Review Summary: Keep on building, stone on stone / Let the temple reach the clouds
Sometimes it’s hard to find a good sentence to start a review, even though the point I’m trying to make with it is simple: Arena’s contribution to progressive rock is not limited to their string of acclaimed high-concept albums released at the end of nineties – beginning of 2000s. Those are excellent albums for sure with “Contagion” (2003) being my personal favorite and a true masterpiece. But if I was asked to name my favorite Arena album, I’d be stuck between two options, because the band’s much less celebrated debut “Songs from the Lion’s Cage” is just as strong. It is also fundamentally different, even though the core elements of Arena sound are already in place.
Up-and-coming bands typically have to compensate for relative lack of skills and experience with raw talent and enthusiasm, but it was not the case here. Both mainstays of the band, Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer, already came from a rich musical background. Nolan was (and still remains) a keyboardist for Pendragon, while Pointer is the original Marillion drummer. Interestingly, I don’t hear that much influence of the above-mentioned bands musically speaking, the only obvious reference being the band’s then-vocalist John Carson whose style and delivery clearly resembles Fish at some points, although tonally he is not at all a clone of Marillion’s original singer.
What helps Arena to avoid being entrapped by its members background and influences is the fact that, despite being a debut album, “Songs from the Lion’s Cage” already has its own very distinct face and goes places neither Marillion nor Pendragon ever ventured and Arena itself hardly re-visited. To be more specific, the album projects an aura of ancient times: magnificent palaces, boundless deserts, long-gone majesty and forgotten glory. It references kings and cities of old, talks about avarice and pride, stirs those old bones and forces them to share their stories of passion and yearning with you.
However, do not expect the album’s music to be buried under that ancient dust. Arena tells the tales of the past through forward-looking and unorthodox music, even though the album’s structure is quite traditional for a progressive rock record. Only “Midas Vision” is a short track with a big, memorable chorus and Carson doing his best Peter Gabriel impression. Otherwise, the songs possess hefty 6+ minutes runtime, although only two of them clock over 10 minutes. Still, you will only be bored by these songs if you hate progressive rock by default or cannot stomach lengthy track duration at all. They are fresh and inspired, not a sign of that dated prog sound that can suffocate you with self-indulgence.
One of Arena’s unique traits is in full blossom already, and that is the band’s storytelling ability. Their debut is not as strictly conceptual as their defining later albums, but every song is leading you somewhere the way a good book may sometimes make you forget about the outside world and focus completely on what’s happening with its characters. This approach allows the band to eschew the traditional song structures for the most part, and focus on the flow of the songs, which often takes some unusual turns. Like the opener “Out of the Wilderness,” a complex yet engaging song. My favorite moment is in the song’s first half when the drums sound like they are breathing heavily, creating an epic and monumental feeling, and a soft guitar melody gives way to one of the many infectious synth tunes to be found on this record. That interplay is used quite effectively again on “Jericho”, which starts like a classic prog ballad with a slow guitar intro, but changes the mood soon thanks to one more effective intervention of the keyboard wizard that is Clive Nolan. Every song on the album refuses to stay in one place for too long, changing like a kaleidoscope.
Meanwhile, John Carson also deserves his time in the spotlight. He only stayed for one album, which is a pity, because he is versatile and theatrical enough to make the band’s eclectic approach work. Sometimes you can hear Fish intonations in John’s voice, sometimes his singing makes you think of Uriah Heep, but he has enough charisma and personality to put his own touch on all those influences. “Valley of the Kings” is a particular personal triumph for Carson, for he navigates the listener through a long and complex song expertly with remarkable passion. Not a grandad telling a fairytale to the kids gathered around a fire, but an inquisitor preaching to a crowd while a heretic burns. The venom with which he drawls “what is mine is mine, you know” gives way to overt triumph later, as he proclaims “mine is immortality!” The singer’s ability to always find the right emotion is the decisive factor that turns the song into a prog masterpiece.
All that praise, and we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. The “Crying for Help” suite is one other factor that defines uniqueness of “Songs from the Lion’s Cage.” It is a four-part suite placed between the “bigger” songs, a musical form that Arena only revisited to a significantly lesser effect on their second album. On this LP, the suite consists of four tracks, three of which are instrumentals boasting some of the most gorgeous and heart-wrenching melodies. I feel like the first two parts of the suite still try to convey some hope that the help might eventually come, while the third one is downright hopeless. It all culminates with the fourth part, the only one with lyrics, and the one song on the album that comes perhaps the closest to the sound explored by the band later on albums like “The Visitor.”
These short tracks convey some of the rawest emotions while also allowing the listener to take a breath in between the lengthier songs. This benefits greatly the album’s flow and prevents it from being overwhelming. So, when the closing epic “Solomon” comes along, you might feel that a 14-minutes long song is redundant as a closer, but that sweet waltzing melody should get you hooked at the very beginning and convince you to make it to the end of this long and winding journey.
Like I said, my point is simple. It’s all there already, all in place. Everything that Arena is known for is present from the very beginning. The storytelling, the creativity, the emotions, the unique features that are characteristic for “Songs from the Lion’s Cage” specifically. This is not the album that got me into Arena, but it’s one that I regard with especial fondness after following the band’s trajectory for many a moon. Should any of you decide to give this a listen, don’t expect to hear an album that is just a shadow of what will come after. This is the sound of a band hitting the target from the start.
