Barren Cross

Item: Atomic Arena
Author: Daniel Baillod

Atomic Arena

(1988)

Reviewed by Daniel Baillod

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Label EnigmaAdonai Metal Rock #21989

glam metal heavy metal power metal thrash metal

Translated from the original French

The album had kept us waiting (2 years between "Rock For The King" and "Atomic Arena"), and the wait has been amply rewarded! The first remark of good sense and logic one can make is that when a band manages to land a contract with a major label, it immediately has far greater means. The budget for "Atomic Arena" is without doubt extremely bigger than that of "Rock For The King". What a sound!! Once again, it is John and Dino Elefante who are in on it!! So on the production side, no problem: they have the big sound, clean and flawless. "Atomic Arena" is a very balanced album: commercial heavy ("Imaginary Music", "Deadlock"...), complex heavy ("In The Eye Of The Fire", "Close To The Edge", "Living Dead"), a slow ("Heaven Or Nothing"), and even a visit to the thrash side with "Cultic Regimes". There is something for everyone, and BARREN CROSS is at ease in all these styles. Besides, the band has come on a great deal musically since "Rock For The King". They show great musical maturity. Even if many reproach them with sounding too much like Maiden, BARREN CROSS has a sound of its own. It is true that the vocals are very close to Maiden: many thought on first listen that Bruce Dickinson had changed bands... But this strange resemblance takes nothing whatever away from the considerable talents of the vocalist Mike Lee ("In The Eye Of The Fire", "Living Dead", "King Of Kings"). Ray Parris's guitar work is very good ("Killers Of The Unborn", "Cultic Regimes"). As for Steve Whitaker, he is at ease on his drum machine, and he has a sound... killer!! His playing recalls, from certain angles, Robert Sweet ("In The Eye Of The Fire"). Finally Jim Laverde, the bassist, does not go unnoticed ("Imaginary Music"), and has a particular blast on "In The Eye Of The Fire", where he handles the intro, and which follows a completely crazy bass line all the way through the track!! On the lyrics side, BARREN CROSS has done something very different compared with "Rock For The King", and compared with everything being done on the WM scene at the moment: indeed, BARREN CROSS has chosen to tackle worrying subjects in our society, and to give them a biblical outlook. Thus the band attacks abortion violently ("Killers Of The Unborn"), terrorism ("Terrorist Child"), drugs ("Deadlock"), sects ("Cultic Regimes"),... All highly interesting subjects, tackled with wisdom and sincerity. But BARREN CROSS also touches on other subjects, such as suicide ("In The Eye Of The Fire"), life after death ("Living Dead"), and even the solitary celebrity of a rock star ("Imaginary Music")... In short, "Atomic Arena" is one of the most interesting WM albums, as much at the level of the lyrics as at the level of its musical balance. BARREN CROSS... Best WM band?? I leave you to judge...! "Atomic Arena" is the must of the year 1988!!