If Finland is known for one thing other than breath-taking scenery, it’s producing quality melodic metal bands, and one of the very best of the modern wave has to be Helsinki’s Arion. Out of nowhere, they skyrocketed into the public eye as teenagers in 2013 when they won fifth place in the Finnish qualifications for the Eurovision Song Contest for their tune ‘Lost’, taken from their debut EP ‘New Dawn’. A year later, they produced ‘The Last Of Us’, but things really got cooking four years later when they inked a deal with the venerable AFM Records and unleashed ‘Life Is Not Beautiful’, a wonderful collection of symphonic power metal with a touch of hard rock that came across like modern day Stratovarius mixed with Kissin’ Dynamite. Since then, they’ve released a much darker, more groove-orientated record in 2021’s ‘Vultures Die Alone’, and with tours with bands like Dream Theater, Sonata Arctica, Battle Beast, and Gloryhammer under their belts, they saw their stock rise considerably. Now back with a pair of new singles, the first, ‘Wings Of Twilight’, featuring Ad Infinitum’s Melissa Bonny, and their latest in ‘Wildfire’, it looks like the frozen Finns have a new album on the way.
‘Wildfire’ was written by guitarist Iivo Kaipainen and was produced by Strato axe-slinger Matias Kupiainen. Says livo about the new track: “’Wildfire’: the first song I wrote for the new album is also one of my favorites from the new album. The frighteningly infectious main riff with an equally catchy chorus, which is what everybody listening to the song points out, are the building blocks for a song that’s as metal as metal can be. ‘Wildfire’ made its live debut at the world-renowned 70 000 tons of metal cruise proving to be exactly the most fun and the most insane live song we can think of!”
You can stream the track here: https://arion.bfan.link/wildfire
In the meantime, check out the video for ‘Wings Of Twilight’ and say hello to your new favourite symphonic metal band: