Arion’s newest album Life Is Not Beautiful which released on October 19, 2018 is for fans of Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, Rhapsody of Fire, and even the early days of Kamelot - the Fourth Legacy, Karma, those albums. It’s an album I’ve been looking forward to since their last album, The Last Of Us, came out, as that album crushed.
These guys are in their early twenties, doing it big - they started the band out when they were in high school. And they just kill it if you haven’t heard them yet. Most notably of late, their singles - this album has five singles on a nine track album. I really like what they’ve done with this - they wanted to keep the fans entertained, to let them no this band hasn’t pulled a Necrophagist and gone off the grid for no reason whatsoever.
Some of my favorite songs off this new album include the title track “Life Is Not Beautiful” and the final song on the album “Last One Falls“, as well as the singles “Unforgivable“, “At the Break of Dawn“, and “No One Stands In My Way“, and the latest single they’ve recently put out called “Punish You“, which is probably the heaviest song on the album (if not that, then the title track).
Also of note is the very melodic, melancholy ballad called “Through Your Falling Tears” which is a very moving song for those that do like power metal ballads. That’s another thing about this band: bands like Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius and Kamelot were champs at putting out some of the most catchy, soulful ballads of any band out there. So, kudos to Arion for bringing that bacl. I’m not much of a ballad person; for me that was more the output of the hair bands of previous times. But they’ve added a new flair, so kudos to Arion from bringing that back and making me love ballads again!
Getting back to the album - the album cover is very interesting. Fans of this band would know the previous album, “The Last Of Us”, actually had the same character on the cover: this guy with a pole or stick with a lantern hanging on it, looking lost and distraught as if on a journey to find new civilization. I don’t know… I like to depict certain stories from album covers wondering what does this mean? Is this album a concept album; is there a story behind this? So we find this same character walking up what appears to be a hillside carrying the same lantern that he or she had on the previous album cover. That’s pretty cool that they’re bringing this same character back in on the new album - it’s almost like this character is going through what the songs are portraying in the background.
Speaking of the songs and what they mean - whether they form a concept album or can be interpreted into our daily life: songs like “Punish You” which talk about being betrayed, the hardships of live, and how life comes back to punish you - like karma working her magic. This is contrasted by the positive vibes of “At The Break Of Dawn” and “Unforgivable”, focusing on how we are treating the planet earth as our home.
A song like “No One Stands In My Way”; you’re getting off from a bad day of work, you’ve gotta come back the next day and you just don’t want to be fucked with. When this song came out I was having a bad day at work, turned this song on to listen to, and everything seemed better - it seemed like I was invincible. That is the anthemia song on this album.
So, for those who are into power metal, especially bands like Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot… even going into underground territory such as Nocturnal Rites and Heavenly, this is the band for you. This band is bringing power metal back from the catacombs with the keyboard solos, off-beat fast-paced melodies, crazy neo-classical riffs, and the thematic concepts of power metal.
Please: do yourself a favor and pick this album up. Don’t be a cheapskate and just stream it on Spotify because this band deserves more than just three cents per play.