DOUBLE VISION

In 2015, I reviewed The Unquiet Sky as a welcome return to form by this venerable neo outfit, certainly compared to the disappointing predecessor album.

I am glad to say that Double Vision takes this to a higher level still. It is a deeply impressive album, and I will say immediately that this is the album where every Arena fan will look back in the years to come and say that this was the work where Paul Manzi most definitely made the lead vocalist gig his very own. He simply shines on every single track, and the band have, I feel, now become very comfortable in the fusion of more traditional symphonic and bombastic prog rock, their original calling card, and the far heavier and harder edge which Manzi, especially, brought to the act.

There are also moments of beauty. Witness the denouement to Red Eyes, a gorgeous end piece by Clive Nolan reminding one of similar such passages with Pendragon. My only complaint is that there was potential for an extended piece here.

The album itself, with a stunning piece of cover art, is the sequel to the much loved The Visitor from 1998. I love the lyrical references on the musically huge The Scars to what went on before. On this, the ever busy John Mitchell blasts out some powerful riffs, with Manzi theatrically leading the wall of sound led by Nolan's keys.

This is the major theme I have taken from a large number of listens prior to finally putting "pen to paper" for this review, my first in quite some time. This is the sound of a band who have fused differing progressive sounds, but managed to retain their unique mojo in our little prog rock world. This is an album which clearly deserves to be heard by a far larger audience in the wider rock world. It is also an album by a very stable ensemble - who would have thought we would be saying that about Arena in 2019, eh?

The first five tracks fairly race along in bombastic and heavy style, and we then have a hugely enjoyable ballad in Poisoned, featuring some lovely Mitchell guitar work, before we get to the main epic, the quite superb The Legend of Elijah Shade. All which preceded this leads up to 20 plus minutes of sheer classic Arena, an operatic piece which spells out loud, and at times very loudly, precisely where this band are now.

This is an album which comes highly recommended. An excellent slab of modern prog rock, and a clear statement which leaves the listener salivating at the thought of what might come in the years ahead.