BURN THE SUN

ARK was somewhat of a super metal group that lived for a small period of time in the late ´90 and part of the eraly ´00, where we have five of the most virtuoso players the genre can deliver... having said that I must make a second clarification: this might be virtuoso playing... but there are no "virtuoso compositions", sad but true, the songwriting in this album is nothing worth mentioning, not at least in a genre that has monsters of composition like Michael Akerfeld and Daniel Gildenlöw amongs others. Yes, sure they can play, boy can they play!, but that can get you only so far, at the end of the day I WANT GOOD COMPOSITIONS. But, now, I´m being too drastic, I have said earlier that if we take this from a Power metal perspective, it´s a rather good album, so there must be something good here, right? But I am not a Power metal fan, and this is not a Power metal site, it´s a Prog site, and keeping that in mind I don´t see why this album should be so highly rated.

Guitarist Tore Østby has quite a personal touch and way of playing, which is always welcomed, specially in a genre like Power metal, where innovation is not frequently the most used word. But... yet... still... I don´t like his playing that much and I feel like he has no real composition skills. But hey, that´s just me! Singer Jorn Lande is one talented fucker, I know many metal singers would kill for his tone and technique, but he is not equality talented when it comes to the writing process. Songs like Missing you and Feed the fire confirm that... that´s down right Whitesnake... in their bad days. Yet, lyrics aside, great voice, although I like him more in the first Beyond Twilight album, as I think a heavier band fits his voice better. Drummer John Macaluso is probalby my favorite musician here, an underrated drummer that has a great way of playing where he combines power with texture and originality. The bassist and keyboarder are also very good, but the band are this three gentlemen.

So, great musicianship and talent... shouldn´t this be one of the top metal bands ever? Well, I guess this just goes to show that virtuosism does not equal great music. But, still, keep in mind that if you are into this kind of music you will find something to love here for sure.

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