Female fronted Melodic Hard Rock is what you can hear on this release of a band called ARSENAL. As much as I must admit that I love female fronted bands, I can not give this a recommendation, because most of the 10 included songs of this only (?) CD from ARSENAL are just not strong enough as songs from similar acts such as LAOS, WITNESS, HEAT...

Opener "Turn around" is a nice uptempo melodic rocker along the lines of old VIXEN, HEART... The production and sound is pretty good, but the chorus is not even half as good as mentioned acts. Besides, the music is a bit heavier with guitars being pushed up front. A good example is the song "Armored choir" which is not really easy to listen to.

On the other hand, you don't have to avoid the whole album, because still there are a few songs that will please the fan of female fronted melodic rock. For example track number 3 "Someone believes in you" has a fantastic classic AOR chorus that is up there with WITNESS, HEART... If the whole CD would have such fantastic choruses, then it would be a really superb album. But it's not, in fact we have to wait until the end of the CD before we hear some more melodic rockers that sound above the average material of songs like "The valley" and "You're no good for me".

The last couple of tracks keep the points a bit higher than I intended to give. "Take it away" is nice uptempo melodic rock that could have been on the classic release of ENVY (Remember them?). "Bishop of souls" is also nice uptempo melodic hard rock with some AOR influences during the melodic chorus. Closing track "The candle...the flame" is  a good AOR Ballad in the ALLISON style.

Concluded not bad all the way, but ARSENAL definitely is NOT a sensational band. You can avoid it if you're looking for a good release. If you're into collecting every female fronted melodic rockband, then you can easily buy this. But don't expect the quality of a HEAT or WITNESS.

You can get a copy of the CD if you contact Robert Pancur from TARGET RECORDS at the following e-mail address: Pancur@pfaffenwinkel.de , I think he can help you getting a copy on CD probably.
 

(Points: 8.0 out of 10)