‘Contagion’ is already the sixth studio album of the English progressive rock formation Arena. For their new album the band chose a concept format, just like their success album ‘The Visitor’ from 1998. This time the central theme is based on a short story by keyboard player and composer Clive Nolan (Pendragon) and deals with the fight against a deadly virus threatening the entire civilization. The musical direction of the band has not changed. The long keyboard parts with strong guitar play remain characteristic for the band. The incorporation of lead singer Rob Sowden (since ‘Immortal?’) has been wise.

His vocals are so much more convincing than those of his predecessor Paul Wrightson. ‘Contagion’ can easily live up to my favourite Arena albums ‘Songs…’ and ‘The Visitor’. A striking difference is that the new album is much stronger as a whole. The only point of criticism is that ‘Contagion’ seems to be lacking one or two real highlights like for example ‘Jericho’ or ‘Breath’. Then again ‘Contagion’ might just be so good that the entire album can be viewed as one big highlight…