ARSYNAL – The Genesis/Millennium (Album Review)

ARSYNAL - The Genesis/Millennium (Album Review)
Arsynal from the Genesis era. Picture courtesy of Lost Realm Records ARSYNAL – The Genesis/Millennium

I would guess not many of you are familiar with Las Vegas mid-1980s to early 1990s outfit Arsynal. For the uninitiated, this is one treasure trove that Portuguese label Lost Realm Records have been able to dig up! The new release covers both Arsynal‘s albums (The Genesis) which has only been released 1988 on cassette before and the unreleased 1992 album called Millennium.

Arsynal was formed in 1985 in Las Vegas, Nevada, US and it seems the band has been a secret kept and stowed away in the Nevada desert for too long. With a musical talent and prowess exceeding many of their pears Arsynal started to make a name for themselves in the late 1980s building a strong local following based on a show full of stage antics and strong melodic hard rock songs. The city that never sleeps and indulges into the fast and furious lifestyle and the game of chance now had its own worthy representative on the hard rock scene. These Las Vegas bad boys opened up shows for more known and reputable international acts like Dokken and Black N Blue.

In an attempt to shoot for the stars Arsynal would later relocate to L.A and Hollywood but retain their brand of hard-edged hard rock. The band was centred around guitar slinger Paul Montgomery which also is the constant mainstay in the band throughout its run and he was also the main songwriter in the band. He was joined by lead vocalist Tony Paris, bass player Mark Delosh and drummer Doug Smith. Before relocating to L.A. they recorded their debut album called The Genesis at Son Song Studio in Las Vegas. It really started in 1987 with the 7” single ”Mean Line” b/w You think it’s Luv” both of which were later included in The Genesis album.

THE GENESIS

ARSYNAL - The Genesis/Millennium (Album Review)The Genesis is a huge punch in your face with high quality and high octane 80s hard rock bordering on metal at times. It comes across as to me as a mixture of Lillian Axe meets Dokken meets Slaughter. Well, I think you get the picture of what we are dealing with here. The songs are well written with a strong melodic feel and the hook/chorus is never too far away hitting the unprepared listener right in the face when he is least expecting it. Being a compulsory buyer of archive releases in this genre I can often hear why a band never got that elusive record deal. Something is missing. This is not the case with Arsynal and why they never got the chance back in the day to release their music beats me.

The Genesis contains only eight songs but the quality is really high with no real or obvious weak spots. You get highs as the pulsating and infectious ”You think it’s Luv”, the epic ”Another Chapter of Love” and the memorable and more mellow ”Without Your Love”. The production suffers a little bit being an indie recording from the late 1980s but it is never really a problem. The album rounds off with the hard-driving uptempo song ”Passion Lady”.

MILLENNIUM

ARSYNAL - The Genesis/Millennium (Album Review)Ok, let’s move on to Millennium. Changes in the band had been dramatic and only Montogmery remains. We turn the clock forward to 1992 and the new singer is Mark Stewart and the new drummer is Mark Svoboda. Arsynal was attacking the LA music scene trying to break through and ”make it”. Mark was later the lead singer on the Thrust album Invitation to Insanity.

Now it gets really interesting because Millennium is another step up the ladder when it comes to songwriting, production and overall quality. Stewart sounds like a dead ringer for Ron Taylor of Lillian Axe fame. It’s not only the songs and the vocalist that reminds me heavily of Lillian Axe. You also get song titles like ”True Believer”. This really is the album Lillian Axe could have released after Love and War. Saying this you get the idea of the sheer quality of this unheard and unreleased album. It must be really rare for a reissue label to come across unreleased material like this. Montgomery‘s guitar playing is world-class with nice licks and riffs stapled upon each other.

On the cover Lost Realm Records describes the process of getting these two albums out as – ”We tried, tried and tried, and tried a little more until we could find a contact that could help us make this dream come true”. I am glad the guys at the label were persistent because it paid off.

Arsenyl as a trio. Millennium line up. Picture courtesy of Lost Realm Records,

Highlights of this 12 track album include opener and title track ”Millennium”, ”Not Innocent”,Love Ain’t No Crime”,True Believer” and the heartfelt ballad ”Riding On”. The overall quality is just really high so there are no fillers on this one.

All in all, this is a reissue not to be missed for fans of Hericane Alice, Lillian Axe, Dokken or Slaughter. You won’t find better and finer archive releases around! Lost Realm Records offer a nice packaging as always with lyrics reprinted, a short band wiki and never before seen photos. The catch is that it is limited to 300 copies worldwide. It says a lot about the state of the music biz that a high octane, high-level release like this gets that kind of limitation on copies available. Run for it and pick up your copy before they’re gone.

I would rate these releases as the following. The Genesis 7/10 beers and Millennium 9/10 beers. I think it might be a while before I can lay my hands on an archive release of this high quality.

Mikael Svensson

BUY: ARSYNAL

Lost Realm Records: OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK

Also, find more of my CGCM reviews here: Mikael Svensson

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