ARENA

I can only comment on the music this ASIA Arena delivers. Actually, I like this band especially the first three albums. After that, I did not follow closely with their development unless I purchased the live albums because there were many old tracks being performed.

The opening track "Into The Arena" is an instrumental track with excellent guitar work while the rhythm section is percussion-based, it reminds me to the music of Santana. "Arena" starts with an ambient keyboard work which reminds me to first album of Asia. The music moves into upbeat style with a pop-rock music where the rhythm section is dominated by percussion. The music flows like Toto band. It's not a bad song at all, in fact it can be enjoyed by most people because it's simple and easy to digest. The melody is also good. "Heaven" intro lends the style of Pink Floyd "Another Break In The Wall" especially the guitar rhythm and the keyboard. But the following music is something like Toto music - a pure pop rock song.

"Two Sides of The Moon" combines the pop rock music like Steely Dan with reggae at the end part of the song. "The Day of The War" is another light rock music with interesting part at the end of the song where keyboard performs its solo in a bit symphonic style. This is probably the most progressive track of this album. "Never" starts with keyboard work that reminds me to the style of debut album. But when the music and vocal enter it's basically another light rock song in the vein of Toto. "Falling" is a good track with keyboard style similar to Supertramp music. "Words" has powerful opening which brings the nuance into symphonic style followed with acoustic guitar rhythm section.

Looking at the duration, "You Bring Me Down" should be something with prog touch and I am very close with this because it's I think the best track from this album. The opening part reminds me to the dynamic composition of legendary music using organ / keyboard as main instrument. The vocal enters the music beautifully and the music flows nicely from one segment to another maintaining organ work represents the main rhythm section. The guitar solo that starts at approx 4:55 is stunning and it makes the song is very interesting and enjoyable.

"Tell Me Why", "Turn It Around", "Bella Nova", and "That Season" are all good tracks that conclude this album. Well, when I say "good" it does not mean a prog music because almost all music featured here are basically easy listening pop rock with little complexities or, in fact, no complexities at all.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW