ARC ANGEL is not a new shindig in the field; their debut album was released way back in 1983. However, since then the band hasn't been releasing material out and only recently Jeff Cannata, the man behind ARC ANGEL, patched together the project's second album "Harlequins Of Light".

What is to expect out of this album? A pure vibe of AOR in the same frequency of MAGNUM, and little bit of James Christian. Within there is a well done production with a lot of impact by the keyboards, tingling exactly as the 80s AOR. Nonetheless, after a few songs I stopped feeling any sort of passion, it's not that the songs are bad, but eventually only a few really caught my ears. I expected that the guitar will have a bit more presence, a slight overdrive or rougher distortion on some of the songs.

I wished that more songs would be in the vein of the self-titled, a melodic Hard Rock tune with a bombastic opening, very dynamic, developed from a leap of silence to a rocking edge along with nice melodic keyboards. You can feel the ambiance that the song generates, stronger as it goes on. "As Far As the Eye can See" didn't make me feel any better as the previous one did. The chorus is ok, a tad cheery with a nice work on the background vocals. As for "War", it came as a surprise as I imagined it to be more energetic. In fact,  it is quite a regular song, not something special that I haven't heard before but I must mention the interesting job on the drums.

"Amnesia" is good only because it has some unusual diverse rhythm, which makes it different from the other songs. In a weird way, Jeff Cannata reminded me somewhat of Roger Taylor while singing. "Fortune Teller 2" has some of the old ASIA sense, the verses are weak but the chorus is one of the best on the album, very powerful and melodic, like a strong anthem where you can share the gloat of the vocals. The acoustic songs didn't leave any overwhelming impression, nothing that I can put a finger on. Maybe "Get to You" waked something deep inside. "Diamond and Gold" is also a good track, I could notice that the song is going somewhere and not stuck in one place ready to be buried under the rubble, vibrant, has some inaudible parts, setting a buildup with nice melodic intent in the guitar lines with an eternal lick.

I don't think that the album maintained its potential through the end, the songs are ok as I mentioned above, only a few really pinch me hard. The larger part of the album is nowhere near renewal, and it lacks the desire to carry on the listener. I must mention that Jeff Cannata plays on all instruments here except keyboards, a quality that left a mark.