Arena parting ways with singer Paul Manzi

[Teunis]

ARENA STATEMENT:
It is with sadness that we will be parting ways with singer Paul Manzi.

He has been with us for ten years, three studio albums and a lot of touring, but these commitments, particularly the touring, were becoming a strain on his time and availability, so it was mutually agreed that it was the right time for Paul to move on.

We wish him luck with his musical endeavours, and he we always welcome to join us on stage in the future.

An announcement regarding the new line up will follow soon.

Bummer, didn't see this one coming . A great singer leaves the band, but not for the first time. I'm confident that a great new singer will be announced  .

[PH]

Really sad to see Paul leave. Arena always had the perfect singers for their albums. Paul is one of the best singers I've heard. I know I was disappointed with the first album that he was singing on ("The Seventh Degree Of Seperation") but that was not because of his singing, but because they reduced the amount of guitar- and keyboard soloing in favour of Paul's voice. Which is, in a way, perfectly understandable, because he is such an amazing singer! "Seventh Degree..." is a very vocally driven album and in time I began to appreciate the musical backdrop as well. The two albums that came after are Arena back in business. And I was looking forward to the fourth Manzi-led Arena album. I hope we'll be hearing more of him in the future!

That being said...

I just read that Damian Wilson will be the new singer! This makes me super excited! I'm really looking forward to hearing how he sounds with Arena. I've always thought that this could be a possibility and I'm curious to hear how he will handle the many favourite earlier songs live.
That's really cool, to part with one excellent singer, and welcome another excellent singer as well.

Sad/happy

[Peter]

Damian Wilson, now that's really great news. Can't wait to hear him with ARENA!

I must confess, I missed out on the last two ARENA albums after being a bit underwhelmed by the Seventh Degree, for similar reasons like you, Paco.

[Teunis]

I must confess, I missed out on the last two ARENA albums after being a bit underwhelmed by the Seventh Degree, for similar reasons like you, Paco.

It's really worth checking out 'The Unquiet Sky' and 'Double Vision', you'll probably find them better than TSDOS!

[PH]

Peter, like Teunis already said, you should really check out "The Unquiet Sky" and "Double Vision". They're really a big step up from "Seventh Degree...". Solos are back and composition is much more adventurous. I compare them to "The Visitor", "Immortal?" and "Contagion". Especially "Immortal?" I guess.