Friday 25 April 2014

Scream Arena - Scream Arena (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock
Label -                  .

Track listing:

01 - Born Ready
02 - The Price Of Love
03 - Racing To The End Of Night
04 - House Of Pain
05 - Heartbreak Hotel
06 - Another Night In London Town
07 - Knave Of Hearts
08 - Forever
09 - Goodnight L.A.
10 - Somewhere
11 - Queen Of Dreams

Scream Arena are a British based band and here they are releasing their debut full length album, which coincidentally has been produced by US Aor legend Paul Sabu!
First up, we have to mention the production. The band have opted to really indulge in the lower end of the frequency spectrum, not in a gothic or dark wave fashion just, well just as in a a damn bleak, dark, gloomy hard rock fashion! Here Scream Areana have possibly created a whole new genre in the form of Lo-fi dark industrial rock.
Musically the craziest thing about Scream Areana is that of the sound from Scream Arena is the lead singer, around which revolves the entire sound setting.
It is evident that Andy Paul owns a powerful set of pipes and he is able reach high registers, but here he sings with a somber tone, husky, malign... it's the kind of vocals that thirty years ago would have been classified as demoniacal. All accented, of course, by the (on purpose) gloomy production and mix.
There are some great melodic rock tracks here, so dont let the initial reaction to the production put you off, stick with it and by tracks two and three you will be sold, I swear! Some interesting arrangements really do set these guys apart from the pack! Hell there is even an Iron maiden esq track in album closer Quen Of Dreams!
"Scream Arena" are also a band not afraid to speak their mind, with frontman Andy Paul noting on the press release: "We are so tired of Smiths retreads and rewatered workings of The Clash being sold to us as the future of rock music. Scream Arena is a response to both the fey indie bands masquerading as 'rock bands' in Britain and the studied off the shelf misery of so many metal bands championed by the fashion conscious”.
One of the most interesting albums I have had the pleasure of listening too in quite a while.

One thing is for sure: Scream Arena is not your typical Hard Rock band. They are trying something different here, not much in the songwriting department (traditional structures / patterns) but in a new sonic approach.
Listen and decide by yourself.

Rating 7/10


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