ARENA

When I listened to this first, I felt extremely disappointed, no, I was angry with boredom. The only piece that really caught my attention and got a grip to my heart was the solo that Steve Rothery plays. And, as the others hinted at in a very respectful way, Pointer's drumming is weak up to a point that he has to use overdubs to include tom-breaks (e.g. in Crying for help 4).

No, people, I really don't buy this. This is a rip-off of Marillion and IQ, but in a very amateurish fashion, featuring a rather bad drummer who came to world fame by having rightfully been sacked by a band who wanted to achieve more than underground status, a keyboarder who has the guts to meet every cliche that neoprog has to offer... and not much more. No offense meant - but this is the worst kind of neoprog, although it, of course, has been properly recorded...

The new album is well represented here with 7 songs, the rest is a couple of tracks from their others cds. The music of Arena as always remind me of a heavier version of Pendragon with a strong Marillion influence, first period era. It's symphonic prog with a hard edge, and plenty of beautiful atmosphere with the master on keyboards, Clive Nolan.

The light show is dominate with plenty of blue and the stage is often immerse into a complete dark, which is probably a illustration of the dark concept of the new cd. By the way Clive and Paul have both ti-shirts with skull head.

The picture and the sound are clear, and the 5.1 surround mix, like all the Metal Mind Productions releases is mostly present to create atmosphere and not really to hear instruments in different speakers.

It must have been quite a day on 10th of November in the Silesian Theatre in Katowice, Poland. Three of the finest prog bands around today, Arena, Believe and Osada Vida, performed live with all three gigs being recorded for release on DVD.

"Rapture" captures Arena's performance, the gig forming part of their tour to promote their latest album "The Seventh degree of separation". Rather than simply playing the new album in full, the band decided to intersperse the new songs with a wide selection of numbers from their entire history. Simultaneously, the tour served to introduce new lead singer Paul Manzi and to reintroduce bassist John Jowitt who has rejoined the line up.

With the gig running to around 2 hours, over 20 songs are included in the performance, including (appropriately) seven from the new album. Mazni's voice suits both the new and the old material perfectly, with selections from albums such as "The visitor" and "Contagion" sounding fresh but reassuringly familiar. Every album from the band's history is covered, going right back to "Songs from the lions' cage" which contributes "Valley of the kings" and the magnificent "Solomon", still a highlight of the set. The set list is loosely laid out as the tracks appear on the albums, with the songs which introduce the original albums coming up front and the closing tracks forming the latter part of the concert. This gives the DVD a feeling of continuity, although it can be a little disconcerting when a familiar song does not lead to the expected successor.

The five man line up are in great form, and clearly enjoying the experience of playing together to an appreciative audience. Despite his relentless commitment to numerous projects Clive Nolan is full of energy, his keyboards at times balancing precariously as he leads the band towards another crescendo. John Mitchell's lead guitar has never sounded finer, his solo at the end of the title track of "The visitor" still drawing a tear, such is the emotion of the piece. He also adds an unexpected solo to "Ascension" that only serves to make the song even more powerful.

Mick Pointer ensures that the band is as tight as ever, his dry wit coming to the fore as he teases the interviewer on the accompanying interview with Clive and Mick. John Jowitt looks as if he never left the band, assuming his former position with a relaxed authority. He obviously derives particular pleasure performing the songs he originally played on from "Pride" and "The visitor".

On a technical front, we have all witnessed DVD's where the crew were not aware of the band's music, resulting in poor direction and inappropriate effects. It is easy though to overlook when things are done right. Here the director, the crew and the editor have clearly done their homework, with the DVD showing each member of the band at the appropriate time while capturing the atmosphere created by the knowledgeable audience. The experience the behind the scenes team have gathered through filming many great concerts in Katowice in recent years means DVDs such as this become presentations others can only aspire to.

The DVD is presented in 2.0 and 5.1 sound and comes in a fine Digipack cover with artwork similar to that of the recent album. Also included is a 20 minute "bootleg" film of the band live in Warsaw, Poland from the same tour, photos, discography and desktop images.

In summary, a magnificent performance by a great band capture perfectly. With the limited opportunities available to see the band worldwide, I would commend this as a very worthy alternative.

Well, with the CD version at my hands I was then feeling obliged to spin again the album. Surprisingly, I did enjoy the second spin and then I kept playing the album many times. Oh man ... this album is really a grower for me as the more I listen to it the more I like it. And then I kept asking question: why didn't I like it at first spin as the music is basically not so complex and it's typical Arena albums after all? Was it because of the MP3 format? I don't think so as there have been so many albums that I got the digital file first before I then got the CD and I had no issue at all. By the way, at the end of the day I always rip my CD into digital file format for convenience. Having pondered myself with that question I finally conclude that this album is a real grower for me. I started with disliking and then grew into liking it and finally now I'm loving it. I'm really happy that Arena is back in its form with consistent music direction.

Let's have a look in detail ....

Am I still here? Am I hidden from your sight?

