June 23, 2001
Here are links to some links on the web about NORWAY.

Article about Frontiers & SPV USA distribution. Mentions ARRIVAL.

April 11, 2001
Heres a review from Sea of Tranquility, a rock & metal quarterly published in Kentucky,USA.

February 22, 2001
Review of ARRIVAL on Detritus AOR /MHR &Metal Website
It's fitting that Norway's album shares the same title as Journey's new one. Norway is obviously *very* influenced by them, and play pure '80s AOR in the mold Journey created. There's plenty of tasty guitar and lots of keyboards that lay down the base of the sound for the entire album. Sounding almost exactly like Journey certainly isn't a bad thing...I mean come on...it's *JOURNEY*! Plus, the band adds just enough different elements to keep them from being called a clone. There's actually some really nice Scandinavian hard  rock (a la Treat) touches in this Jersey-based band's sound. Overall I was quite impressed with the whole disc. This is the band's second album. Their first, NIGHT DREAMS, was released independently a couple years back and suffered big time from awful production and way
too many lightweight songs. On this one, Norway really lets loose and rocks and the production is eons better, providing a nice, full sound that's absolutely essential for this type of music. Songs
like "Givin' It All," "One Night Alone," "Someday, Someway," and "Heaven In Your Arms"
are perfect old school summertime cruising songs, that just scream for you to roll down your windows and groove. There's also some nice  lyrical depth and seriousness with songs like the cool mid-tempo "Sendin' A Prayer (A Song For David)." The thing I
was most pleasantly surprised by is the lack of much in the way of
ballads. *That* is certainly un-Journeylike, and very welcome. Just plenty of good, rockin' AOR gems...can't go wrong with that. Definitely one of the better releases from last year. - Craig Matusinski

January 14, 2001
Review of Arrival on a California based webzine called Rough Edge.

December 24, 2000
Here is a review of Arrival from July, 2000 that we just found out about. It's on a new AOR/MHR site called Heavy Harmonies.

Nov. 9, 2000
Arrival album review in FanZine Magazine(Spain)In Spanish

POWERPLAY MAGAZINE June/July 2000 -review
No title is more apropos for Norway’s major-label debut than “Arrival.” Despite the U.S. melodic rock band’s exceptional 1997 self-released disc, “Night Dreams,” the last thing record labels in the States want to do is back an act that sounds more like Def Leppard than Limp Bizkit. Then last year, from overseas, came Now and Then/Frontiers with a much-deserved two-record deal. Who cares if there’s nothing overwhelmingly original here? Glenn Pierson, who sounds like a vocal union of Rik Emmett, Danny Vaughn and Terry Brock, sings the guts out of every song. And Jim Santos’s guitar solos, which could have been lifted from any Bon Jovi album before 1988, smoke louder than those of his better-known colleagues. The simple fact that the four guys in Norway have both the balls and the chops to carry the flame lit by great bands of the 80s is enough to leave today’s melodic rock listeners giddy.

 From the a cappella opening of the soaring lead-off track, “Given’ It All,” to the bouncy closer, “Heaven In Your Arms,” “Arrival” simply cranks, even more so than “Night Dreams.” Car windows were made to be rolled down for albums like this. A guitar frenzy greets listeners on the startlingly raucous “I Don’t Wanna Love You” and the groovy “Find My Way Home,” while a wall of keyboards dominates tunes like “Can’t Live Without You” and “One Night Alone.” You can’t even help banging your head to the elegiac “Sendin’ A Prayer (A Song for David).” But singling out any one track from “Arrival” winds up an exercise in restraint.

While Pierson and Santos get all the credit for nurturing Norway, bassist Joe Slattery and drummer Marty Brasington earn a nod for providing the backbone of these 11 tracks and for helping bring the group to a new level of maturity. Now that Norway’s finally arrived, where will the band go next?

SOUND: 9      SONGS: 9      GENRE: 10                   MICHAEL POPKE  

Raging Heart Magazine(UK)e wicked, catchy, memorable, sing
along.. if they got any slicker, you’d need to put sawdust down so as not to skid on ‘em!", " Jim’s searing strat is the perfect combination of aggression and beauty. Glenn’s voice likewise; original - with hints of Robin McAuley and Bon Jovi." "Arrival" is justly entitled, as the Norway dudes have arrived, and they’re here to stay."

Strutter Magazine Website Mar. 2000 1st review of Arrival. 10/10 !!!
NORWAY 'Arrival' ADVANCE COPY
(FRONTIERS/NOW ANDTHEN RECORDS)
WoW!! What a rush, wonderful, amazing,
stupendous, glorious, shit-hot, fresh and exciting,adventurous, earth shattering, beautiful, luxurious, and powerful are ten ways to describe this album, this has got to be the next big one for Now And Then records. "Arrival" is the bands first official European release, which must mean that the real debut "NightDreams" issued independently in 1997, must now be seen as a collectors item. This is one strong album of pure aor and melodic rock songs, it's really hard to pin point the best track as each one shines like a diamond.

