Search - Arena :: Immortal

Get this album!!!

Goobie Doober | New York, NY | 09/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"2 reasons to get this album: "The Butterfly Man" and "Moviedrome." Those are two of the most classic epic prog songs ever written and ever performed. It is amazing, mystical, gorgeous, poetic, and John Mitchell's guitar work is magical. Amazing.



Now for the ever better news: *ALL* of the songs on this disc are fantastic. Even if the two I mentioned were the only great ones, it'd be worth buying. But all of this album -- and I mean ALL of it -- is amazing.



Arena is easily the most underrated band out there!"

Last ditch effort

Bryan M. Tucker | baltimore | 02/06/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I wanted to like Arena. I have tried very hard, put all my efforts into it but it's not going to happen. Being a lover of bands such as IQ and Marillion, I thought it would be an easy transition. I purchased The Visitor, Peppers Ghost, Contagion and now Immortal has come to me and it all sounds like the same CD. It's very cheesy sounding Prog with vocals that remind me of an English Shakespearean actor over delivering his lines.



This will be my last purchase. Musically, it's highly unimaginative and sounds like there was a PROG blueprint followed. Well, they have some interesting CD covers,

I'll give them that.

"

Moviedrome

Justin Smith | Boston, MA USA | 06/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is another 5-star album from Arena. As usual, it is a concept album. I find that this album is the first to demonstrate a gradual change in the band's style from prog-rock over to the borders of prog-metal (a change continued on Contagion and virtually completed on Pepper's Ghost).



"Immortal?" has all of the elements that make Arena the great band they are. There are beautiful piano and keyboard melodies in songs like Chosen, Climbing The Net, and Moviedrome. John Mitchell provides some fine guitarwork in The Butterfly Man and Moviedrome.



Hm, let's discuss Moviedrome. It's one of the finest prog epics of all time, and hardly any so-called "prog fans" have heard the song (or even heard of the band, for that matter). You'll find some great vocal melodies that must be sung along with once you've learned them, and John Mitchell cranks out a classic solo in the style of David Gilmour.



The only complaint I really have, and this is echoing someone else's comment, is that the instrumental interlude on Waiting for the Flood is much too similar to the one in Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity". It would be nice if I could find a quote from a band member before this album had been released saying "We're gonna throw in a little hidden tribute to Queensryche, see if you can find it." But unfortunately, I know of no such comments, so it comes off looking like a rip-off.



Still, it is a tiny fraction of the album, which I still regard as an album that anyone needs to put on high priority to purchase."