IMMORTAL?

My days of spitting smelly flems over neo-prog is finally over. I just can't believe that I'm actually saying that I do enjoy (a lot) this kind of music. 'But don't be fooled!' an inner voice said. 'Maybe this is a sub-type of neo-prog'. Hmm. So anyway, I checked.

Yep, Arena is different. Almost a style on thier own. It does not sound like the flat Pendragon or the ever tranquil Marillion. We have tremors, we have vocal emotion and also very good writing expressed in catchy keys lines and heavy bass/guitar riffs.

After listening to the superb mini-moog solo in 'Waiting for the Flood' (that sounds like a new Trespass form Genesis), I was really intringued. This record needs a chance. Give it and check after...this is no ordinary stuff. The energy inside 'Chosen', the fairy/pixie grace of 'Waiting for the Flood', the anxious and nervous 'Butterfly Man', the tragic 'Ghost in the Firewall' and 'Moviedrome' as a piece de resistance...do not misjudge the record.

We are officialy far away from the standards of néoprog. Since 1996, Arena quickly exploited the apocalyptic and almost perpetual sorrow of their personnality. And Arena is setting the new standards. Anything under this quality is simply boring or tacky.

Like Contagion, the record is rather negative facing the future. Earth's degradation, environnement fading into a waste disposal site, people always growing towards madness and cruelty, lack of honesty and love....the list goes on. As Fish-era Marillion spoke of self depreciation, divorce and drug slavery, this one fuels up on bone chilling tv news and environnemental catastrophical status checks.

The end of the world has come?

Anxiety spoke in troubled times plus a negative sight for the future...but a REALISTIC one.