Music

Average customer rating:

visitors not the best Arena's album anymore...
The formula has been followed yet again
Best album of 2003, and my favorite album of all time!
Prog-Rock has never sounded finer
Arena have outperformed other Rock bands by so far!

Contagion
Arena
Manufacturer: Inside Out Germany
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

The Visitor
Pepper's Ghost
Immortal?
Picture
Second Life Syndrome

ASIN: B00007FZFK
Release Date: 2004-09-13

Tracks:

Witch Hunt
Angel Falls
Painted Man
This Way Madness Lies [Instrumental]
Spectre at the Feast
Never Ending Night
Skin Game
Salamander
On the Box [Instrumental]
Tsunami
Bitter Harvest
City of Lanterns
Riding the Tide [Instrumental]
Mea Culpa
Cutting the Cards
Ascension

Album Description

2003 album from the progressive metal act. Verglas/SPV.

Customer Reviews:

visitors not the best Arena's album anymore..........2006-07-03

I found Visitors Cd great.Now,when I listen to the visitors,I find it's not heavy enough.It lacks some gnack.Everything U would expect from arena,U'll find in Contagion:heavy riffs,melodic solos and sinous melody.
The new singer is wonderfull in this kind of singing.John mitchell makes its seymour duncan hot rails singing.
Great work,better than pepper's ghost which provide the same kind of music but with less wonderfull songs.
I've seen this band playing in Verviers and they also have a great sound live.

The formula has been followed yet again.......2006-05-09

Now, I have been through this 4 times in several different state of minds. Not one state of mind has concluded to liking it. This is as stale as month old bread.
This actually sounds like a band was asked to write a caricature of a neo-prog rock CD. I keep buying each CD they release hoping it will all come together.

Ingredients: Chunky rock-driven heavy riffs with the "angelic choir" keyboard on every song when the riffs kick in. A good singer in Rob that insists on over-singing with that Shakespearean theatric tone. This was like listening to mid-80's Sabbath or some other cheesy gothic rock band. I like Pendragon. I like IQ, Marillion and most of the bands that fit into this genre but this stuff is outrageously average. And I was trying to like it!!

Best album of 2003, and my favorite album of all time!.......2005-09-24

God I love this album. It took many, many listenings before it grew on me, but now I literally can't go more than two days without playing it. The vocals of Rob Sowden are great on this disc; Clive Nolan's keyboards add such gorgeous sound, the drumming and bass fantastic; for me, the best part is John Mitchell on guitar. The man just makes this instrument sing. Incredible!

I discovered Arena completely by accident, purchasing first "The Visitor." That is a wonderful album, but not quite in this league. Then I got "Immortal?" and I was blown away. "The Butterfly Man" and "Moviedrome" are epics, just classic, mind-blowing epics. (Obviously I encourage getting that disc as well.)

Now enter the Contagion series ("Contagion," "Contagious," and "Contagium"). Ohhhhh Myyyyyyy Godddddddd!!! Just about every song is an epic. It is moving, beautiful, rockin', mind-blowing, and powerful all at the same time. It is literally my favorite prog-rock album ever . . . in fact, probably my favorite album of any type. And to give you an indication of the music I love, I'm a rabid fan of Yes, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, and Radiohead. So, if any of those bands stimulate your musical ear, then just get this album and hear it over and over and over again.

Prog-Rock has never sounded finer.......2005-09-18

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!.......2005-06-27

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!

Average customer rating:

One of the best Industrial releases

Contaminant Pcb
Contagion
Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0000038VO
Release Date: 1992-09-08

Tracks:

We Believe
Ingest
Who Are You
Scratch
Fight!
Aggress
Turn of the Screw
Ingest [Infectious Mix]
We Believe
Who Are You
Scratch [Twitch Remix]
Aggress [Suicide Mic]
Contaigon Seven

Customer Reviews:

One of the best Industrial releases.......2003-10-24

Every now and then you will find a release that just blows you away, they are far and few between but this is one of those gems. This is on of my top ten favorite industrial releases ever made. Contagion has a somewhat Ministry Twitch era feel to them, but a bit harder without losing any of the electronics.

As a DJ there is no excuse if you don't own this CD!

Dance floor hits include:
Scratch (great video as well)
We Believe
Ingest (My personal favorite)
Turn of the Screw
Fight

Aggress

As both a industrial music fan and a DJ I highly recommend you own this CD!

