Flag in the Ground

"Flag in the Ground"
"Flag in the Ground"
Single by Sonata Arctica
from the album The Days of Grays
Released	August 26, 2009
Recorded	Tico-Tico Studios, 2009
Genre	Power metal
Length	4:06
Label	Nuclear Blast
Songwriter(s)	Tony Kakko, Tony Kakko,
Producer(s)	Sonata Arctica
Sonata Arctica singles chronology
Alternative Cover
	The second place cover of "Flag in the Ground"
Alternative Cover
	The third place cover of "Flag in the Ground"

"Flag in the Ground" is the second single from Sonata Arctica's album The Days of Grays. The single was only given out to the winner of the Flag in the Ground Fan Art Contest which had prizes of several merchandise of the band for first place and runners-up, second and third. The song reached number 3 on the Finnish record chart.^[1] The melody in this song is sampled from "BlackOut", a song in the Friend 'till the End demo from the band's early years as Tricky Beans.

Singer Tony Kakko commented:

"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."^[2]

Track listing

"Flag in the Ground" (video edit) – 4:10

Personnel

References

^ "Suomen virallinen lista – Singlet (viikko 37/2009)" (in Finnish). YLE. Retrieved 2009-09-10.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Sonata Arctica: New Album Details Revealed". blabbermouth.net. July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-10.

[1] "Suomen virallinen lista – Singlet (viikko 37/2009)" (in Finnish). YLE. Retrieved 2009-09-10.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[blabbermouthrelease-2] "Sonata Arctica: New Album Details Revealed". blabbermouth.net. July 9, 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2009-07-10.

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[2]