|
Artist
|
Arena |
Review
by
|
Tony De Laender |
 |
|
Album
|
'Immortal?' |
Score
|
Excellent | |
|
Record
Label
|
||||
|
Released
|
1999 |
| To
be quite honest, my expectations for this new Arena album were very
high. Could the excellent concept-album "The Visitor" be
equalled? And would the departure of vocalist Paul Wrightson and bassist
Jon Jowitt leave its mark? Questions that seem miles away, after listening
to Immortal?, because this has to be the best album I've heard so
far, this year. Immortal? opens very strong with the bombastic "Chosen", and from the first sentences Rob Sowden pulls out of his throat, it's obvious that the band found a more than suitable replacement for Paul Wrightson. More so, the difference between both gentlemen is hardly noticeable. What really hits me is that this album is a lot heavier than its predecessor. The second song, "Waiting for the Flood" begins with John Mitchell's acoustic guitar, on which the whole song is built, supported by Clive Nolan's mellotron. "The Butterfly Man" is a typical Arena composition, that is very reminiscent of "The Visitor". The vocals on this one are really breath-taking, and the song breathes such a threatening atmosphere, you'll get goose-bumps just listening to it. This song would fit perfectly on a thriller or horror movie soundtrack. Next is "Ghost in the Firewall", a song that'll have the audience singing along for sure. It has a very strong and catchy chorus, in which Rob Sowden's range really comes into view. "Climbing the Net" has a strong chorus as well, strenghtened even more by the sublime keyboard-run from Clive Nolan that runs through it. The almost twenty minutes long "Moviedrome" begins very threatening, with atmospheric synths, after which the song goes on in typical, bombastic Arena style. With its long instrumental passages, the song gives plenty of room to both John Mitchell and Clive Nolan to fully do their thing. My favorite part in this song is that where all the instruments mute, except for Nolan's Hammond, after which we get the alternating synth/guitar/synth solo's, followed by a fantastic piano and vocal intermezzo, which in turn is followed by two of the most emotion-laden guitarsolo's I've ever heard Mitchell play. This last part reminds me a lot of "The Hanging Tree", a song from "The Visitor". Closing this fantastic album is the acoustic "Friday's Dream". Bottom
line: With Immortal? Arena have again delivered a masterpiece. There's
not one single weak song on the album, the production by Clive Nolan
and Simon Hanhart is excellent as usual and both newcomers have
proven to be worthy members of the band. |
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