PRIDE

Funny thing is that the opening track on Pride is "Welcome to the Cage". I would have rather expected this track to be on their debut album Songs From The Lion's Cage , but hey. maybe it was meant to be that way!

Why would I say this? Well, it looks like maybe Songs From The Lion's Cage and Pride should have been only one (double disc) album. Why? The answer is quite simple: On Songs From The Lion's Cage we have the tracks Crying For Help I through IV and on Pride we find the tracks Crying For Help V through VIII.

The fist thing we notice is on Pride lead singer Paul Wrightson took over from John Carson. Not really too much noticeable, since John Carson's voice also really fit ARENA, but I personally find Paul Wrightson's singing even better! He still is my favourite ARENA vocalist.

The second thing we notice is that Pride is quite a bit heavier that its predecessor. With the lack of the slower and spaceyer tracks one could say that there is less variation on Pride , but it certainly doesn't feel that way. Pride is a very strong album with top notch musicians and Paul proves to be a great singer. My favourite tracks of this album would probably be Medusa and the over 13 minute epic Sirens.

Conclusion; a "must have" for any ARENA fan and a "should have" for anyone who likes MARILLION, PENDRAGON and/or IQ.

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