adg211288 Black is the Colour (2013) is the second album by German power metal act Arven. The band, which is almost entirely female with the exception of drummer Till Felden, made a great impression on me with their debut offering Music of Light (2011), on which they offered up a decidedly non-typical take on the power, folk and symphonic metal genres. In other words I've been quite eager to hear how they'd follow the album up. Black is the Colour features a guest vocal performance from Stefan Schmidt (Van Canto, Heavatar) on the song The One for Me. He also appeared on Music of Light as part of the choir (a role also assumed here) but this time around he gets a duet with Arven’s leading lady Carina Hanselmann.

For their second album Arven have kept all the recognisable elements from Music of Light in place, but they've changed the amounts in which those elements are used during the album. Although power metal tends to crop up a lot over the course of the album's ten tracks Arven are never as speed obsessed as the most pure of artists from the genre, often preferring to take a more mid-paced approach, but still highly melodic yet riff driven. The keyboards played by Lena Yatsula are continually present but aren't used to over-power the guitars although there are definitely some instances where Lena's in the control of the music, particularly the piano led parts like ballad All I Got or when the band go full on symphonic metal, something which is surprisingly rare considering the band is probably most associated with the genre. Still towards the end of the album there's some really powerful symphonic work to be had with Fireside Stories and My Fall.

Elsewhere the folk elements of Arven's music have seen a reduction. Music of Light could easily be considered a folk metal album insomuch as it was a power metal one but on Black is the Colour they're regulated to just a couple of tracks, mostly notably the lively instrumental Cercle d'emeraude. Just like the debut though the band still has progressive twists to the music, particularly during The One for Me. Finally Carina Hanselmann will steal the show with some angelic vocals that never fail to captivate me.

Black is the Colour is an easy release to be completely charmed by but a hard one to get a proper understanding of. There's really no single genre term applicable than you can say fits the album. But that’s really what I like most about Arven’s music. Even with just the two albums under their belt they’ve shown themselves to be unpredictable, and unwilling to be kept in check by traditional genre restraints, leaving the only real unifying factor of their music being their sense for melody. And they certainly have the songs to go with the sound. Much as I loved their debut I think Arven have noticeably improved on the writing front. The album flows extremely well and as such has inspired many repeat listens in me. It’s one of those releases where there’s really not any point singling out any choice tracks, as everything is on the same level. The top level I might add. Black is the Colour is a spectacular release of melodic metal, as well as one of the best releases of the year. What Music of Light hinted was possible, Black is the Colour achieves. The first of what will hopefully be many masterpieces for Arven.

99/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/arven--black-is-the-colour.aspx)