Oh my God ....! I really love the powerful vocal line by Paul Manzi opening the album in "The Great Escape" (4:38). Quality-wise, I am impressed with his clean voice and it's better than his predecessor Rob Sowden. "The Seventh Degree Of Separation" is a concept album about the journey from the last hour of life into the first hour of death. WOW! It's a subject that really fits with me as I always wonder how I would end my life. Of course I always pray to God that at the end of the day I would want to die as a good moslem. The lyrical verse of this opening track visualizing how would it like one hour before death. Paul really dare to start this wonderful track with acapela followed with symphonic rock style that flows in medium tempo like typical neo prog music. There are many good riffs mixed softly, showing the vocal power of Paul.

The second track "Rapture" (4:22) starts with an ambient nuance followed nicely with simple but catchy riffs continued with nice vocal "I always wondered how my destiny would go" .... oh... I really love this simple shot. Style-wise this track is basically a riff-based prog rocker with great variation of percussion work combined with excellent drumming in the middle of the song especially during the lyrical verse "Don't tell me - what you think i should believe". It's really a great variation and it helps accentuate the music.

"One Last Au Revoir" (4:34) sounds poppy at first listen of the album. But later I think this can serve as a nice bridge to the next track. Melody-wise, it's a very good one especially when the style changes in some segments after the continuous music. There are nice guitar shots here and there during the entire song - and most interestingly in the interlude part where it has a stunning performance combined beautifully with keyboard work. Mitchell and Nolan collaborate really really well here as always with previous albums.

The next track "The Ghost Walks" (3:19) reminds me to Steve Hackett's "Defector". I don't think Arena does it intentionally as it does not really sound the same - only the nuances are similar especially through the combined work of guitar (in Hackettian style) and keyboard with similar beats, drumming-wise. Of course the two are not the same, only similar. When the vocal enters the music, the two are different.

"Thief Of Souls" (3:52) starts with soft piano work followed with vocal line and howling guitar work at background, mixed softly. As the title implies this is now the time when the soul moves away, lyrically. It flows nicely to "Close Your Eyes" (3:25) which opens with guitar work followed with vocal line. It really reminds me to the style shown in Arena's masterpiece work "The Visitor". This track serves as a break as it's different compared to other tracks.

Musically, "Echoes Of The Fall" (2:26) serves as an important bridge as this short track has a relatively fast tempo with some rocking segments where guitar riffs play significant role combined nicely with Pointer's drumwork. "Bed Of Nails" (4:39) continues with slower tempo maintaining the overall tone of the storyline. I like the interlude part that actually does not demonstrate any long solo work but the nice guitar work during transition pieces. It then slows down with guitar fills that remarks the start of next track "What If?" (4;35). This one actually quite boring at the intro part. Again, Mitchell's guitar work is stunning right here.

The rhythm guitar work in Burning Down is great!

"Trebuchet" (3:39) moves up the tempo through its dynamic beats featuring a combined work of keyboard as well as guitar. Even though this song sounds just flat to me but the guitar work as well as vocal are really nice. Most importantly this track serves beautifully as a transition piece to the next wonderful "Burning Down" (4:29) track. I do enjoy this track because of its rhythm guitar work is really top-notch. Actually I am about to get bored with the music but as this track enters I come to the situation where I am energized with how this song flows. Well, not only rhythm guitar work after Manzi shouts "Burning down ..."! WOW ....!! I really love this part. This is one of the reason why I can stay with this album as I know that I will reach this wonderful eleventh track. This track really stirs my emotion especially that guitar rhythm plus beautifully crafted keyboard (Hammond?) solo. I bet you love this track as it's really great!

Having been satisfied with "Burning Down" I actually do not really care with how it would look like after this track, i.e the remaining two tracks: "Catching The Bullet" (7:42) and "The Tinder Box" (4:16). These last two tracks conclude the concept album nicely and I enjoy how these two are really placed here at the final chapters.

Four or five stars?

One chief reason why I have deferred very long not writing a review of this album is because of this one single question: four or five stars? have to admit that this album cannot surpass the materpiece work "The Visitor" the band has ever made. Comparatively, I can say straight to the point that this seventh album is much better than their sixth "Pepper's Ghost". So, for sure I can give four stars for the Seventh. And then, is it good enough with four stars? I do not think so, because the storyline is really good. Yes, musically this album is much simpler and much straighter than The Visitor but then I ponder myself with this intriguing question: does prog really require to be complex? Nope! So .... finally I give this album with 4.5 plus stars that rounds up to be five. If I do not consider the lyrical verses, just looking at the music perse, I might have given four stars rating. But this one deserves a five star rating. JRENG! Keep on proggin' ...!!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This really is disc 2 of that album, as opposed to a wholly separate entity. The first track references the former album's title ' naming itself 'welcome to the cage', and, indeed, the enumeration of the interspersed 'crying for help' tracks continues where they left off on 'songs'', starting at number 5.

Musically, this is still a strong album, and compliments well what has been laid down on 'songs''. In particular, the track "Fools Gold" captivates the listener, with its diversity and intelligence. This album still feels very Marillion-esque, albeit more a kind of concentrating inward collapsing of both eras of Marillion ' there are shades of both Fish and Hogarth here.

