Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Arena
Label: Verglas Records
Release: 2011
Rating: 5/5
“The Seventh Degree of Separation”, which the members of neo prog rock attraction Arena spent no less than six years crafting (and it’s worth saying right away that it paid off with interest), is the long-awaited successor to the masterpiece “Pepper’s Ghost” (2005), which set a whole bunch of new standards for 21st-century progressive rock. The album’s original working title was “The Tinder Box”, but they later decided otherwise, and it ended up as ‘just’ the title of the thirteenth and final track. Keyboardist and backing vocalist Clive Nolan, one of the band’s two chieftains (also a member of Pendragon and Shadowland), who writes all the lyrics and most of the arrangements, promised before release that the album would be as dark as can be, just what you’d expect from a band known for exploring, through the eyes of the individual and those around them, the gloomier sociological and psychological aspects of our ever faster-rotting, modern and ‘developed’ world.
In the meantime, two important, almost dramatic changes hit the lineup. Longtime singer Rob Sowden, hugely popular among the band’s fans thanks to his striking vocal abilities and charisma, said goodbye after a good ten years of very successful collaboration. Stepping into his shoes is Paul Manzi, already the band’s fourth singer, who not only looks like Sowden but also shares some characteristics with his predecessor in his voice, even though his timbre is different and clearly recognizable. It would be very hard, or rather impossible, to put him in a box. He’s sure to thrill everyone who, besides Sowden, also appreciates Paul Wrightson, Arena’s third singer, since you could say Manzi’s vocal range sits somewhere in between the two former members. Either way, it’s another outstanding vocal acquisition.
Bassist Ian Salmon waved goodbye too and gave up his spot to returning member Jon Jowitt (IQ, ex-Jadis), who last appeared with Arena on the album “The Visitor” (1998). The popular and technically brilliant Jowitt, rightly considered one of the best bassists of the neo prog rock generation, brings his trademark bass dynamics along with extra charisma and a pronounced sense of humor.
Probably no fan of the band is surprised that this is once again a concept album, built around a theme Nolan holds very dear: the deeply profound in-between state of the soul between life and death, and the journey of human consciousness right after the physical body dies. The lyrics tell of the gradual separation of the individual’s soul from the physical body and its passage through various stages of pre- and post-death awareness, for instance in the form of spiritual protoplasm, or a ghost, which happens at the seventh degree of the soul’s separation from the body. There are also plenty of religious connotations and metaphors, not all that different from what the legendary Dante wrote during his scholastic journey through hell, purgatory and heaven. In the end, what matters is that, midway through the separation process, the soul has to decide whether it will choose life or death at the last moment. As befits Arena’s long tradition, the dark concept is complemented by an equally gloomy atmosphere, though they do occasionally add a touch of solemnity through grand, epic arrangements, which they once again don’t skimp on.
Over the years the band has built an exceptionally solid backbone, made up of the two original members, Nolan and drummer Mick Pointer (ex-Marillion), plus guitarist John Mitchell (It Bites and numerous other acts). These three are the key reason Arena run like a well-oiled machine on “The Seventh Degree of Separation” too. One of their trademarks is the immodest use of hard-hitting guitar riffs and a well-matched blend of symphonic and hard rock elements, which makes them interesting to some prog metal fans as well.
Right from the opening “The Great Escape”, Manzi proves that, like all his predecessors, who grew up listening to the vocal talents of singing legends like Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill and Fish, he has a pronounced feel for theatrics and melodrama. The start of the album is nicely balanced between a melancholic atmosphere with Nolan’s lavish symphonic arrangements, Mitchell’s punchy guitar riffs and the dynamism of the Jowitt-Pointer rhythm section. Unlike its predecessor, “The Seventh Degree of Separation” is a somewhat more compact album, where most pieces run under five minutes and only one composition is longer than seven, which doesn’t diminish its musical and lyrical depth one bit.
On the mysterious “Rapture”, a solemn, ceremonial mood joins hands with gritty guitar phrases and mounting drama on Nolan’s keyboard merry-go-round. On “One Last au revoir”, where the lyrics have the traveling soul bidding farewell to the last ‘shackles’ of the physical body, Arena show off how effortlessly you can conjure a beautiful, melancholic-melodic chorus out of otherwise complex arrangements and rhythms, while Manzi’s vocal versatility grows more and more impressive from minute to minute. “The Ghost Walks” is undoubtedly one of the darkest creations in the band’s history, with a downright chilling intro that sounds like it came out of a horror film. The attentive ear of most prog rock devotees will quickly pick up, within the central motif, a rhythmic and atmospheric kinship with the classic “The Steppes” by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Compared to that classic, though, the spirit’s lyrical journey soon veers off into completely different, far more solemn waters.
