Arena vs Enchant vs It Bites

Arena have the worst drummer in progrock ever.

Edited by Kingsnake - September 20 2017 at 10:57

I won't cast a vote as I've not heard Enchant, but I'd take It Bites over Arena any day.

Once around the World would be in my top 10 prog albums of all time, for the sheer enjoyment it gave me back in the day. Frank Dunnery was an astounding guitarist. He was just 23 when they released their debut album, and I'd say for sheer technical ability he wiped the floor with many 'masters' Live they were incredible. I've never heard such good live sound.

I also like what It Bites tried to do.....progging the listener by stealth, through the back door. Some listeners did'n tknow they were listening to prog rock until it was too late..! I knew outright pop fans who ended up listening to Rush, Genesis and Marillion thanks to It Bites.

Kingsnake wrote: Arena have the worst drummer in progrock ever. I liked the Saga/Kansas/Rush approach of Enchant. Enchant are really gifted and skilled musicians, not comparable to Arena, wich is quite basic. It Bites i love to bits. The agressive and humorous approach is great. It Bites has something really different, and some people don't want to call it progrock, but they have really intense and difficult songs in their songbook. I also love Francis Dunnery.

I read an interesting eview of an early It Bites gig in a heavy metal magazine in the mid 80's. The reviewer said it was the best live performance by any band he'd seen in a long time, and that the musicianship for such a young band was breathtaking. He also made the accurate prediction that they would only last about three albums, because many people wouldn't understand what type of music it was. Too prog for pop fans and many metal fans, and too pop for many rock/prog fans.

I thought Once Around the World was one of the best albums of the 80's. It's a shame they never recorded another quite as good.