Arion â The Light that Burns the Sky Review
By El Cuervo
One of the multitude of European power metal bands flying relatively low to the ground, Finlandâs Arion (pronounced like Orion or carrion?) have seen coverage just once previously at AngryMetalGuy.com. The late, great Huck nâ Roll1 opined that their third record was competent but generic, seeking hits rather than their own sound. 2025 has arrived, and with it comes a successor release entitled The Light that Burns the Sky. Pitched as a âhighly anticipated symphonic masterpiece,â and with a growing well of experience underpinning the band, I set appropriate expectations as I hit play.
Arionâs strongest quality is a legitimate chunkiness they boast in the face of Europower competitors that I usually find saccharine. Their compositions are appropriately maximalist, with reasonably dense layers of metal instrumentation fused with strings and faux choirs. But the songwriting and production generally elevate the impact of the guitars and drums in the mix above the symphonic elements; in particular, the guitars and drums benefit from a robust, battering tone while subjugating the keyboard elements. Likewise, the vocalist is sufficiently acrobatic to hit the necessary notes but prioritizes a gritty, shouting personality above a wailing vibrato. Finally, The Light that Burns moves at a quick pace, which, when paired with the compositions, coalesces into a sound thatâs pretty heavy for power metal. The title track is an early highlight and exemplifies the qualities described above. Its speed and heft sounds something like Symphony X, with an appreciable brevity resulting in a song that passes instantaneously.
However, I find that The Light that Burns struggles to keep itself fresh. Despite its beefier-than-most style, the album becomes more repetitive and generic by side B. It contains ten proper songs (not including the short opener), and they all sound fairly similar. I find that my initial enthusiasm only persists for the first few songs; beyond this, the spark is extinguished. For example, âBlasphemous Paradiseâ is a pale imitation of the title track as it features stylistically similar but less enjoyable melodies. I query the purpose of songs that are simply lesser renditions of others. And the further into the album ventured, the more I struggled to maintain my focus; I was hard pressed to write any notes at all about the penultimate track called âIn the Heart of the Sea.â Iâll happily listen to some bands doing the same thing ten times over, but only where they produce great music. By contrast, Arion merely produce serviceable music.
Where Arion attempt to generate the quality through variety I find myself craving, they still donât quite achieve this. âWings of Twilightâ uses a female vocalist in its chorus who offers an ear-catching change of tone, but sheâs ultimately less effective because her style is more generic than the main vocalist. This song also leans more heavily into synths. These two factors contribute to the song diluting the bandâs personality and heaviness. Likewise, the closer runs for longer in an effort to reach something more epic. But what this practically entails is nearly two minutes of a repetitive introduction, extending what should be a sub-five-minute song to one that approaches seven minutes. By contrast, and despite my general enjoyment of the heavier songs here, a mid-album ballad might have worked better to refresh the sound of The Light that Burns for its second half.
There are substantial strengths in the core sound of The Light that Burns, and there are a couple of strong songs, but Arion are just not compelling enough to warrant anything more than a neutral award. While I admire the trend towards heavier material, the songs are insufficiently distinct to carry a 45-minute album. And though this release may not be quite as generic as the last, my overall summary can still go no further than âcompetentâ.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Reigning Phoenix Music
Websites: arion.com | facebook.com/arion
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025
#25 #2025 #Arion #Feb25 #FinnishMetal #Review #Reviews #SymphonicPowerMetal #SymphonyX #TheLightThatBurnsTheSky
~meoralis~
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