“Thief of Souls” is one of the most ambitious pieces on the album, slowly building drama until it hits boiling point and a tempo shift arrives, loaded with epic arrangements and yet another superb Manzi vocal performance. Even better is the excellent “Close Your Eyes”, which is sure to become one of Arena’s eternal evergreens. This outstanding composition, whose best part is its romantic, hypnotic chorus, is built with such rhythmic finesse, such dynamics between guitar and keyboards, such a vocal sense of drama and such arranging imagination that the lion’s share of modern prog rock bands could only envy it.
The punchy “Echoes of the Fall”, the shortest piece on the album, is defined above all by Jowitt’s rumbling bass line, Mitchell’s ‘wicked’ guitar riff and Manzi’s as-furious-as-it-gets vocal delivery. The heavily melancholic “Bed of Nails”, where the lyrics express the soul’s wish to be remembered in a positive light by those closest to it after death, is crowned with majestic symphonic arrangements courtesy of Mr. Nolan and an uplifting chorus that lights up the otherwise gloomy atmosphere. On the contemplative “What If?”, which impresses with a melancholic acoustic guitar arrangement, the soul begins to doubt whether it chose right when, in the end, stuck in the in-between state between life and death, it picked death. Here the lyrics also touch on broader societal problems, as the soul realizes with disappointment that humanity, in its chase for material abundance, has squandered its chance to reach the ‘stars’. A majestic chorus hits this dramatic realization right in the heart, and Arena once again manage to ‘conjure up’ an unforgettable atmosphere.
With “Trebuchet”, a loanword from French for a medieval siege engine (a catapult), symphonic drama with rich Mellotron arrangements and vocal theatrics reach new dimensions. “Burning Down” is a hard-hitting composition of countless sharpened guitar riffs, atmospheric twists amid symphonic waves and unexpected tempo changes, all commanded by Manzi’s frothing vocals. “Catching the Bullet”, at just over seven minutes the longest and most complex piece on the album, is also one of its best, continuing the long tradition of Arena’s closing epics. The build-up of dramatic, tense atmosphere through solemn symphonic arrangements is once again pulled off in an exceptionally subtle way, alongside spirited sharpening of guitar riffs, all tied together throughout by Manzi’s rich vocal register. Nolan gets a bit more room for solos here than on most of the other tracks, while Pointer, with fiery drum fills, once again clearly proves he’s anything but ‘old junk’. Mitchell also adds to the overall drama with a delicious guitar solo that fits beautifully into the entire sonic collage.
The closing “The Tinder Box”, the album’s melancholic peak, opens with piano and is the soul’s final confession, or realization, that wherever it’s heading, be it eternal peace or the beyond, it will surely be better than when it was a prisoner of the physical body. In the final verse the band even allows itself a small jab at its own expense, which is a rarity in the music world these days, though nothing unusual for connoisseurs of the typically English black humor of their ilk.
Another concept album, another masterpiece from the best neo prog rock band of the past decade, and at the same time one of the most magnificent progressive rock achievements of 2011. Arena have once again swept away nearly all the ‘competition’ and made an album that will fuel plenty of lively, ‘high-level’ debates for a long time. If every one of their next albums is as good as this one was, masterpiece level, then it’s definitely worth waiting another six years, though “The Seventh Degree of Separation” gives the feeling that the band is brimming with new creative energy and freshness, so the next studio release will probably arrive sooner than most people expect.
Lineup
Paul Manzi – vocals
Clive Nolan – keyboards and backing vocals
John Mitchell – guitar and backing vocals
John Jowitt – bass guitar and backing vocals
Mick Pointer – drums
Production
Clive Nolan
Track list
01. The Great Escape
02. Rapture
03. One Last Au Revoir
04. The Ghost Walks
05. Thief Of Souls
06. Close Your Eyes
07. Echoes Of The Fall
08. Bed Of Nails
09. What If?
10. Trebuchet
11. Burning Down
12. Catching The Bullet
13. The Tinder Box