There's not a lot else, though. And that's really the problem. A few tracks in, I'm left thinking that I should put 'Clutching at Straws' on, rather than yearning to hear more from Arena. They have placed themselves in a competition they cannot hope to win ' especially when one bears in mind that this album and its predecessor were released at a time when Marillion were at the top of their game, presenting our ears with 'Brave'.

In addition, one can't help but feel that, when one combines this with 'Songs from the lion's cage', it feels a little longer than necessary - A feeling not helped by the album closer, Sirens, which at times meanders in such a way as to make one suspect its inclusion was related to some arbitrary need for a song of epic length.

Given its close ties with 'Songs'', I feel the only sensible thing to do is to rate it identically to that album. Again, it manages to be 'Good, but not essential' whilst sadly putting itself in direct competition with some truly essential albums.

3/5

It astonishes me to think that it is some six years since we last had a new album from Arena, 2005's "Pepper's ghost" still seeming like a new album. Since that time, vocalist Rob Sowden and bass player Ian Salmon have left the line up, to be replaced by Paul Manzi and the great John Jowitt respectively. Despite these changes, it still takes considerable effort on the part of all concerned to come together in the studio, such are the demands on their time from the various other projects the band members participate in.

In the months leading up to the release of "Seventh degree of separation", Clive Nolan teased us with talk of this album being "darker" than anything which had gone before, and the sleeve image certainly has a menacing quality.

I have learned over the years not to judge an Arena album after a couple of listens. It takes time for each release to reveal itself, initial impressions inevitably proving misguided as familiarity replaces novelty. Albums such as "Contagion" and "The visitor" still continue to offer new and exciting dimensions whenever they are played, even after all these years.

So it is with "Seventh degree of separation". Here we have an album whose structure has more in common with the aforementioned albums than with others such as "Immortal" or "Pepper's ghost". The tracks here are generally shorter but designed to flow together to create a greater whole. This perhaps makes it logical that it is a concept album, the basic theme being set in the last hours of life and the first hours of the afterlife.

Manzi's arrival is nothing if not dramatic, his unaccompanied introductory call of "Can anybody hear me" clearly having live performance in mind. The song, "The great escape", is similar in style to "Immortal's" opener "Chosen", the heavy guitar riffs driving a song which features a fine vocal performance by Manzi's. "Rapture" is really a continuation of "The great escape" as it retains a similar style and pace (plus the "..hear me" reference), but is even more bitter, including a superfluous wee sweary.

"One Last Au Revoir" has the feel of "The visitor", the up-beat, positive vibes allowing John Mitchell to add some of his delicious flowing lead guitar runs. It contrasts completely with the troubling doom of "The Ghost Walks", perhaps the heaviest track ever recorded by Arena. Even here though, Mitchell and Clive Nolan combine to create a wonderfully atmospheric wall of sound. "Thief Of Souls" is one of the album's more straightforward songs, as is the brief "Close your eyes", either of which might at one time been potential singles.

"Echoes Of The Fall" is something of an out and out rocker, with a bit of a (dare I say) Queen feel. Nothing wrong with that in my book, indeed the song oozes enthusiasm and excitement. "Bed of nails" is reminiscent of "Ascension" from "Contagion", the song featuring similar majestic vocals against a regal backdrop. On "What If?", Paul Manzi displays a different dimension to his voice, the quasi-rock ballad sound of the song suiting his style well. This is probably the most melodic of the songs on the album, and therefore the most instantly accessible.

"Trebuchet" opens with the trademark Arena sound as the main character moves from life to death. The music though is anything but downbeat, Nolan's epic keyboards and Mitchell's soaring guitar being driven by the powerful rhythm section. "Burning Down" is one of those typically Arena tracks which misleads those who jump in too quickly into thinking they know it after one or two listens. There are subtle musical cross-references afoot here, as there are in many Arena songs.

"Catching The Bullet" is the longest track (or section) on the album, but that is of little relevance really. The track has a decidedly progressive arrangement, with John Mitchell displaying various aspects of his prowess on guitar, while Clive Nolan creates a superbly symphonic bed of keyboard sounds. We close with "The Tinder Box", a song with echoes of "Friday's dream", the song which closed the "Immortal" album. The song brings everything together, lyrically and melodically, setting up a magnificent conclusion to this captivating album.

In short, a magnificent album from a fine band. The line up changes have proved inspirational in music terms, the result being an album which flows superbly while offering a diversity of moods and styles. To those who were quick to judge upon the album's release, I can only suggest that you revisit the album, get to know it, and discover the magic of Arena once more. This is one of the band's best ever albums.

Granted, there's places here and there where things get a bit samey or predictable, but on the whole it there aren't enough to completely derail the album, and the band pack in just enough surprises to make it worth picking up this one if you already have their earlier albums. On the whole, in fact, I'd say it's more or less on a par with Pride, Songs From the Lion's Cage and The Visitor, and a big step up from Immortal.