The albums production is huge huge huge, like those BIG albums of the
late eighties, and the songs lock themselves into your head thanks to their
entertaining melodies immense golden vocals, and cool keyboard action.
The album has it all, lush huge sounding ballads that are guranteed to be
chart topping hits and awesome hard hitting pure melodic rock songs
featuring loads of great riffs, compartisments, well I'd say EUROPE, FAIR
WARNING, SURVIVOR, JOURNEY, WINGER, HARDLINE, FAITH NATION and a whole host of others.

This is a magic album that is gonna be absolutely MASSIVE and needs no
further write up from me, my only worry is how on earth can the mighty
FAIR WARNING compete against these guys, their album will have to be
very very good to beat this slice of hard rock heaven, I'll be listening to this
one for the rest of the year!! BUY OR DIE!!

Rating: 10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)
  

Sept 26, 2000
Just posted. Review in Spanish edition of
Metal Hammer Magazine!

Metal Heart Magazine(Germany)
Review of Arrival in Metal Heart 9.5/10 points!

Loud and Clear Webzine
(Arrival)......" recaptures the glory days of AOR"

Destiny Records(UK)
"Pompy aor, banks of keys, chunky riffs and hook after glorious hook.  Norway have come of age...."

Catchy Hooks Webzine (Sweden)March 2000
Arrival  9/10
"Have Mercy ! The Vikings from New Jersey have arrived!"
"... the production is really HUGE......but the songs...WOW...
the songs are G-R-E-A-T !!""...if I´m dreaming,please don´t wake me up"
"This is a album full with "Pure" AOR..the songs rock!""... if you´re a fan of AOR/Melodic Hardrock BUY!!"

Melodicrock.de Website (Germany)
March 8 2000
"The opener "Givin' it All" is a superb song. After some spins you know that
Norway can hold the high quality over the whole CD. If you like AOR with excellent Hooklines... buy it, it's a Masterpiece !"  All in all 10/10

Majestic Magazine Review  & Interview
April 5, 2000
One of the best albums of the year ! - Fred Monster

BURRN ! Magazine(Japan) Review
Burrn Magazine March 2000
BURRN!'s score was 79 points.
NORWAY appears for the first time in Japan with 2nd album.
"Arrival" is melodious hard rock that makes you remember JOURNEY, BON JOVI and NIGHT RANGER. "Arrival" isTwin Guitar, Key, and thick chorus.
And each tune is wonderful!!!       English translation byYasuo Takagi.

AOR Heaven Website-Record Tip Of The Month-March/2000
"Germany's Largest CD Mail-Order"
"......NORWAY is back in the spotlight and fans of the classic AOR sound will be more than pleased...." "... their mix of keys and guitars is exactly what the AOR crowd is lookin’ for... a damned fine AOR release - get it
pronto !"

Midwestern Skies Website(Sweden)
"...what can I say, this is pure magic." "This is a great release from Norway.... a must in your collection.     Juha Harjula on Arrival

Melody rock Webzine(Germany)
"ARRIVAL is perfect to sing along to in your BMW caprio.""...this piece of work is worth a few spins on your CD-player"

Steen Peitersen's AOR & Melodic Rock Website
Norway's debut that where released a couple of years ago surprised me a
lot because of its obvious potential, though it had a demo-feeling towards
it. But this time the boys in the band are back with superb production, excellent songs and first and foremost great musicianship.
From the first stroke of the first track you know you're in AOR heaven - and especially the kind of heaven that where created in the glory days of the 80's! Big keyboards, powerful guitars, a solid and tight rhythm-section, nice chorus and highpitched vocals with lots of balls!
Guitarist Jim Santos and vocalist Glenn Pierson are also responsable for the production and they had made a remarkable job, and captures the essence of great bands like Journey, Night Ranger, Hugo and Dokken - but Mr. Piersons vocals reminds me in some strange way of some german vocals - i think it's Claus Lessmann's from Bonfire - I don't know if this comparison is true but.... And the bass and drums of Joe Slattery and Marty Brasington also works very fine.
"Arrival" has it all - from the hookladen "Cry Baby" and "Someday, someway" to big ballads like "Can't live without you" but other outstanding tracks are very hard to choose because each and everyone is listenable - but a couple of my favorites are "Hole in my heart" and the almost Europe-esque "One night alone" with a pretty keyboard-solo after the second chorus.
I guess it's not the last sound we heard from Norway - if they keep up the quality of this release they could be essential in the genre!