The Visitor (album)

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The Visitor
Studio album from Arena

Publication
(s)

1998

Label (s) Verglas Music

Title (number)

14th

running time

61:37

occupation
  • Singing: Paul Wrightson
  • Guitar: John Mitchell
  • Bass: John Jowitt
  • Drums: Mick Pointer

production

Clive Nolan and Simon Hanhart

Studio (s)

Thin Ice Studios

chronology
Pride
(1996) 		The Visitor Immortal?
(2000)

The Visitor is the third studio album from the British progressive rock band Arena . It was released by Verglas Music in 1998.

Creation and publication

The album is the first regular with guitarist John Mitchell, who replaced Keith More in 1997 and was already heard on the EP Pride and the live album Welcome to the Stage - Live . The Visitor was recorded at Thin Ice Studios and mixed there by Simon Hanhart, who also produced the album with Clive Nolan .

Track list

  1. A Crack in the Ice - 7:25
  2. Pins and Needles - 2:46
  3. Double Vision - 4:24
  4. Elea - 2:36
  5. The Hanging Tree - 7:09
  6. A State of Grace - 3:26
  7. Blood Red Room - 1:47
  8. In the Blink of an Eye - 5:29
  9. (Don't Forget to) Breathe - 3:40
  10. Serenity - 2:10
  11. Tears in the Rain - 5:43
  12. Enemy Without - 5:05
  13. Running from Damascus - 3:44
  14. The Visitor - 6:13

style

Arena play imaginative and atmospheric Neo-Prog with catchy melodies on The Visitor . There are calm, anthemic and hectic pieces with mostly complex structures. The guitars are often in the foreground, sometimes also the keyboard sound surfaces typical of the Neo-Prog. The Visitor is a concept album that deals with death and pain. The artwork was designed by Hugh Syme.

reception

The press reacted mostly positively to the album, which today is often referred to as Arena's creative highlight. The Babyblauen Seiten occasionally criticizes that The Visitor sounds sterile or comes too close to Adult Oriented Rock , but it is also praised, “[t] he musical moods are very cleverly staged and don't really leave boredom at any point come up". Michael Rensen from Rock Hard thinks the album is timeless and says: “Not a single vocal line comes without catchy appeal, no solo seems out of place, every riff is right, not a single song idea is second-tier or has been exploited too much, and above all it's true Overall sound down to the last detail. ” Eclipsed magazine included The Visitor in its list of the 150 most important prog albums.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Visitor / Arena ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , arenaband.co.uk , accessed November 6, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arenaband.co.uk
  2. ↑ a b Baby Blue Prog Reviews: Arena. The Visitor , Baby Blue Pages , accessed November 6, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b Michael Rensen: Arena. The Visitor , Rock Hard # 132, accessed November 6, 2012.
  4. ↑ Dayvan Cowboy: Arena - The Visitor , sputnikmusic.com , accessed November 6, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b eclipsed No. 144, p. 35.