ARENA / The Theory of Molecular Inheritance ......

[LarryD]

Thanks to The Lasers Edge I finally got my hands on a copy of the new Arena disc. It is no secret that the band has set the price of the disc at $24, something that Im' sure doesn't sit well with lots of people, including me. From what I'm reading and hearing, the band ( or Clive Nolan ) has decided to set the price and decided to do everything themselves. Go ahead and check Amazon, you are looking at $44.00 for the disc. Absolutely outrageous.....but we as fans have no choice but to go where we need to get our music. That said - let's talk about the disc.

If you are looking for "classic" Arena, you will not find it here. I'm completely expecting Claus to come here and semi-bash my thoughts on the disc, but I've been an Arena fan since 1998, so I know what I'm hearing with this band. This is not the sound what we know of Arena, but a more modern / stripped down version of the band....it is a wonderful disc by musical standards...mostly in part due to the incredible vocal performance of new singer Damian Wilson. His performance on the disc could be his defining moment in his career, and that is saying a lot. At his age, his projects, all of the discs he has been on, this one here absolutely shines. I have a feeling the disc was somewhat written with his vocals in mind, as that keyboard wall of sound is all but gone here to make way for that. The sound is guitar driven yet it sounds like John Mitchell is in the background instead of up front and dominating the sound. His signature solos are limited - but they are there in spurts and they are glorious.

What this all comes down to is .... the production. It is pretty awful to my ears. It is compressed to no end. There is hardly any bass to be heard, the drums are a bit too far back in the mix, and the keyboards are also thinned out in the background. The shame of it all is that is a great disc musically .... this is a more modern version of Arena, but starting with song 5, and moving along, the classic Arena does start to come through, as well as the heavier songs. By the end of the disc it's easy to pronounce how great it is, but the sound is completely in contrast to the exquisite writing and performance of it. I listen to Damian's performance, and I wonder how the guy pulls this one off after all these years, and then I wonder how the sound of the whole thing just takes away from it all ......it is definitely a love / hate thing here.

There are some Arena fans here - once Claus gets past my old age hearing loss - I'd like to hear from other fans as well ....... I'm torn between the greatness of the writing, the music and Damian's performance, and the way below average sound of the disc. It is best to hear this with headphones on - once you get it on the main system, the sound collapses and you are forced to play games with your volume button relentlessly.

Fantastic disc - poor sound. That's where I stand on it. Damian keeps me coming back for more each and every time I play it. The man is ageless and timeless.

[introclaus]

Three things and I’ll let you have your old-man moment:

1) I’m surprised you are a late comer to the band. I thought you jumped on board like I did with the debut in 1995. Perhaps that’s why you’re so married to the sound of “immortal” and “visitor”.

2) I’m soooo happy I don’t have the fine ears you have. To me this album sounds perfect. I obviously don’t care as much about sounds/production as you do, as I haven’t had any issues with it.

3) I paid $10.99 on iTunes

[LarryD]

1) I’m surprised you are a late comer to the band. I thought you jumped on board like I did with the debut in 1995. Perhaps that’s why you’re so married to the sound of “immortal” and “visitor”.

***Consider me old. I can only remember back as far as 1998 .....I was on board with you on the debut, just didn't look it up nor remember it .........I guessed. That's what old men do.

2) I’m soooo happy I don’t have the fine ears you have. To me this album sounds perfect. I obviously don’t care as much about sounds/production as you do, as I haven’t had any issues with it.

***Anything on a phone with earbuds sounds good ..... I choose to buy the disc and play it on a decent sound system to get the full effect and also I'm a dinosaur and want the physical copy still. I've spoken with others who agreed with me that the sound is horrible, only Damian's vocals stand out to the point of sounding excellent. The drum sound is terrible. My point to that is, if you are going to charge me $24 for a disc, please make it sound good. I can understand the charge at that point if it sounds incredible. However, on a decent sound system, it does not measure up in the least.

