ARENA — The Visitor (review)

ARENA — The Visitor album cover Album · 1998 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Warthur
Arena took a more ambitious route this time around; though their previous two albums had been vaguely conceptual in the sense that the songs tended to deal with various recurring themes and used a lot of imagery from ancient cultures, for The Visitor they pulled out all the stops and went for a fully developed narrative concept album, complete with recurring musical motifs and whatnot.

New guitarist John Mitchell proves to be a very useful addition to the band, proving equally capable both of rocking out credibly on the one hand and playing in a gentler and more pastoral style when it's called for (as on the early sections of The Hanging Tree). Thematically, the album's all over the place and the story isn't really especially coherent, but when the music's this good that's very easy to forgive. Arena broaden their horizons a little bit here, with some sections reminding me of early Pallas (particularly the Atlantis Suite sections on The Sentinel) whilst other segments, such as album opener A Crack In the Ice, showcase a metal- tinged variety of melodic rock which the band would crank up to 11 on Contagion.

On the whole, it's another decent album from Arena, setting up the band to be almost as important to Clive Nolan's career as his main home in Pendragon, as well as making it clear Mick Pointer's return to the prog scene was no flash in the pan. Despite a few irritatingly cheesy parts here and there, on the whole it's a great success.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skorian // The Greyleer Black Metal
MEFITIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Memoria viva Progressive Metal
WHITE STONES
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 4 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 4 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 4 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 4 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed