Was Contagion Arena's last great album?

I’m a new Arena fan and have climbed aboard the Arena -train with TTOMI. I’ve just finished a first run through of their discography and would probably agree about Contagion being their best agreeing with the general consensus.
However, the addition of Damian Wilson has improved the band with his dramatic and dynamic vocals that bring the songs on TTOMI to life.it’s my favorite Arena album so far and the way these songs come off live are even more powerful. I’ll give it 4.5/5 stars. Probably my favorite Damian Wilson vocal performance as well.

richardh wrote: Now that I've acquired it (Mp3) I'm really glad to listen to it. Indeed absolutely zero originality and its almost exactly what you expect from modern NEO prog but that said the playing and sonic quality is as good as it gets and Damien is one hell of a vocalist. Yep it will divide prog fans between those who don't regard Neo as progressive and therefore will ignore it and those like me that just enjoy listening to a kick ass band!

Well said, Richard. I agree with you my long time friend on here. :)

Now that I've acquired it (Mp3) I'm really glad to listen to it. Indeed absolutely zero originality and its almost exactly what you expect from modern NEO prog but that said the playing and sonic quality is as good as it gets and Damien is one hell of a vocalist. Yep it will divide prog fans between those who don't regard Neo as progressive and therefore will ignore it and those like me that just enjoy listening to a kick ass band!

So in general, and I’ve thought this for years, Arena are very much like I.Q where by they don’t have a bad album in any part of their respective discographies.

The latest Arena album was an absolute hit with me. I did end up buying the 2CD Mediabook edition and to hear some of the songs acoustically makes me think just how clever and thoughtful the song writing is in general. Also, D.S’s voice sounds as strong as ever. He really hasn’t lost a step and he fits well with Arena. He really does, but honestly so did every other singer!

My favorite album from Arena is IMMORTAL?
So maybe that rules me out of this discussion cause it pre dates contagion.

My opinion though. Like I.Q Arena can do no wrong. I just don’t like Arena using their guitarist as their mixing and mastering engineer. Believe me it shows and the compression is ridiculous.

Prog-jester wrote: 2Greenmist: not a fan of 12-15 samey boring tracks thrown together for a cOnCepTuaL effect, so both The Visitor and Contagion are not my favourite Arena records.

Greenmist wrote: Dont mean to sound opinionated but, how anyone can give The Visitor only a 4/10 but propel Peppers Ghost to a 7/10 is beyond me.

Dont mean to sound opinionated but, how anyone can give The Visitor only a 4/10 but propel Peppers Ghost to a 7/10 is beyond me.

not in my book:
Songs From the Lions Cage 8/10
Pride 8/10
The Visitor 4/10
Immortal? 6/10
Contagion 4/10
Pepper's Ghost 7/10

stopped following them after that. Always loved Shadowland the most, from all Nolan-related projects/bands

Hercules wrote: I've just been listening to Songs From the Lion's Cage on the car CD, and it's an excellent album, with Valley of the Kings and Solomon ranking in the top tier of prog tracks. The Visitor, likewise is almost faultless. I also think The Unquiet Sky and The Seventh Degree of Separation are top drawer - I cannot understand why the latter is rated so low. I don't like Immortal much and Contagion is ordinary. I haven't listened to Pride or Double Vision much and I have never heard Peppers Ghost. The latest album doesn't impress me that much. I really don't like the vocals much and a lot of the songs sound a bit like recycled earlier stuff: enjoyable, but I had hoped for something more. I'm 100% certain that Arena have another great album in them - they are an amazingly talented group of musicians - but this latest isn't it.  I think they would be well advised to see if Alan Reed is available, because he is better than Damian Wilson IMHO.

Probably. Never been a great fan of Arena, but some of their albums, like the Visitor or Contagion, are really good. After Contagion though, nothing has really made a good impression on me. 

Edited by Manuel - December 30 2022 at 20:03