Artist: Arven
Album: Black Is The Colour
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Release Date: 23rd August 2013
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
ARVEN is a female led symphonic metal band from Germany that follows in the steps of groups like LEAVES EYES and CRYSTAL VIPER. While have not introduced anything new with their musical capabilities to the genre of female fronted music, they definitely hold their own with their guitar led music. 'Black Is The Colour' is their second full length effort and kicks off with some driving riffs that definitely show the band's heavier side. Vocalist Carina has a soft voice that definitely suits the symphonic side of the genre and stays strong through the “louder” sections of the tracks rather than gets swept away. The instrumentation between the first two tracks pretty much stays the same- guitar driven music with backing choirs to add more symphonic elements of the music, very similar to MORTEMIA or SIRENIA without the male growls. Other tracks like ‘In Your Dreams’ are much softer but ARVEN tend to stay away from the typical “ballad” track that includes all piano, acoustic guitar, violin, or some other classical instrument and always try to focus on heavier sounds to keep the music as “pleasantly metal” as possible.
As the album progresses, the group adds more varied symphonic elements to keep things interesting rather than fall into monotony. ‘The One For Me’ features excellent piano and male guest vocals from Stefan Schmidt of VAN CANTO and between his vocals and Carina's the two play off each other nicely- future duet work from the two would be a good idea. ‘Cercle dÉmeraude’ features violin and definitely has more of a folk sound to it- this is probably the most entertaining track on the album. For those lucky enough to get the limited edition copy, listeners will get a surprising look at the softer side of ARVEN. ‘Black Is The Colour’ and ‘Ride On’ are the only tracks that are absent of any electric guitar- instead it features softer passages mixed with piano and acoustic guitar. Due to the fact that these are both Irish covers, the softer touch is definitely to ARVEN'S advantage. As a result, this album will definitely appeal to both fans of soft and heavy symphonic metal- it may not be as impacting as their debut album, but certainly isn't bad either.
Tracklist
01. Believe 4:11
02. Don't Look Back 4:40
03. Rainsong 4:25
04. The One for Me 6:28
05. All I Got 6:35
06. My Darkest Dream 4:52
07. Cercle d'Emeraude 4:23
08. In Your Dreams 5:18
09. Fireside Stories 4:09
10. My Fall 6:48
Line-up
Lisa Geiß - Bass
Anastasia Schmidt - Guitars
Carina Hanselmann - Vocals
Lena Yatsula - Keyboards
Ines Thomé - Guitars
Till Felden - Drums
Website
http://www.arvenmusic.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Sound: 6
Music: 6
Total: 6 / 10
