Band:	Ark
Album:	Burn The Sun
Style:	Heavy metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	2001
Guest review by:	Zhao

01. Heal The Waters
02. Torn
03. Burn The Sun
04. Ressurection
05. Absolute Zero
06. Just A Little
07. Waking Hour
08. Noose
09. Feed The Fire
10. I Bleed
11. Missing You
12. Silent Is The Rain [Japanese bonus]

Burn The Sun is the second and the last album of the progressive metal band Ark before splitting up. The meaning of the name Ark defines this album being a reference to Noah's ark carrying all the species. In a similar manner the band draw inspiration from all types of music and demonstrate this on the album quite well even if not as diversely as on the self-titled debut.

Burn The Sun is a release filled with great songs that instantly catch listeners with their brilliance. Macaluso's drumming which doesn't get drowned by the keyboards and guitars is extremely good and there's no wonder he has worked with so many artists over the years. An example of this is the opening song "Heal The Waters" which, having the incredible voice of Jorn and the insane guitars of Tore, makes one also focus on the good work on the drums.

Another element which is rather persistent is Tore's amazing Spanish style guitar passages. "Just A Little" is a song where he shows the best of him and delivers some pretty "usual" playing while remaining complex. I'm a bit disappointed, however, because it seems like Tore is the only member on the album that doesn't really show off his skills.

Bassist Randy Coven deserves a special mention for being a skilled musician. "Absolute Zero" and "Burn The Sun" are two examples of his good work where the heavy basslines are always in the background and the latter featuring a bass solo.

According to many the most important part of Burn The Sun and the success of the band is Jorn's vocals for he is an incredible singer and his performance on the album is near perfection, sometimes sounding like Dio, Robert Plant and David Cloverdale and sometimes entirely different and strange like Björk or Sting. This amazing range and the emotion he puts in every song enables him to fit the diversity on the album very well.

The lyrics and music are written extremely well, not in a too complex manner, not too blatantly either, creating a perfect balance in all aspects. The lyrics deal with everything from environment and capitalism to love and sorrow and also feature strange messages making it difficult to understand the message at first. The song "Absolute Zero" is a perfect example of this. According to Tore it is about New York being cold and commercial with its business tycoons which the band has escaped from. However, when reading the lyrics, it is about a theoretic end to the universe.

To sum it up, Burn The Sun is a great album where all the musicians shine, nevertheless without outshining each other.