Hailing from Frankfurt, Germany, Arven is a Symphonic/Epic Power Metal band consisting of 5 beautiful women, and male drummer Till Felden. The other members of the band are, Carina Hanselmann(v), Anastasia Schmit(g), Ines Thome(g), Len Yatsula(keys), and Lisa MarieGeiß (bass). Arven creates their own take on the Symphonic/Power Metal genre with elements of folk added in.

Believe starts off with a guitar melody that catches your attention right away, that blends into Carina's enchanting vocals. Her voice is very strong, and rests between the mezzo-soprano to soprano range. She is very good, and deserves to be mentioned along the upper echelon of female fronted symphonic/power metal vocalist. Fans of bands ranging from Nightwish to Edenbridge or even Stratovarius with find something to like about Believe. Don't Look Back builds upon Believe and adds more technical guitar work, a beautiful melodic guitar solo, and choir-like vocals. Rainsong starts off with Carina's vocals over acoustic piano. The drums join in later, as the song builds into a very folk metal sounding song. Its chorus will either be loved or hated, but definitely fits the song. The One of Me features Stefan Schmidt from Van Canto doing a duet with Carina, and their voices fit perfectly together. All I Got is a beautiful ballad, my only complaint is that it runs a little longer than it should.

My Darkest Dreams starts off with a dark keyboard melody over a heavy guitar groove. Carina's voice like before, soars over everything. This song is probably my favorite on the entire disc, and it contains moments of progressive metal as well. Another folk-infused power metal anthem comes in the instrumental Cercle D'Emeraude. This song really showcases the talents of the musicians involved. In Your Dreams starts with a enchanting acoustic melody with strings accompanying it. This song and the next, Fireside Stories are songs with folk elements, that perfectly fits the style of music that Arven is. My Fall starts of slow and somber, and builds into one epic of a song, clocking in at just under seven minutes long. Featuring tempo changes, the already mentioned strong guitar playing and vocals, if there is ONE Arven song to hear it is this one.

Clocking in at just over fifty minutes, Black is the Colour doesn't over stay its welcome. Its an amazing sophmore effort from a band, that I hope to hear more of. If this review has piqued your interest, please check out their debut cd, Music of Light, also released on Massacre Records. Here is a video of the band in action.