3) I paid $10.99 on iTunes

***I'm not at that point yet, but releases like this make me want to ........

[introclaus]

1) I’m surprised you are a late comer to the band. I thought you jumped on board like I did with the debut in 1995. Perhaps that’s why you’re so married to the sound of “immortal” and “visitor”.

***Consider me old. I can only remember back as far as 1998 .....I was on board with you on the debut, just didn't look it up nor remember it .........I guessed. That's what old men do.

Ahh ... well then I have no clue why you feel like you do. This is a band that has had so many different sounds throughout their career, yet you're always (well, I am) always able to hear it's the same band. And that goes for new album as well. I still remember just a few years ago you refused to worthy the Paul Manzi fronted albums as much as a courtesy listen, but now you enjoy those as well, so I'm not saying you're wrong this time as well, but ...

2) I’m soooo happy I don’t have the fine ears you have. To me this album sounds perfect. I obviously don’t care as much about sounds/production as you do, as I haven’t had any issues with it.

***Anything on a phone with earbuds sounds good ..... I choose to buy the disc and play it on a decent sound system to get the full effect and also I'm a dinosaur and want the physical copy still. I've spoken with others who agreed with me that the sound is horrible, only Damian's vocals stand out to the point of sounding excellent. The drum sound is terrible. My point to that is, if you are going to charge me $24 for a disc, please make it sound good. I can understand the charge at that point if it sounds incredible. However, on a decent sound system, it does not measure up in the least.

First of all, I don't listen with earbuds. I can't stand having things in my ear. If I listen to music when running it's through headphones with jaw-induction (which you probably will laugh at and say that's the WORST way to listen to music ... but honestly, when I'm running I don't care about sound quality, just energy). I do most of my listening over the computer when working, in the car while driving or over my home Sonos set up. Very little analogue stuff here - heck, even my vinyls I've set up to play over my Sonos set up. As for this specific album, I don't hear what you're complaining about, but I also never claimed to be an audiophile. To me it sounds great, and gives me what I need.

3) I paid $10.99 on iTunes

***I'm not at that point yet, but releases like this make me want to ........

In all honesty, I'll probably end up buying this on CD as well, just for completing the collection. Will I ever spin the actual CD once I purchase it? Probably not, but it'll look nice on the shelf haha

[GaetanL]

I bought the 2 CD earbook. I have it for quite some time now.

I like the singer Damian Wilson but I identify more the previous singer Paul Manzi to the band Arena. It's like losing a bit their identity. I feel this way maybe because Damian Wilson has been in many bands.

I like the album. But to be honest, I'm not getting fully into it so far...

[Locust0311]

I bought the 2 CD earbook. I have it for quite some time now.

I like the singer Damian Wilson but I identify more the previous singer Paul Manzi to the band Arena. It's like losing a bit their identity. I feel this way maybe because Damian Wilson has been in many bands.

I like the album. But to be honest, I'm not getting fully into it so far...

I agree. Damian's voice is so distinctive that when I hear it my brain goes "this is a Damian album" not "this is an Arena album". I feel the same way about Fabio in Angra. In both cases I like the singers and bands but I would rather they not be together even though they produce quality albums... if that makes sense (which I'm not sure it does)

[introclaus]

Those are definitely valid points. Damien is one of the most distinctive vocalists there are - he sounds like no one but himself. Arena singers have always had a certain resemblance between them in terms of how they end up sounding, but Damien is a different (uncontrollable) beast, and he will always sound like Damien.

[Sir Exar Kun]

I agree. Damian's voice is so distinctive that when I hear it my brain goes "this is a Damian album" not "this is an Arena album". I feel the same way about Fabio in Angra. In both cases I like the singers and bands but I would rather they not be together even though they produce quality albums... if that makes sense (which I'm not sure it does)

Have not yet heard the album, but when Damian was announced this was exactly my thought..... I expect this album to not really feel ARENA-LIKE even though I still expect to love it. The Fabio analogy is perfect..... Great singer, but in no way conveys the ANGRA sound. Michelle Luppi is another example, where his voice is so distinctive that it takes over the sound of whatever band he is fronting.

After Larry and Claus's back and forth, I REALLY can't wait to hear this.

[LarryD]

I agree. Damian's voice is so distinctive that when I hear it my brain goes "this is a Damian album" not "this is an Arena album". I feel the same way about Fabio in Angra. In both cases I like the singers and bands but I would rather they not be together even though they produce quality albums... if that makes sense (which I'm not sure it does)

Have not yet heard the album, but when Damian was announced this was exactly my thought..... I expect this album to not really feel ARENA-LIKE even though I still expect to love it. The Fabio analogy is perfect..... Great singer, but in no way conveys the ANGRA sound. Michelle Luppi is another example, where his voice is so distinctive that it takes over the sound of whatever band he is fronting.

After Larry and Claus's back and forth, I REALLY can't wait to hear this.

****I agree on all counts, with everything everyone has said so far. Especially the part where Damian is the focal point of the show here, and sounds like a Damian disc, not an Arena disc. And that is where my bitch comes in. I LOVE the disc. I'm not sure that Claus has picked up on this point or not..... what I'm saying is that for $24, I would like an Arena disc, and one that sounds good. You get neither here. So how can I love the disc ? Well, Damian sounds absolutely incredible here, up there on his top 3 performances ever. Second, the music is superb. The disc starts to kick in full bore around the track 5, and gets better and more ARena sounding at that point.

To me, this is not an Arena disc. This is a Damian disc backed by the band ARena. And the production really is thin and flat - no life in it. And for $24, this should not be happening. That's my bitch with it.

[introclaus]

I agree. Damian's voice is so distinctive that when I hear it my brain goes "this is a Damian album" not "this is an Arena album". I feel the same way about Fabio in Angra. In both cases I like the singers and bands but I would rather they not be together even though they produce quality albums... if that makes sense (which I'm not sure it does)

Have not yet heard the album, but when Damian was announced this was exactly my thought..... I expect this album to not really feel ARENA-LIKE even though I still expect to love it. The Fabio analogy is perfect..... Great singer, but in no way conveys the ANGRA sound. Michelle Luppi is another example, where his voice is so distinctive that it takes over the sound of whatever band he is fronting.

After Larry and Claus's back and forth, I REALLY can't wait to hear this.

****I agree on all counts, with everything everyone has said so far. Especially the part where Damian is the focal point of the show here, and sounds like a Damian disc, not an Arena disc. And that is where my bitch comes in. I LOVE the disc. I'm not sure that Claus has picked up on this point or not..... what I'm saying is that for $24, I would like an Arena disc, and one that sounds good. You get neither here. So how can I love the disc ? Well, Damian sounds absolutely incredible here, up there on his top 3 performances ever. Second, the music is superb. The disc starts to kick in full bore around the track 5, and gets better and more ARena sounding at that point.

To me, this is not an Arena disc. This is a Damian disc backed by the band ARena. And the production really is thin and flat - no life in it. And for $24, this should not be happening. That's my bitch with it.

I do get that you love it. And I’m happy you do.

But I think you’re completely wrong about it not sounding like arena. To me (!!!) this sounds 100% like Arena, but fronted by Damien. This band have changed their sound so many times over the years that there’s no distinct sound to me that is “Arena”. It’s just a feeling when I listen to it that tells me that this is a Pointer/Nolan album and that to me is Arena. From what I’ve gathered, to you Arena is the sound of “the visitor” and “immortal”. You proved that by dismissing the Manzi albums for a very long time.

I can’t argue on what YOU think, that’s your personal opinion just like mine is mine, but I am surprised by you telling everyone that it doesn’t sound like Arena, because to me it does. It’s just the difference between what you hear and what I’m hearing that surprises me. Again, can’t argue taste, but both of us can state our opinions.

The production is nowhere as bad as you make it out to be - I don’t hear any issues whatsoever. Again, we’ve talked about this before - you listen on expensive equipment and have audiophile ears, whereas I listen on computer or running or in car or over a Sonos set up - off course we hear it differently. But you’re doing this album a disservice by saying it sounds like crap because I really don’t hear that at all.

Either way, Damien sounds great, the music is great and we both love the disc, so there’s that.

[LarryD]

I agree with everything you said .... I'm curious to hear what some of the others think of it once they hear it ........

[jhallum]

Anyone found a digital vendor in the US selling this?

[introclaus]

Anyone found a digital vendor in the US selling this?

I’m in the us and I bought it on itunes

[jhallum]

Anyone found a digital vendor in the US selling this?

I’m in the us and I bought it on itunes

Blech, itunes

I did find it on amazon music, where it had been weirdly missing for about a week, looks like it got fixed today.

[introclaus]

I just spent the last hour looking up reviews on the internet (things to do while you’re waiting for your kid at hockey practice lol) and found 20+ reviews all talking about how amazing this album is, how Damien fits in like a glove and still makes this sound like Arena, how John and Clive are still front and center, and how superb the production is.

I didn’t find one single review saying:
This doesn’t sound like Arena
John and Clive aren’t living up to their normal standard
The production sounds like crap

I’m not saying Larry is wrong but …. Well …. I am actually saying that

[artension2]

I guess I'm wrong too then. I've given this album several listens as well, and just can't get it to click with me. For me it's not about the production, as I don't have the equipment to really make that an issue. It's the music itself. The emotion, especially the darkness, which Arena always delivered in spades, is lacking, at least to these ears. Damian Wilson certainly sings well enough, with a wide variety of soft and louder bits, but there is a certain thinness to his voice in the higher registers, although it didn't bother me as much with Threshold. But for me, it's the plaintive conveying of hopelessness and regrets, etc. that is a staple of some of the best Neo Prog, and what has made IQ's last 3 albums among my favorites. No one did it better than Rob Sowden, IMO, but Paul Manzi learned to back off the rock singer vibes and emote rather well on the last 2 Arena albums. I have not delved into the lyrics, so perhaps that kind of emotion was not meant for this album. I miss the keyboard wall of sound, as Larry eloquently put it. Truly it does seem as though the music is a vehicle for Damian Wilson's vocals. Or has Clive been a little TOO busy with his musicals lately? Yes, there are some good bits here and there, but it has been the biggest disappointment of the year for me.

[introclaus]

I guess I'm wrong too then. I've given this album several listens as well, and just can't get it to click with me. For me it's not about the production, as I don't have the equipment to really make that an issue. It's the music itself. The emotion, especially the darkness, which Arena always delivered in spades, is lacking, at least to these ears. Damian Wilson certainly sings well enough, with a wide variety of soft and louder bits, but there is a certain thinness to his voice in the higher registers, although it didn't bother me as much with Threshold. But for me, it's the plaintive conveying of hopelessness and regrets, etc. that is a staple of some of the best Neo Prog, and what has made IQ's last 3 albums among my favorites. No one did it better than Rob Sowden, IMO, but Paul Manzi learned to back off the rock singer vibes and emote rather well on the last 2 Arena albums. I have not delved into the lyrics, so perhaps that kind of emotion was not meant for this album. I miss the keyboard wall of sound, as Larry eloquently put it. Truly it does seem as though the music is a vehicle for Damian Wilson's vocals. Or has Clive been a little TOO busy with his musicals lately? Yes, there are some good bits here and there, but it has been the biggest disappointment of the year for me.

We can’t argue taste. So yes, to my ears you are wrong as well. Just like I’m wrong to you and Larry.

[Sir Exar Kun]

Got a chance to listen to this solo in the car (Bose 10 speaker system, so definitely able to give it a fair critique sonically), and Larry..... I don't hear what you hear.... AT ALL.

The disc sounds great to me. No issues at all with the mix.

What I DO hear, and you highlight clearly, is how track five on really kicks in more of the old school Arena sound, whereas the first four tracks have a more modern, grittier tone to them somewhat akin to the Pure/Passion era of Pendragon. The defining difference to me is that with Pendragon, you had Nick Barrett's vocals around which everything was centered, so even when the music changed direction, it STILL sounded like Pendragon. Here, you have a definite shift in tone on those first songs coupled with Damian's vocals being new to the band, and it makes for a very DIFFERENT sound than what we are used to.

With that being said, IT WORKS. It works in spades. As previously called out, this is one of Damian's best efforts. I absolutely hear the Headspace coming through, especially on the early tracks, and a wee bit of Threshold later.... But it's undeniably his fingerprints all over the disc. There's also more of a focus on vocals for much of the first half of the album, meaning..... There are A LOT of vocals. Not many instrumental breaks, and when there are it's with that gruff guitar tone playing chords rather than the rich, full leads we usually hear..... But again, second half of the album that flips on its head.

If you played the first couple of tracks for me blind, I'd say it was a new Headspace album. At parts, I MIGHT have even said Clive Nolan was guesting on keys, but would never blindly think it was ARENA. Come the second half (ESPECIALLY the song "Integration") it would be a no-brainer to spot Arena..... (This song could easily fit in "Contagion" in fact.....)

I love this disc. One spin only so far, and I was mesmerized throughout. Strong candidate for AOTY for me.

[LarryD]

Got a chance to listen to this solo in the car (Bose 10 speaker system, so definitely able to give it a fair critique sonically), and Larry..... I don't hear what you hear.... AT ALL.

The disc sounds great to me. No issues at all with the mix.

What I DO hear, and you highlight clearly, is how track five on really kicks in more of the old school Arena sound, whereas the first four tracks have a more modern, grittier tone to them somewhat akin to the Pure/Passion era of Pendragon. The defining difference to me is that with Pendragon, you had Nick Barrett's vocals around which everything was centered, so even when the music changed direction, it STILL sounded like Pendragon. Here, you have a definite shift in tone on those first songs coupled with Damian's vocals being new to the band, and it makes for a very DIFFERENT sound than what we are used to.

With that being said, IT WORKS. It works in spades. As previously called out, this is one of Damian's best efforts. I absolutely hear the Headspace coming through, especially on the early tracks, and a wee bit of Threshold later.... But it's undeniably his fingerprints all over the disc. There's also more of a focus on vocals for much of the first half of the album, meaning..... There are A LOT of vocals. Not many instrumental breaks, and when there are it's with that gruff guitar tone playing chords rather than the rich, full leads we usually hear..... But again, second half of the album that flips on its head.

If you played the first couple of tracks for me blind, I'd say it was a new Headspace album. At parts, I MIGHT have even said Clive Nolan was guesting on keys, but would never blindly think it was ARENA. Come the second half (ESPECIALLY the song "Integration") it would be a no-brainer to spot Arena..... (This song could easily fit in "Contagion" in fact.....)

I love this disc. One spin only so far, and I was mesmerized throughout. Strong candidate for AOTY for me.

*** I agree with everything you said here - 100%. This is exactly how I feel about the disc ..... I'm not sure about the AOTY though, as I can't put it there due to the less than stellar production I speak of. I think I have decided not to mention production issues anymore when giving my opinions of discs ..... it creates too many sub-arguments and it starts to take away from the quality of the actual music. I've gathered that most people don't care about the production qualities of a disc, as everyone has their own listening mediums and those are too diverse to address each one. The problem comes if I just say " I don't like the disc " and leave it at that...I would say the music is great but it sounds like crap. Argument begins based on THEIR format that they are listening on. So it's a tough one .....

For the record - I don't have a super duper audio system here. I have a quality, very revealing system that will show the imperfections of badly recorded material..... unfortunately, most of the metal we listen to isn't that greatly recorded and use massive compression techniques to put their sound down. Sure, most of it sounds good on my computer system, which has decent speakers attached - but when moved out into the main system , bye bye sound .... collapse. No separation, no imaging, no bass, etc etc etc ..... so there we go. Ultimately, I have to question it based on that because that's how I listen to my music. So in the end, if a disc sounds rough to me, and I can't fully enjoy it because of that, then sound does become an issue.

That said - the disc is wonderfully written, Damian sounds amazing, and I do love the disc. I just wish it sounded better on my system for total enjoyment. I could always put headphones on go that route, and enjoy it that way -- which I do -- but in the end, I have to base the sound on how it sounds on MY system.....

[gazinwales]

Larry hit the nail on the head for me, but it's not the production, it the mastering of the album.
As he stated it's the compression used by nearly all metal mastering engineers, it has no dynamics.
While it's not as bad here as the previous Arena album, 'Double Vision' it's noticeable enough and definitely effects my listening experience.

But I can appreciate that if your listening via iTunes and through modern mediums, it's going to sound fine to most.

[Sir Exar Kun]

For the record - I don't have a super duper audio system here. I have a quality, very revealing system that will show the imperfections of badly recorded material..... unfortunately, most of the metal we listen to isn't that greatly recorded and use massive compression techniques to put their sound down. Sure, most of it sounds good on my computer system, which has decent speakers attached - but when moved out into the main system , bye bye sound .... collapse. No separation, no imaging, no bass, etc etc etc ..... so there we go. Ultimately, I have to question it based on that because that's how I listen to my music. So in the end, if a disc sounds rough to me, and I can't fully enjoy it because of that, then sound does become an issue.

At the risk of saying something insensitive, but maybe you don't have the "right" sound system then? Or need more than one? If there's strong quality material out there you aren't enjoying because of the way it sounds on your setup, maybe have a secondary or different setup..... (This feels overly personal.... Like telling a man what he's doing wrong on the grill! )

I have family around most / all of the time, so literally almost NEVER play music at home. When I do, it's almost always going to be a live DVD/Blu-Ray through my TV soundbar setup. Works GREAT for my limited purposes at home. Eventually, once the kids are moved out, I'll invest in something more robust, but right now just not worth the dollars. I did install some exterior bluetooth speakers for when I'm working / chilling in the backyard, but honestly nothing spectacular there..... Decent bass for what they are, but basic.

The car is almost exclusively where I truly judge new stuff, as that is one area where I do go a bit more all-out on my spend. New material is listened to exclusively there, or OCCASIONALLY (less nowadays since COVID eliminated most work trips) on headphones in an airplane. It only goes to PC speakers once I "know" the album and can just enjoy it in the background.

This Arena album sounded GREAT in the car. Yes, definitely has a more metal mix to it, but since that's 90% of what I listen to I already have the settings pretty well configured for that.

[LarryD]

At the risk of saying something insensitive, but maybe you don't have the "right" sound system then? Or need more than one? If there's strong quality material out there you aren't enjoying because of the way it sounds on your setup, maybe have a secondary or different setup..... (This feels overly personal.... Like telling a man what he's doing wrong on the grill! )

***Without getting into the equipment - I have two systems for music, and one for movies. My music set up is mainly used for vinyl and quality CDs. My second system is used for movies, Alexa streaming, and low quality CDs, of which 95% of the metal is played on here because they would sound worse than they do already. So I normally run metal CDs thru my movie system as it is much more forgiving than my music system.
I was playing some STING cds the other day and just basking in the incredible quality of his recordings. Elton John, Billy Joel, etc etc all sound top notch. Sure they have the money for the great sound, but I have many prog rock / neo-prog discs that sound great here as well. On my movie system side, I actually use an equalizer on the metal stuff to get at least a better sound for my ears on some of them. Metal mixes are really pretty bad overall ..... thus, my love ( and need ) for re-masters, lots of which sound really great ( the PoS discs come to mind ). So I'm pretty well set up tp listen to all types of and formats of music, on pretty good stuff.