Average customer rating:

this band is (((microwaves))) not los microwaves
Better than ever

Contagion Heuristic
Microwaves
Manufacturer: Crucial Blast
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000JJRXX4
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Tracks:

Thumbs Down Lambpit
MK
Song X
Codex Vortex
Ajeeb Takes the Turk
Executive Indecision
Polaris
Ruin the Night
Eye Removal
Slime Aesthete

Album Description

In the anti-tradition of whitebread Bay Area thrash metal, the violent morass of New York no wave, and a familiarity with Ralph Records / THE RESIDENTS insanity, Microwaves draws from a palette that is somehow as wide as it seems limited. Spiked skronk-infested guitars spit tonality-impaired riffs like so much chaff from a surgically calibrated tree shredder, while a propulsive fretless bass assault is jammed through all manner of alien effects, often rendering it as more a bowel-rumbling presence than an actual instrument. The percussive cyborg clatter and MICROWAVE's paranoid dual vocal attack serve to further blast MICROWAVES' dystopian thrash into the outer void. Features former 1985/CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION/CONELRAD/FATE OF ICARUS personnel.

Customer Reviews:

this band is (((microwaves))) not los microwaves.......2006-12-10

I should know, I am in the band.

Better than ever.......2006-11-11

These are highly seasoned musicians-- like a nicely seasoned cut of mutton. I have (((microwaves))) first two albums, I plan to buy the new album, and they just keep getting better. Think no-wave and thrash. There is always dark humor mixed in. Since Amazon doesn't have any (((microwaves))) songs linked, google "myspace microwaves" and give it a listen. Think Flying Luttenbachers, Boredoms, Flipper, Big Black, Devo.

Average customer rating:

Contagion
Prophecy
Manufacturer: Crash Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00008J2U8
Release Date: 2003-02-25

Tracks:

Visual Betrayer
God-Wrath
Manic Starvation
Lost
Sexual
9 F.O.F. (M.L.D. Clone)
Tolerance Decline
Whore-Like Depression
Digital Contagion
21st Century Schizoid Worm (Technological Indifference Development)

Average customer rating:

Freaks: No Fear of Contagion
Dr. Noah Young
Manufacturer: New Alliance Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Spoken Word | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000848Z
Release Date: 1995-02-07

Average customer rating:

A superior mixture of aggression & electronic mayhem
Futuristic Industrial Metal done very well

Contagion
Prophecy
Manufacturer: Pavement Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000J29I
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Tracks:

Visual Betrayer
God-Wrath
Manic Starvation
Lost
Sexual
9 F.O.F. (M.L.D. Clone)
Tolerance Decline
Whore-Like Depression
Digital Contagion
21st Century Schizoid Worm (Technological Indifference Development)

Customer Reviews:

A superior mixture of aggression & electronic mayhem.......2001-01-19

Mr. Hater's review of this album's content is very thorough and accurately descriptive, so there's no real need to reiterate much of his evaluation. However, I don't believe the incorporation of a drum machine is any sort of drawback; on the contrary, it adds a powerful and uncompromising rhythmic solidarity to the music. Hopefully we'll hear more from Prophecy soon...

Futuristic Industrial Metal done very well.......2000-06-02

This is an intense Industrial Metal album that is somewhat comparable to Fear Factory's "Soul of a New Machine". The vocals are basically done in three different forms: low-pitch scream, dark melodic singing, and occasionally a high-pitch scream as heard on one of the album's better tracks "Lost", which goes from dark and brooding to hateful and grinding in seconds. There is alot of samples and sound effects added to the heaviness of the music and results of this mixture are very interesting. The band uses a drum machine, but they definitely make the most out of it, as the drums fit the music nicely. This is a great industrial metal album that fans of Meshuggah, FF, Pitchshifter, and Strapping Young Lad should not be without!

Average customer rating:

Scratch
Contagion
Manufacturer: Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | CD Singles | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DDWS
Release Date: 1992-08-25

Average customer rating:

ah brings back memories
A must-have classic from the heyday of Industrial Dance
Classic

Contaminant Pcb
Contagion
Manufacturer: World Domination
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000006EVO
Release Date: 1998-03-24

Tracks:

We Believe
Ingest
Who Are You
Scratch
Fight!
Aggress
Turn Of The Screw (Pcb Edit)
Ingest (Infectious Re-Mix)
We Believe (God Mix)
Who Are You (Intestant Mix)
Scratch (Twitch Re-Mix)
Aggress (Suicide Mix)
Contagion Seven

Customer Reviews:

ah brings back memories.......2006-10-16

Ok I first saw these guys when they opened for Front Line Assembly at the Opera House in Toronto. None of us had ever heard of them before and did not know what to expect. I remember that we all thought that they were such a Nitzer Ebb clone and spent the entire show shouting "Join In The Chant" overtop of their songs. Ok so it wasn't nice to make fun of them... but you know what? I bought their CD! There are a couple of really good foot stomping tracks on this cd that we heard regularily in the clubs soon after that show.
Yes, they were quite an unoriginal imitation of Nitzer Ebb, but hey for what it's worth they actually did it very well.

