Which is the best Arena album ?

[il76candid]

A friend asked me this the other day and also which album was my favourite.
IMO each album released has been better than the one before it.
Peppers Ghost for me is far and away the best they have done.
So do you people out there in Arena World agree with me ?

[HelenDo]

I can't choose between Contagion and Pepper's Ghost - I love them both.

Helen xxx

[Appelmoes??]

There is already a poll about this subject, check it out

[JJ II]

Yeah, it's here: http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=114.0,

but it doesn't include pepper's ghost....

[Peter]

we'll put up a new one as soon as the next one is out, and then every two albums, okay

[Dmitry]

The best Arena Album is "The Visitor"!!! The pure sound of Arena! It is very strong. The integration of music itself with the lyrics here just "Makes your mind bleed". It is prodigious!!

[Lake of despond]

In Arena's case it is very hard to choose because this band has very large musical spectrum so any circumscription can narrow the full beauty of their music. But even with so many different colors and variations I must single out Pepper's ghost as the most professional, album which united the sound of Contagion and The Visitor in perfect harmony.

[PH]

Welcome Lake!
As far as I can see from the quality of your post, you look like a great new member!
I hope you'll like it here!

And errmm... I agree with you!

[Lake of despond]

I never liked forums but suddenly it seems illogical not to be here...

Thanks for welcoming!

[maddox]

I never liked forums but suddenly it seems illogical not to be here...

Thanks for welcoming!

You're so right. 

Welcome to the cage Lake Of Despond. 

Is there any reason for that name? Just curious. 

[johninblack]

Welcome indeed! I'm sure you will like it here. We have people from all over the world with many different beliefs but we all get on and seems to me to be one of a few forums where everyone respects everyone else. As to the best Arena album.......er, I can't choose, for me it's Contagion or Peppers Ghost or possibly one of the others!

[Teunis]

Welcome Lake of despond. Enjoy it here. My favorite album is 'Contagion'.

[Pegas]

It's hard to decide. In my opinion there doesn't exist weak Arena album... but my favorite is Contagion. Maybe because it was my entrance to Arena world.

[Lake of despond]

Thanks indeed guys

Lake of despond is my favourite song from Threshold, anyone who's not in picture I strongly recommend it...

Contagion was my first album to hear as well, it has strongest 'flavour' from all and I really adore it just PG somehow stands on higher stair just because it joins more various elements in so coherent way. But taste should not be discussed, especially in Arena's case where every album tells different story in a same beautiful way...

[BRUNILLION]

That's a tough one... the very first Arena CD I bought was The Visitor... and it blew me away! everything about it, nevertheless what stood out for me was the merge of music with Paul's peculiar voice (similar to Marillion in the Fish days)... I bought their previous work and liked it although not as much as Visitor... then the news: Paul was leaving the band... I mourned until I listened to some samples of Immortal? with "the new singer"... man was I shocked! where did they find that guy??!! As soon as the album was released I rushed and bought it... it "clicked" right away. I think all the Arena catalogue is superv, but to me Immortal? has the finest arrangements of them all... and it has the longest track... or not?

[wagner]

A friend asked me this the other day and also which album was my favourite.
IMO each album released has been better than the one before it.
Peppers Ghost for me is far and away the best they have done.
So do you people out there in Arena World agree with me ?

I do have to say that pepper's ghost is a good one but for me the best album of all is Songs from the Lion's cage...

[JJ II]

Contagion and The Visitor, for different reasons.

These are real roller-coaster albums. PG and I never really clicked, though I really enjoy the album and I love most of the tracks on it. As a whole I think it's less adventurous than the aforementioned two.

Funnily enough, Immortal has some of the greatest Arena-songs on it, but -as an album- a don't play it a lot. Strange eh?

[Appelmoes??]

I feel the same way about those albums :

[PH]

From the first album "Songs From The Lion's Cage" I like the (what some people call) Marillion feeling. I think John Carson had a brilliant voice. Don't know how that is now, cause I don't know much about him. He dissiappeared into nowhere, it seems. For me the best songs are "Valley Of The Kings" (the keyboard solo helps me alot making this choice) and "Solomon" (the uptempo part in the middle and the whole "Does it matter to you?-part" are amazing! Especially when "Throw away my life in the fireplace" kicks in, it gives me goosebumps for some reason!).

I don't know pride good enough to say something clever about it, but I do know that Medusa is one of the best piano-songs I've heard so far!

The Visitor... well... yes, amazing isn't it? Paul Wrightson really shines on this one! His dramatic voice makes this album! The returning themes, the "dark" atmosphere, it all helps to paint the picture. Of course "The Hanging Tree" is the one that should be mentioned apart. But to me "Enemy Without" is just as brilliant. "Running From Damascus" gives me goosebumps all the time when "Open your eyes" comes in.

