Arion

Finland’s newest melodic metal sensation ARION came out from the woodwork and dropped on the scene like a bomb. Comprised of a trio of 17 and 18 year old music students from Sibelius Lukio and their equally accomplished muso friends, ARION wrote their debut song “Lost” – a versatile piece of symphonic melodic metal – in the summer of 2012, entered it to the Eurovision song contest’s Finnish qualification and found themselves in the nationally televised qualification rounds. After 3 televised performances, ARION‘s song sensationally wound up 5th among 540 songs and got nationwide applause and airplay.

Soon enough in May 2013 ARION signed with Ranka Kustannus, the label owned by Riku Pääkkönen, previously of Spinefarm fame and the foundation for success stories such as Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica etc.). A month later ARION already entered the studio to record their debut EP “New Dawn”, which subsequently got released in November to rave reviews.

The tracking of ARION‘s debut album started in October 2013 and eventually took six months. An unbroken string of melodic metal jewels, “Last Of Us” is laden with nothing but songs to die for and laced with nimble musicianship, bombastic arrangements and orchestrations & choirs, intelligent lyrics (guided and co-authored by Jani Liimatainen) and some of the most impressive vocal work you will ever hear from a 18-year old greenhorn. Whatever your particular poison is; be it a race car fast double bass pedal assault, a heartfelt ballad, catchy choruses or grandiose symphonic bliss, it’s all there on “Last Of Us”. All masterfully realised and honed to perfection under the tutelage and surveillance of producer Matias Kupiainen (Stratovarius).

In august 2015 the band announced that the singer Viljami Holopainen will no longer stay as a member of ARION. ARION and Viljami separated their ways with no hard feelings or any fighting, as a result of Viljami’s own desire. 28 of August the band announced their new singer called Lassi Vääränen. Half a year later(11th of March 2016) ARION released their first single from the second album called “At the Break Of Dawn”. Being the first ARION song with Lassi’s Vocals and featuring the world renowned metal goddess Elize Ryd (Amaranthe), the song turned out to be ARION’s biggest success so far, getting massive amounts plays on Finland’s rock music station Radio Rock, streaming over one million times on Spotify in just 9 months and being listed multiple times as one of the best rock songs of 2016, ARION’s second album is already one of the most anticipated things of the year 2017 among Melodic, Symphonic and Power Metal fans.

After three more powerhouse singles; the thought-provoking “Unforgivable”, the heartrending ballad “Through Your Falling Tears” and the clarion call “No One Stands In My Way”, scattered through the next 2,5 years bring us now to the brink of release of ARION’s sophomore album “Life Is Not Beautiful”. And as potent the singles quadrilogy is, “Life Is Not Beautiful” is much more than a hit singles compilation. No, we would venture to claim that songs such as the in-your-face “Punish You” and the bombastic, melodic bullet train of “The Last Sacrifice”, lest we forget the album’s closing statement “Life Is Not Beautiful”, will squish some rivaling songwriters’ self-confidence for years to come…

Crafted every bit as meticulously as its predecessor, “Life Is Not Beautiful” is ARION’s declaration of independence. On their debut largely guided by their kind colleagues Matias Kupiainen (Stratovarius) and Jani Liimatainen (The Dark Element, Cain’s Offering), ARION now proudly demonstrate the next level in their musical progress and band leader Iivo Kaipainen’s newly found lyrical prowess.

World of metal beware! ARION are not the curiosity of a band of green-horned teenager prodigies anymore. Having faced just the right amount of adversity to gel as a band and improved in leaps and bounds, ARION are not just able – they’re ready and raring to go!