Amazing and different!
F. Tabesh | Portland, Oregon USA | 02/13/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I pre-ordered this album and got it a day before it was officially released! Just like Immortal album, it took me a while to really understand and love it. Naturally, I was expecting something like Immortal album and I was a little disappointed.
But after listening to it a few times I started to understand all the new stuff they have done in this album. All I can say is, good job guys, this album is incredibly amazing.The songs are mostly short ranging from 2.5 to 5 or 6 minutes, no epics.
The first song is as expected, great! It has a very energizing rhythm; Mick Pointer has really done a great job, especially at the end of the song.
The second song is repeated in song number six and it has amazing lyrics. Rob Sowden's voice is just without comparison.
There are three instrumentals every single one of which is truely impressive.
From song 6 on the album seems to be introducing a new style. Song #7 is strange but very rich in terms of singing techniques and Keyboard-guitar playing. Number 8 is the most amazing song so far! Songs #11 #15 and #16 are heavenly!Overall, don't expect long guitar solos, like the ones in moviedrom or butterfly man. But John Mitchell has performed some new techniques in his guitar playing that has added a lot to the albums integrity.
Ian Salmon's base is obviously more pronounced in this album. absolutely Great base work.
Clive Nolan has written some extraordinary songs and has played some awesome keyboard in the background. I just wish he would add some more noticeable keyboard work like he's done with Pendragon. I believe he's done a better job, in terms of keyboard work, with Pendragon's last two albums than he's done here in Contagion.
Bottom line, it is an astonishing album. Buy it, you won't regret!"
Prog-Rock has never sounded finer
Dan Solera | Chicago, IL USA | 09/17/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Having suffered several comparisons to Marillion's new material, Arena took their strengths and doubled their efforts with 2003's masterpiece, "Contagion". With a sound so varied and delectable that it almost hurts, the album is beautiful, lush and brilliantly well-layered.
The album begins with 45 seconds of static, mixed with audio clips of people talking and general pandemonium, before unleashing the album's heaviest piece, "Witch Hunt". Singer Rob Sowden rocks in this song by coupling both a powerful voice and high-pitched finishes. The song is mostly driven by a repeated riff that never gets tiring or old. The song's last note is the beginning of the second track, "An Angel Falls", a 73-second piece of beautiful piano and Sowden's softer side.
After two instrumentally-challenging pieces ("Painted Man" and "This Way Madness Lies"), we are treated to one of the album's gems, "Spectre at the Feast". The song's beginning combines distorted keyboards with Sowden's chilling voice, and the latter half brings in the electric guitars and a heavy bass. Then we have "Never Ending Night", which revisits the same precious melodies we heard in "An Angel Falls", but with added electric guitars, pianos and synthesized strings for an added epic punch.
From there, the album delivers a handful of interesting songs that are both progressive and eerie. "Salamander" has a bizarre piano line as a verse that leads into a pop-ish chorus and then a majestic interlude that couples the audio clips from "Witch Hunt" with a background choir. "On the Box" is one of three instrumental tracks that pits guitar against keyboard in an epic power struggle.
The last five tracks close the 16-track album on the best note possible. "The City of Lanterns" is a chilling track, led by Sowden's composed voice and a ghostly synthesized ambience, leading into "Riding the Tide", another keyboard-heavy, psychedelic and fast-paced instrumental. "Cutting the Cards" could be the album's single: powerful and catchy - a standout track among stellar compositions.
"Contagion" is not a heavy album by anyone's standards. Despite this, it retains a darkness and unsettling mood throughout many of its songs, relieved only by the mouth-watering "Spectre at the Feast" and "Cutting the Cards". It is a monumental release and a perfect buy for anyone interested in prog-rock or the softer side of prog-metal.
See also: Dream Theater - "Falling into Infinity", Spock's Beard - "V", IQ - "Dark Matter", Pain of Salvation - "The Perfect Element I""
Arena have outperformed other Rock bands by so far!
Platonov Dmitry | Moscow, Russia | 06/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I would said that Arena's becoming yet another modern classic band. Now I think that their music is sometimes more original than Pink Floyd's or Deep Purple's one. If Arena had been among those pioneers they would have become kings of Rock.
I definitely think there are many popular bands nowadays like Radiohead or U-2, that have very much to learn from Arena. It's amazing that such mediocre bands are bathing in the rays of fame while hardly anyone knows real masters.
Though 'Contagion' album is somewhat heavier than other Arena albums which are without any doubts are a modern classic music and the band accentuated now on the heavy music, the album is as great, fresh, and creative as others. It seems the band still able to issue new original albums. It's a mystery for me how two men - Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer can write this ingenious music without stop in six or even more years.
Contagion is one of the best Arena's albums. The music and rhythms are so catchy that I listened to the album at least a hundred times and want to listen it more and more.
If something is worth listening and enjoying than this should be 'Contagion'. Watch other Arena's albums - Songs from the Lion's cage, Pride, Visitor, Immortal they are very great!"
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1