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Life Is Not Beautiful is the second album from Finland's Arion. I haven't heard the debut but after listening to this one, I probably should. Finland has its own style of power metal, one that captures the icy coldness of that country's long, dark winters with crisp riffing and crystalline keyboard melodies. Arion have a dark tone running through their lyrics, there's nothing flowery or fantastical here. The singer has a strong delivery that makes up for a somewhat thin voice and he does a lot with the gifts he was given. The rest of the band is tight and smooth, table-stakes if you're going to play power metal. Arion brings the goods with the songwriting as well and the choruses on tracks like "At the Break of Dawn" (featuring Amaranthe's Elize Ryd), "Unforgivable" and "Life Is Not Beautiful" will have you singing along instantaneously. They even do well with ballads and both "The Last Sacrifice" and "Last One Falls" convey somber emotion without becoming cloying, not to mention they possess beautiful melodies. Life Is Not Beautiful is a wonderful slice of power metal that reminds me a lot of bands like Serenity. This is a group whose bandwagon power metal fans need to start jumping on now.