The Visitor

In this article, I want to try to give an outline of my vision of the entire story of the album and doing that I shall not only use the lyrics, but breaks in the music as well, because they illustrate turning points in the story very beautifully. The good thing of a concept album is that music and lyrics reinforce each other!

In A Crack In The Ice a man is walking over a frozen lake. His life has reached a deadlock and he sees no way out. But then he is addressed by his alter ego, his guardian angel: the Visitor, who challenges him (‘I defy you...’) to stand on the crack in the ice. Not to commit suicide, but to enter into the confrontation with himself. This is the only way to make a new start.

The man sinks through the ice, it is getting dark and he loses consciousness. Things are taking place inside his head now. The Visitor warns him not to go to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel; his time has not come yet (‘Don’t walk towards the light...’). The man wonders whether he is ready for the confrontation (‘Am I ready to be judged like this?’), but then the Visitor reveals himself completely (symbolised by the great way in which Pins And Needles segues into Double Vision) and makes clear that the man does not have a choice at all. This time it is all or nothing, he cannot run away from the confrontation with himself (‘No where to run, no where to hide’).

Now it also becomes clear that the man and the Visitor have faced each other before (‘We’ve played this game before’), but that time the man walked away from the confrontation. He cannot do this now and the journey inside begins with the dark sounds of Elea. Since this song has no lyrics I can only guess. Maybe Elea is a lost lover?

In The Hanging Tree the journey into the dark depths of his mind continues (‘Moving deeper into the land’). The man starts to wonder what is hidden in the dark corners of his mind (‘Wonder where the river flows, and the blood on the river bed’). He surrenders completely now to find it out (‘Take me to the hanging tree’), while a man and a boy – the man himself at different stages of his life – point and stare at him reproachfully, because of all the mistakes he has made in his life. The song ends with the cry ‘I’m falling...falling down again!’. He sinks deeper and deeper and the real confrontation with his true self is about to begin.

He meets the personifications of his dark sides now: his perverted, hypocritical side (A State Of Grace), his criminal, impulsive side which gives him problems (In The Blink Of An Eye) and a macabre, bloodthirsty side (Don’t Forget To Breathe). Again it is made clear that he did not want to face them before (‘You turned your back on all the signs that bode the words of warning’ and ‘Do you close your eyes on me, you’ve made that mistake once before’). During these encounters the Visitor menacingly stays present in the background (Blood Red Room).

After these rather unpleasant acquaintances there is a short pause, a moment of peace (Serenity). Then the time has come for the last encounter (Tears In The Rain), with his fragile side, who is laughing on the outside but cries on the inside. Who has given his heart and soul and then ended up disillusioned (‘Now I’m living in the rain’). 

These encounters make that the man starts to realise (‘Something growing stronger in me all the time’) that he wants to stay alive (‘Don’t let the child die’). Okay, he may not be perfect, but he accepts his dark sides; after all, they make him human. He is also tired of being judged, it is so easy to judge if you have not been through what he has been through (‘You cannot judge me...’).

Now the Visitor reappears (the abrupt reappearance of the ‘Visitor-riff’ at the end of Enemy Without) and makes clear that it is not over yet. After the confrontation with himself the man will also have to fight to come back to life (Running From Damascus). The Visitor prickles him and orders him to open his eyes, ‘Open your eyes now!’.

After that one of the few actual silences on the album follows. You can almost see the man wake up again and rub his eyes. And then he wonders (The Visitor): was this real or a dream? Am I living now or not? Does it matter?

No, it does not matter. The point is that he has straightened things out with himself and that he can start again, and whether that is in this life or a new life (reincarnation, afterlife) does not matter. He is not alone. In that new life the Visitor will also be watching over him (‘You’re never alone’)...

Of course, this is only my vision of the fourteen-piece jigsaw puzzle called The Visitor. There are probably as many visions as Arena have fans. What do you think about the album? 

By: Erik Beers