is of an original renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 woodcut

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

 illustration with the portrayal of Kiuas' band members as the "five" Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals"...

. A second music video for "The Decaying Doctrine" was again directed by Owe Lingwall.

Track listing

• All Songs Written By Mikko Salovaara, except where noted.

1. "The Decaying Doctrine" – 4:55
2. "Conqueror" – 5:06
3. "Kiuas War Anthem" – 4:36 (Ilja Jalkanen, Salovaara)
4. "The New Dark Age" – 5:03
5. "To Excel and Ascend" – 5:55
6. "Black Rose Withered" – 3:50
7. "After the Storm" – 5:40 (Jalkanen, Salovaara)
8. "Of Sacrifice, Loss and Reward" – 4:42 (Jalkanen, Salovaara)
9. "The Summoning" – 4:58 (Jalkanen, Salovaara)
10. "The Wanderer's Lamentation" – 6:45
11. "Towards the Hidden Sanctum" (Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
    
    ese bonus track)

Kiuas

• Ilja Jalkanen – vocals, Choir
• Mikko Salovaara – guitars
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , vocals, Choir, Narration
• Atte Tanskanen – keyboard
  Electronic keyboard
  An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
  
  , Choir
• Teemu Tuominen – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Markku Näreneva – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Additional musicians

• "J", Aleksi Parviainen, Pasi Rantanen, Pekka Heino: Choir
• Anna-Maija Jalkanen: Additional Vocals on track 7
• Jussi Reijonen: Oud
  Oud
  The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
  
   on tracks 5 & 10

Production

• Arranged By Kiuas
• Produced By Nino Laurenne, Mikko Salovaara & Janne Joutsenniemi
• Recorded & Engineered By Nino Laurenne
• Mixed By Mikko Karmila
• Pro-Tools Editing By Aksu Hanttu
• Mastered By Svante Forsback

External links

• "The New Dark Age" at discogs