IMMORTAL?

Immortal? is again a wonderfull Arena album. I expected a lot from this album, having heard their previous work. And Immortal was everything I hoped for. Immortal sees a continuation of the Arena style, a bit more heavy than The Visitor, sometimes leaning towards prog-metal. Again there is a new vocalist, Rob Sowden gets the difficult task to replace Paul Wrightson, and Ian Salmon replaces John Jowitt. both do a good job, and add to the sound of the band, thoug I still prefer Paul Wrightson on vocals.

Immortal begins very heavy, with the bombastic Chosen, which set the tone for a dark melodic album, with some very good keyboards and guitar play. Waiting For The Flood is a more relaxed accoustic guitar track with compelling vocals, and scintillating keyboards. The butterfly man, a great heavy piece with dark undertones with some formidable guitarplay by John Mitchell. Ghost In The Firewall is again a dark sinister piece, with a strong chorus. Climbing The Net starts in a typical symphonic Arena manner, with catchy hooks and sublime keyboard runs by Clive Nolan.

Moviedrome, the epic 20 minute song, sees Arena in all it's potential and greatness. starting with threatning atmospheric synts, after which bombastics take over. several tempo and mood changes, with long heavy instrumental passages giving Nolan and Mitchell a place to work their magic. A brilliant song and the piece de resistance for this album. very catchy and heavy especially towards the end. the best part is at 14:40 when the hammond gets into gear, and Mitchell and Nolan play some great solo's. After this bombastic epic the album closes with the accoustic Friday's dream, which allows us to breath again.

I've stated this before, but Arena is the best band I know, and this album is really fantastic. I only rate this album 4 stars, for in comparison with it's predesessors it's not as good. If it was a different band I wouldn't hesitate to award it with the full five stars. Highly recommended. A superb piece of art. Take a leap of faith if you want to find out.