CONTAGIOUS

The first of two EPs issued to complement the "Contagion" album, "Contagious" contains five tracks plus a multimedia section. Four of the tracks are completely new, and come with instructions on where to "insert" them into the original album. Musically, they fit right in of course.

"Vanishing act" is a fast paced instrumental piece which sees Mitchell and Nolan trading licks on guitar and keyboards. "I spy" is slower and more majestic, with some superb guitar once again. At over six minutes, this is actually one of Arena's truly great songs, a mini "Solomon" if you will. Rob Sowden sings "It's cold, so cold" with such conviction, he'll have you shivering with him!

"Contagious" is more of a link track, which allows Nolan to display his keyboard prowess by including a good old fashioned organ solo. "The hour glass" is a brief acoustic piece, with echoes of "Crying for help". Themes from the original album can be spotted drifting in and out at different stages.

The final track is a remix of the opening track "Witch Hunt" from the "Contagion" album. Unlike the remix of "Salamander" on the other EP "Contagium", this one works well, dance beat and all.

At some stage I must make the effort to play the album plus the additional tracks on the two EPs in the order dictated by the band. It does seem like hard work though, perhaps a double album release which included all the material would have been in order.

The enhanced section has a live video of "Skin game", ghost vocals by John Mitchell of many of the album tracks, and some other PC extras.

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