A must-have classic from the heyday of Industrial Dance.......2000-02-28

Released originally in 1992, Contagion's release Contaminant PCB is the brilliant first release of this prolific group. However you can't tell how prolific by looking at their release listings, which currently (Mar. 2000) only includes this release and a few out-of-print singles. For classification, this group falls within the Industrial Dance genre, and it is one of the better albums in that genre, especially in the areas of orchestration, lyrics, message, and vocal styling. Fast-paced, deep, layered orchestrations combined with raspy (yet understandable), violent, poignant lyrics and vocals make this an easy favorite for hard core Industrial fans and clubbers alike. The album features 8 original songs and remixes of five of those songs.

The release starts off on a strong note with "We Believe" with driving beats and poignant, somewhat religious lyrics ("It's my life it's my religion / It's my right to my decision"). The God Mix isn't very different from the original. It has been dubbed and produced down, and it doesn't use the original elements as well, however there is some good guitar work.

"Ingest" is a strong follow-up, and has one of most effective uses of sampling I've heard as a conclusion ("Who told you to think! "). The Infectious Re-Mix of this song is somewhat dubbed down, but it does pull up that strong violent bass line some. However, it is missing the concluding sample I referenced, making the song end with a whimper, not a blast in the face like the original.

"Who Are You" uses sampling equally as well, combined with driving bass and rhythms that get you moving. The Intestant Mix sounds very similar in construction, however it features a rougher, less produced edge, more use of effective, violent samples in place of the vocals, and additional guitar and keyboard work. I actually prefer the mix over the original.

"Scratch" slows down in BPM, but not in intensity. The vocals and beat will get you thrashing and yelling along. The Twitch Re-Mix has been produced further, pushing back the vocals, but it features some additional orchestration that make it more club and body-slammin' friendly, reminiscent of Prayer Tower. [This song was released as a single, and contained a bonus 12" Extended Edit of the song.]

"Fight!" seems to be an Industrial answer to Depeche Mode's "People Are People." The orchestration is shallower than the other songs, and it just doesn't grab you and suck you in as much as the other songs. However, the "Fight" samples from the movie The Abyss are really interesting. There is no remix of this song.

"Aggress" is driving, fast-faced, and is great for head banging. However, the refrain "[4-letter-explicative] you" is not creative or inspired, unless you're just in a REALLY bad mood. I found little difference between the Suicide Mix and the original.

"Turn of the Screw" is my favorite song, and I was disappointed that it did not get a remix version when it was so crying out for one (though it was released as a rare DJ's only remix 12"). The refrain, "It's not your fault no more that I can't get along," is poignant and really great to yell along to. The lyrics and religious symbolism are handled in a thought-provoking manner.

The final song, "Contagion Seven," is an airy, ephemeral instrumental piece with a hard edge (thanks to manipulated samples). While interesting, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the release. Since this was new to the CD (the original 1992 tape doesn't have it), it was perhaps added as a personal statement by Keith Arem.

For those interested in Contagion, it's important to realize that the group has had a wider influence than simply this one CD. They have appeared on several movie soundtracks (such as The Living End which featured many of these songs, and Skinner, which had many unreleased songs) as well as produced many songs and sound bites for video games. Also, watch for a new full length Contagion CD (Infectant) to appear in late April 2000.

If you need something to pop in after a hard day at work or school, or if traffic is just lousy, this is the CD you need to put in. Let the music take control, move you, get you yelling along, and allow you to "release the pressure that builds within." A classic and must have for Industrial fans. While a strong 4 on its own, my associations with band member Keith Arem via e-mail as well as personal experiences with this CD earn it a 5 star rating.

Classic.......1998-11-25

Classic Industrial, these guys were ahead of the times

Average customer rating:

Split
Gauntlet , and Contagion Black
Manufacturer: Sinister Sounds
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000PYIRN8

Product Description

2 Necro Black Metal bands from Canada. GAUNTLET plays an intense style of Blackened Thrash Metal that takes you back to the days of old when this type of music ruled. On the other hand, CONTAGION BLACK plays straight-forward grim Black Metal that is unrelenting in its presentation. * A second opinion: "Fucking killer split CD from these Canadian hordes. CONTAGION BLACK plays dark, technical black metal true to the Canadian style; while GAUNTLET assaults with old school perverted madness. SUPPORT!" -- Witching Black

Average customer rating:

Contagion
Arena
Manufacturer: Inside Out
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000LX2JRI

Music:

Music