Black is the Colour is the second album from Germany's Arven, a band comprised almost entirely of women (the lone exception being drummer Till Felden), making them somewhat unique in the world of Heavy Metal. Arven play a straightforward style of Symphonic Metal that takes its cues directly from Nightwish and the numerous bands the Finnish legends inspired like After Forever, Edenbridge and Epica. Lead vocalist Carina Hanselmann has a beautiful soprano and the rest of the band shows they know their way around their respective instruments. Black is the Colour kicks off in style with the catchy, double-kick song "Believe," one of the better album openers I've heard in a while. Other tracks, like "Rainsong" and "All I Got" have they type of sing-a-long choruses that are the product of some crafty songwriting. "Cercle D Emeraude" adds a Folk vibe to Arven's arsenal with some well-placed violins and flutes, which really spice up this instrumental. Where Arven and Black is the Colour stumble a bit is in the originality department. Most of the songs sound like they could easily be from any number of other bands playing this style and there's nothing that really screams "this is Arven." I have to admit, that's a pretty small point considering the high quality of the production, songwriting and performances on this sophomore effort. Black is the Colour shows Arven starting to really hit stride and bodes well for the future.