That's good if there's stuff that you like. On every one of their albums there is something that I like, but the overall package is what counts and in this respect they lack the capability of being consistently interesting. There are those who like this later output better so I guess it works for the band one way or another.
"Angels die, redemption rages
The age of man on an empty page
And chances are
This will save your soul or break it forever "
He he. There have been some excellent prog records even in the newer history. I still think that Presto Ballet's first two albums are great, I think that Relocator's debut was consistently interesting, some of Simon Says are good...The problem is that bands like Frost and Simon Says, or Advent release one album in every five years, sometimes it takes even longer.
yeah, i listen to a lot of bands that release only every few years or so. My opinion is that this is because it is now possible to make and release music to a high professional level without it being your primary means of income. Pallas being a case in point; bass player Graeme Murray is a solicitor and I'm sure makes much more money from that than he does from Pallas.
There are a lot of musicians for whom prog music is not the primary source of income or maybe it isn't a source of income almost at all. Some bands even release their music for free streaming.
Btw, speaking about neo-prog, I'm curious when is Arena going to release something new? I think they released some kind of a DVD recently but I haven't heard anything about some new music. Their last album was mediocre, though.
Great news. The Visitor is their best for me, but the problem I had with the last one was that it was like the last It Bites album - mainly with short rocker songs without their interesting instrumental parts. The irony of it is that the It Bites album was better (I thought).
ouch! Arena's Seventh Degree... was another like the Pallas, sounded pretty good but nothing stood out... the singing was rather ordinary as well... I wouldn't have guessed it was a Arena CD if I didn't know it was... and I consider myself a pretty big fan of the band. (at least up to that release)
"Angels die, redemption rages
The age of man on an empty page
And chances are
This will save your soul or break it forever "
a funny thing about seventh degree,when i bought it i didnt like it at all ,because at that moment i was more into complex prog,and that arena record are melodic rock in disguise.the same goes for that it bites record me think. anyway, i have a very variable musictaste,i like so many different styles in music,so i decided to try that arena record again ,nearly a year later ,and guess what ,it clicked with me,i love it
I haven't listened to all of their albums, but I've gone through most of the songs from those albums after The Visitor. The ones before The Visitor - I think I did not like their sound so I can't say anything constructive about them.
Maybe I'll have to listen to Seven Degrees again, I think I went through it only one time. Seemed good melodic music, but as you say - nothing particularly stood out. Even if there were a couple good songs, it does not matter much, because the overall quality of the record is what counts.
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