PEPPER'S GHOST

"Pepper's Ghost" is the sixth studio album of Arena and was released in 2005. Despite "Pepper's Ghost" isn't properly a conceptual album, Clive Nolan has remarked that there is a pronounced English feel to the album. I think he means that Arena's sound has obvious echoes of the English prog rock bands of the 70's and 80's, but he also wants to means that "Pepper's Ghost" is very much a Hollywood Victorian view. It tells us the story of five heroes in the 19th century, in London, who fight against the organized crime and, ultimately, they even defeat a demon. The characters on the story are an exorcist, a ninja, a scientist who travels through time, a count and a cowboy with Indian ways. Apparently, each of the band's members is one of the comic book heroes. The story is told in the booklet through a small comic book.

"Pepper's Ghost" is their second studio album to feature the same line up such as with their previous fifth studio album "Contagion". So, the line up of the album is Rob Sowden (vocals), John Mitchell (backing vocals and guitars), Clive Nolan (backing vocals and keyboards), Ian Salmon (bass and acoustic guitar) and Mick Pointer (drums).

"Pepper's Ghost" has seven tracks. All songs were written by Clive Nolan, John Mitchell and Mick Pointer except "Opera Fanatica" which was written by Clive Nolan. All lyrics were written by Clive Nolan. The first track "Bedlam Fayre" is an excellent opener to the album and appears in the same vein of many other great openers of Arena's studio albums. This is a typical first track for the band that reminds instantly "Witch Hunt" from "Contagion" and "Chosen" from "Immortal?". It's a track very nice and pleasant to hear that can be considered an almost an Arena's classic song, which is perfectly in the same vein as most of the songs on "Immortal?" and "Contagion" albums. The second track "Smoke And Mirrors" is a song that opens with Mitchell in acoustic mode, before the band turns on a mid tempo rock song with a very strong and catchy chorus which features some nice vocals from Sowden. The solo works from Nolan and Mitchell are wonderful and confirms perfectly well their skills as great performers. The third track "The Shattered Room" is one of Arena's lengthiest tracks and where we can hear some of the best and finest keyboard works by Nolan. This is a song that reminds me quite a bit "The Butterfly Man" from "Immortal?". The song moves through a series of different musical sections with a very intense and dramatic chorus. Once again the highlight goes to Nolan and Mitchell with their excellent work in the extended instrumental section. The fourth track "The Eyes Of Lara Moon" is in general considered the weakest of all but I like very much of it. Its name reminds me immediately the 70's film "The Eyes Of Laura Mars", what I really liked very much. It's a song built around a very simple yet effective and extremely catchy melody from John Mitchell. This is a song with good vocal chorus, nice guitar playing by Mitchell and some beautiful keyboards by Nolan. The fifth track "Tantalus" is a track that opens as a dramatic ballad with Nolan's piano being the dominant instrument. The song progresses with some nice keyboards and vocals works until the heavy parts that follow. The orchestrated backing vocals on the chorus are great and the end section, where there is a real edge to Sowden's vocals, is particularly strong. Moreover, the ending of the song is one of the heaviest parts of the album. The sixth track "Purgatory Road" is another excellent song with nice lyrics. It's a very powerful track with very fast changes, great singing, heavy guitars and great keyboard solos. Again the chorus is solid and there's also a good guitar work by Mitchell and a typical keyboard sound runs from Nolan. The song is in general excellent and became as one of the album's highlights and represents the heavy metal side of Arena's music. The seventh track "Opera Fanatica" reminds me "Moviedrome" from "Immortal?". It's one of the heaviest tracks on the album and opens with some beautiful operatic vocals, as its name indicates. For the most part we have the grandiose and bombastic pomp rock at its best, with several memorable sections with great chorus where Sowden shines. This is doubtless the great highlight of the album. Ccuriously and surprisingly it was the only track written solely by Nolan. It closes the album at a very high note.

Conclusion: "Pepper's Ghost" is a very strong release from Arena and remains as one of their best studio works. It's one of Arena's heaviest albums and we may say that it's very close to their fourth studio album "Immortal?". The heavier sound of the album is probably due to Karl Groom of Threshold who co-produced the album with Clive Nolan. The same thing would happen with the eighth studio album of Galahad, "Empires Never Last" which would be released in 2007, and that was also produced by Groom. So, the change on the musical direction of both bands isn't probably a simple coincidence. The album artwork deserves a special mention. It has an excellent digipack packaging that includes excellent cartoon strips drawn by David Wyatt, an English commercial artist. On it, each strip is designed to illustrate each song of the album. This is an excellent artwork that can only improve the magnificence of this album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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