THE VISITOR

As with most Arena albums, "Visitor" is somewhat a guilty pleasure. It has all the pompous synth, extended solos, and mystical lyrics of prog from yester-year, and even though the band does very little that hasn't been done before-- they are sure fun to listen to!

"Visitor" features excellent playing and songs throughout, with more monstrous solos and emotive melodies than should be allowed in an hour of music. Although Wrightson's voice is more than a little extravagant (i.e. goofy), it probably won't stop you from singing along. The songs themselves show lost of variety and flow well into each other, building nicely to a grandiose finale which will leave art-rock fans smiling and eager for more.

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4