{"id":14415,"date":"2013-08-23T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=14415"},"modified":"2013-09-24T09:35:26","modified_gmt":"2013-09-24T09:35:26","slug":"album-review-arc-angel-harlequins-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-arc-angel-harlequins-of-light\/","title":{"rendered":"ARC ANGEL – Harlequins Of Light (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARC ANGEL
Harlequins Of Light<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Nothing beats the luxurious arrangements of 80s hard rock bands such as House Of Lords, so it\u2019s no surprise that Connecticut\u2019s Arc Angel are such a heart warming experience. For those who don\u2019t know their 80s melodic rock, Arc Angel are fronted by Jeff Cannata who was responsible for the melodic airs of the band\u2019s 1983 self-titled opus, as well as putting together 70s progressive rock band Jasper Wraith, who were later fronted by House Of Lords vocalist James Christian.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are many who may not have known that Cannata soldiered on through the grunge-infested 90s and 00s, bringing us up to date with the lavish construction of Harlequins Of Light<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Accompanying multi-instrumentalist Cannata on this road of plushness is bass guitarist Scott Spray, pianist Jeff Batter, acoustic guitarist David Coe, and a handful of other experienced musicians. The end product, as I expected, is another of those wondrous displays of AOR.<\/p>\n

Harlequins Of Light<\/em> opens with the striking, striding pomp of the title track, which drifts into the room on a spray of synths and piano, before slowly building into the sort of track you imagine would\u2019ve been aired on MTV<\/em> all those years ago during the hair metal heyday. However, it would be almost cheap talk to class this record as hair metal, because it\u2019s so much more accomplished than the fleeting pout from the 80s \u2013 Cannata\u2019s voice is warm, sultry and effortless in its soul as the synths tinker like a waterfall in the background, before building up to that infectious powerhouse of a chorus. <\/p>\n

\u2018As Far As The Eye Can See\u2019 is another of those made-for-radio rockers that evokes images of distant city lights, Cannata speaking of lands of myth and promise as he motions, \u201cSailing ships through time and space, with plans to build a master race\u201d<\/em> over those oh so subtle arrangements, leading us to a jaunty chorus which has been created with sprightly aplomb. <\/p>\n

\u2018War (Battle Wounds Of Life)\u2019 is overtly more majestic yet pensive in its outlook, as Jeff questions, \u201cIs there ever a reason for war? There\u2019s a deafening silence when you look all around for a reason\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s a track so epic and stirring, wrenched from the 80s and yet so sincere and heart-churning in its lyrical content. <\/p>\n

Other album treats are the plodding splendour of \u2018Voice Of Illuminati\u2019, which is simply way too clever to be deemed mere melodic rock; it boasts luxurious arrangements and an ever-present piano as the guitars wind themselves throughout. \u2018Through The Night\u2019 was made for stadiums with its aching melodies, while \u2018Fortune Teller 2\u2019 is a reworking of the old nugget \u2018Fortune Teller\u2019 from Cannata\u2019s 1988 Images Of Forever<\/em> opus. <\/p>\n

The strangest images I get when hearing this gorgeous record is if Paul McCartney formed a melodic rock outfit, then maybe it would sound like this! I\u2019m unsure why McCartney, circa Wings, comes to mind here, but the likes of \u2018Tonight… Forever\u2019 and the acoustic sway of \u2018Get To You\u2019 are so joyous. <\/p>\n

A lot of those rock \u2019n\u2019 roll family trees are often lost on me, maybe due to the fact that there are so many quality musicians around which have spawned from their 80s rock associations that I just can\u2019t keep up. When such gems as Harlequins Of Light<\/em> slip my way though, I feel all the better for it. Arc Angel is a magnificent melodic rock creation that can effortlessly churn out such golden greats as \u2018Diamonds And Gold\u2019 and the storytelling magic of the \u2018Legend Of The Mary Celeste\u2019, which adds an esoteric quality to proceedings. This is a clever album that bridges the gap between progressive rock and flaky 80s harmony.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARC ANGELHarlequins Of Light Frontiers (2013)Rating: 8\/10 Nothing beats the luxurious arrangements of 80s hard rock bands such as House Of Lords, so it\u2019s no surprise that Connecticut\u2019s Arc Angel are such a heart warming experience. For those who don\u2019t know their 80s melodic rock, Arc Angel are fronted by Jeff Cannata who was responsible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-arc-angel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14415"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14421,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14415\/revisions\/14421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}