ARION-Life Is Not Beautiful

AFM Records

Well, isn’t that a sad and not so optimistic manner to name your album ‘Life Is Not Beautiful’? It makes you wonder how the Finnish musicians of Arion feel about life. Of course life is not always peaches and cream but at the end of the day it is up to you how you lead your life and whether you see life as a glass that is half full or a glass that is half empty. Anyway, the music on the second album can be described as symphonic metal and heavy rock with the emphasis on melody and variety. Before the official release of this CD the band around guitarist and main composer Livo Kaipanen (guitar) released already three singles of this album including the duet between singer Lassi Vaaranen and Elize Ryd on the track ,,At The Break Of Down’’. Arion delivers a lot of variety on this album (mid-tempo songs, a few ballad type tracks and several up-tempo tunes) but has the tendency to lose it a bit during the fast tracks like ,,The Last Sacrifice’’, ,,Unforgivable’’ and ,,Punish You’’, going a bit over the top there in the instrumental parts, sounding a bit chaotic. So in that department there is still a lot of room for improvement and progress to be made. Still, we can’t deny that a certain talent is without a doubt to be heard on ‘Life Is Not So Beautiful’ as there are several good songs featured on this record. It just needs to be nurtured and further developed. The CD also features three re-recorded version of the first album ‘Last Of Us’, as at that time Arion had a different vocalist.