This Arena album sounded GREAT in the car. Yes, definitely has a more metal mix to it, but since that's 90% of what I listen to I already have the settings pretty well configured for that.

***It will sound great in a car. Sometimes I burn CDs just to take with me in the car so it CAN sound better. Cars, headphones, earbuds, MP3 players, will all make metal music sound better - but that doesn't mean it sounds like that in real life.

I see Gazinwales above is saying something about the mastering and about Double Vision. Just the other day, someone texted me and asked " have you played Double Vision recently ? It sounds awful - maybe worse than this new disc " ..... I have not played it recently, but I know what he is talking about. The recording itself is not very good.

[gazinwales]

Totally off topic, I am very happy to report that the new Threshold sounds 100% better than their last one.
The mastering on 'Legends of The Shire' made it sound like a 192kbps MP3 to my ears, while 'Dividing Lines' sounds much more dynamic.

[LarryD]

Totally off topic, I am very happy to report that the new Threshold sounds 100% better than their last one.
The mastering on 'Legends of The Shire' made it sound like a 192kbps MP3 to my ears, while 'Dividing Lines' sounds much more dynamic.

***Great to hear !!!! Mine is on the way from The Lasers Edge as I write this ........ agree on Legends, what you said .......

[GaetanL]

I don't think this album is over compressed/too loud like some metal albums are. I don't even need to listen to the album to know it. Just need to load the flac audio file in a software like GoldWave and have a look at the graph. When it's too loud we see in the graph that the wave crahes at the top like a flat line. This is not the case with this album. Also my music player software calculate something called "Replay Gain" and the value I get for this album is not alarming.

[introclaus]

I don't think this album is over compressed/too loud like some metal albums are. I don't even need to listen to the album to know it. Just need to load the flac audio file in a software like GoldWave and have a look at the graph. When it's too loud we see in the graph that the wave crahes at the top like a flat line. This is not the case with this album. Also my music player software calculate something called "Replay Gain" and the value I get for this album is not alarming.

It must be wrong software you’re using. The gods of Uber-production already told us this album is unlistenable so ….

[introclaus]

Got a chance to listen to this solo in the car (Bose 10 speaker system, so definitely able to give it a fair critique sonically), and Larry..... I don't hear what you hear.... AT ALL.

The disc sounds great to me. No issues at all with the mix.

*** I agree with everything you said here - 100%. This is exactly how I feel about the disc .....

Wait ... what?

The post says "Larry, I don't hear what you hear AT ALL"
Larry says: "I agree 100% with everything you said here"

I'm lost ...

[introclaus]

All jokes and silly jabs aside, this album frigging slays! I can't get enough of it. To me (and apparently I'm alone on this board in thinking so) it's 100% ARENA - just in a new setting with Damien on vocals and trying out new things, which to me is what this band always has done - changes here and there and not many albums sounding the same. The Headspace comments I've seen has made me go back and re-listen to those albums, but it really doesn't remind me much of this except Damien's voice. I guess that comparison just goes over my head, but hey, good for those that feel there's a similarity. It's so great that bands who've been around for this long can still come up with killer material.

[Sir Exar Kun]

All jokes and silly jabs aside, this album frigging slays! I can't get enough of it. To me (and apparently I'm alone on this board in thinking so) it's 100% ARENA - just in a new setting with Damien on vocals and trying out new things, which to me is what this band always has done - changes here and there and not many albums sounding the same. The Headspace comments I've seen has made me go back and re-listen to those albums, but it really doesn't remind me much of this except Damien's voice. I guess that comparison just goes over my head, but hey, good for those that feel there's a similarity. It's so great that bands who've been around for this long can still come up with killer material.

For me the Headspace reference comes to the odd syncopations that he uses in the vocals, and the dominant focus they achieve as the centerpiece rather than serving as simply another musical instrument in the overall composition. It's a feeling more than anything. I also refer to the first Headspace album more than anything, as the second was not great.