Band:	Arrow Haze
Album:	Music Factory
Style:	Hard rock
Release date:	November 23, 2012
A review by:	Ivor

01. Casino
02. Memories
03. Visions
04. Dreams
05. Lost
06. Perfectly Ordinary
07. Confirm The Message
08. Along The Way
09. Elly Kedward
10. Music Factory
11. Stranger Tides
12. Routine
13. Crisis

As an afterthought to the recently closed Metal Storm Awards I thought I'd write down a small story regarding one nomination that, if you look at cold, hard numbers, didn't do all too well. Twenty votes for it - it is not what you might call a success. Or is it? Let's take a look at what we actually have on our hands.

Arrow Haze joined the game rather late in the year. While I'm somewhat unclear on details, I do know that at one point I was browsing the width and depth of the internet for something interesting to listen to. I came across a random blog entry titled Arrow Haze and read its genre tag. Hard rock. For some reason I paused, opened a new tab to search for a preview and ended up on the band's YouTube channel which showcased a couple of songs. I'm going to go with my gut feeling rather than memory and say it was (what a curious coincidence) "Memories" that happened to catch my attention.

What I heard was a kind of hard rock that didn't sound particularly ordinary. What I mean is that it wasn't an oh-it's-hard-rock ordinary kind of music. I'd have moved on then without a second thought. What I heard was a modern rock production, an easy-going mainstream nature, and vocals that, as Ag Fox later put, sounded too indie. Whatever that means. Point being, this young Belgian band had a great sound, good melodies and lyrical insight that demanded a proper listen. It seemed like they knew what they were doing.

While listening to the album I was trying to understand whether I liked the album enough. Some of the more fast-paced songs drew me in, then more ballad-oriented tunes brought me out of it. Up and down, in and out. The songs that won me over, though, were "Routine" and "Crisis." They had some kind of an unforgettable character, especially the latter. Spinning the album again while writing this review makes me think the band could have focused more on this direction rather than on ballads. It would have definitely won my affection faster.

Anyway, a couple of weeks later my joy was shared to some extent by the staff and the album ended up nominated in hard rock category. As I said I'm somewhat unclear on details but it appears Music Factory has some proper feeling to it to stand out among the rest. And whether they swept the category or got a handful of votes is rather irrelevant. Fact is, they did get some votes; they didn't even come in last which means some of you out there also liked it. A band that goes this far in three months of their début has a pretty high potential, don't you think?