CD review DARK ARENA ‘Alien Factor’ – re-issue

Dark Arena is a band that isn’t on the radar of many metal fans which doesn’t mean that the guys from Cleveland, Ohio play bad music. Not at all and the the contrary is reality.

The band premiered in 2006 with an album called ‘Alien Factor’. Pure Steel Records is now re-releasing the longplayer that shows the potential of the band. One year after Dark Arena guitarist Paul Konjicija passed away far too early ‘Alien Factor’ is almost an homage to the axeman and maybe a springboard for the other band members to reach a wider group of metal heads globally.

Dark Arena delivers exquisite US Metal with a progressive touch. Songs like ‘Fear of the Night’ have the strength, the rawness and the riffs a power metal songs needs. Also to mention, the vocals. Juan Ricardo is a real metal siren, something he has proven already with Ritual. His screams are wow.

Songs like ‘Vicious Circle’ and ‘Somewhere’ are metal hymns, standing for timeless heavy metal with a lot of headbanging potential. The acoustic instrumental is a well-done break, acting as a kind of intro to ‘Crystallized’, the last track on this metallic treat.

I have to admit that I haven’t Dark Arena on my list either and I’m happy that I could close the gap. Power metal fans and metalheads with a favor for wild US metal will certainly like this album. I can recommend it for sure.