Immortal? is a bit of an odd one indeed. Somehow I wanted to start writing about Contagion, but thought "Hey I forget an album!", and a great one too. This always happens to me. When someone asks me "Name all Arena albums" I start "Song's From The Lion's Cage, Pride, The Visitor, Contagion, Pe... wait... Immortal? has to be in there". Strange eh? It's such a brilliant album!!! But I think "Immortal?" has the same problem as "Pride". "Song's..." is the first *brilliant* album. "Pride" is the difficult second. "The Visitor" and "Contagion" are both masterpieces. "Immortal?" has two difficulties:
1. It's between two masterpieces
2. After "the great" Paul's departure the next album could "never be the same as it's predecessor..."
BUT!!! It has Moviedrome! One of the BEST Arena tracks ever! Almost as good as "Solomon" or "only "Solomon" comes close", depending on where you come from. And what about "The Butterfly Man"?. Pure brilliancy! "Climbing The Net" (some people say it sounds like Marillion, I don't know why to be honest...) gains more and more respect from me. Possibly because of the using of the synths here, and it's really a nice step-up to "Moviedrome"!
People! "Immortal?" exists!!!

Contagion, the other masterpiece. Some people don't like the album. I remember some traveller who told us sometime... He had no real arguments however. Although I REALLY LOVE this album I can imagine it scares people off. The songs are relatively short and there's not really a song that stands out. "Contagion" is the song itself. Well, how epic is that eh? This album is even darker than "Immortal?" and "The Visitor". Arena fluently became heavier. It's hard to say where they made Rock and where they made Metal, but if you HAVE to draw the line, it would be "Contagion". The story and the awesome guitar and keyboard solo's really made this album!

It looks like Pepper's Ghost is going to be somewhat like "Pride" and "Immortal?". That's funny because (someone already said it) it's a perfect mix of "The Visitor" and "Contagion". And it has an epic song à la "Solomon", namely "Opera Fanatica". Maybe because it's a bit straight-forward in some places. "What we would expect". But is that bad? NO WAY! "Smoke And Mirrors", one of the more straight-forward songs has a clever refrain and fits in all places! "The Eyes Of Lara Moon" is a stand out for me too. I simply LOVE the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar solo in the middle. "Pepper's Ghost" is all about emotion if you ask me. Every song is full of emotion, which makes it interesting...

So I LOVE all albums equally (though for me "Pride" being a bit lower rated than others)

1. Songs From The Lion's Cage 5/5
2. Pride 3/5
3. The Visitor 5/5
4. Immortal? 4/5
5. Contagion 5/5
6. Pepper's Ghost 4/5

*
Normal font = GREAT albums
Bold font = Stand-out masterpieces!

So maybe the seventh will be
7. Seventh Album 5/5

That would make sense eh?



This whole post oozes "my opinion", so don't kill me now.

[Peter]

Wow, what a great roundup on the whole ARENA discography, PH

[Bupie]

I would pick Contagion because I find it very consistent. Everything clicks the right buttons for me : Rob's voice, the music, the concept, the artwork. Plus, Spectre at the Feast is my favorite Arena song.

[Lake of despond]

I think I found myself pretty much in PH's post

It is very true how you defined it, just with one correction - PG can get just the highest mark, such professionalism is outstanding. I really don't understand why so many people rate it just as good, maybe because they prefer different style which represents Arena sound better to them, but regardless of that the music of the last one simply can't be ignored, how homogeneous and quality it is...brrr

[PH]

I think I found myself pretty much in PH's post

It is very true how you defined it, just with one correction - PG can get just the highest mark, such professionalism is outstanding. I really don't understand why so many people rate it just as good, maybe because they prefer different style which represents Arena sound better to them, but regardless of that the music of the last one simply can't be ignored, how homogeneous and quality it is...brrr

To be honest, I wanted to give PG a 5/5 but then I'll prove my system wrong...

[Lake of despond]

Music is such an abstract world and therefore very hard (and not necessary) to be systemized... But on contrary to its analyzing the rating should always come from the heart, in this case PG can be marked just with the maximum, no matter the definitions it belongs to

[Peter]

Music is such an abstract world and therefore very hard (and not necessary) to be systemized... But on contrary to its analyzing the rating should always come from the heart, in this case PG can be marked just with the maximum, no matter the definitions it belongs to

When a friend of mine introduced me to Arena I started to look for other bands that would make similar music. I found myself reading a lot of dprp.net reviews, f.e. In the meantime now I've found out that I'm not exactly a prog fan, as most of what's considered prog is simply too boring for me. I like it a bit hard, melodious, it needs keyboards and the voice is probably the most important part. Lately I found that not very many bands fit in that scheme, there are ARENA for sure, Sylvan, Porcupine Tree, Kamelot lately, Ayreon, ACT maybe and then it already starts to thin. What I also found out is that I often cannot exactly say why I do or don't like a band/album/track, but it's just an emotion. Nevertheless I highly respect people like the dprp guys, to keep their guts together and do a lot of album reviews in a senseful way, so that I, f.e., can align the reviews to my taste to see if I might like it or not.

Errr, what was it again that I wanted to say? Oh yes, I really love PG, and my favourite ARENA album probably always circulates between Visitor, Immortal, Contagion and PG now.