Just started getting into these guys. They were always on my radar but I never got around to listening to them. After Marillion and IQ, I never really got into the Neo-Prog scene of the 80's and 90's (outside of bands like Spock's Beard, but they were less like them and more American for obvious reasons). After having been a fan of Frost* and Kino, I knew about John Mitchell but never bothered to check out any of his other bands and projects.
Lately, in anticipation of the new Frost* album coming out next year, I decided to finally get around to that, and Arena came up first. I've started listening to their earlier albums, but knowing that they've got 8 is a bit of a daunting task to catch up to. I've read good things about Contagion (especially the full "Max" version) as well as The Visitor, so I'm excited to get to those two albums.
Having listened to the first two in a casual manner, I can say that these guys are more like IQ in that there's a certain Gabriel-Era Genesis feel to the sound of those early albums, and I'm OK with that. I like that about IQ and the early Marillion albums, though the latter sounds awfully dated at this point. With IQ, and now Arena, that Genesis sound comes off as more polished with better production and keyboard/synth sound choices.
The first two albums are pretty good, with some great variety in them. Listening to them now, I wonder why it took me almost a decade to getting around to these guys after my initial discovery of a larger prog rock world.
-Marc.