This is my first post to the forum, so I will introduce myself:
My name is Ian Lay and I'm a 31 year old male who lives in London. About 2 years ago I turned my back on the charts because I just couldn't find good music to listen to in the main. I decided to get a hold of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood on CD (as I only had it on tape and hadn't played it for quite a while). I bought it on Amazon and then proceeded to seek out the other Fish-era Marillion albums. From this I picked up a couple of Fish CDs and through a recomendation from Amazon I found Pendragon and Arena.
I also listen to Genesis, IQ, Yes, Pendragon (mentioned above), Pink Floyd and others.
I really love the music Arena write and certainly their music is found more often on my hi-fi than any other band. Though I 'll be honest and say that IQ's Subterranea has been getting a lot of play since I got it a few months ago (excellent album, worth checking out if you have not heard it).
Now... to Contagion. I have had the album about 3 or 4 days now, like others I expect. I'm not going to go through it track by track (Need to play it a lot more before I can do that)
It needs a few listens. It's a very complex piece of music. It's obvious the guys have put a lot of work into this album and like most concept albums it is only fully appreciated in the whole.
It was at about the 4th or 5th time of listening that I started to really appreciate Contagion. It's different from what they have done before but the influences of The Visitor and Immortal? are there in places.
There are not so many obviously catchy tunes as in previous albums, but this doesn't detract from the fact that this is a very powerful and emotionally stirring album.
At places it gets quite heavy... certainly heavier than Arena have got in the past. But that is transcened with some beautiful soft pieces like "An Angel Falls" and "Never Ending Night".
I don't normally like to compare things too much as with any piece of art you should judge it on it's own. Also when making comparisons, a person's own bias, likes and dislikes play a factor. All I will say is that many amongst you will find this to be their best work yet. For me The Visitor is my favourite all-time album from any band so for Contagion to beat that... well only time will tell.
The bottom line is this is a very very good album and each time you listen to it you will discover things you hadn't heard before. You will, I expect, enjoy this as much as any previous Arena album... and for some it will be the highlight so far.
Can't wait for the extra material released later this year.
Cheers,
Taz
My name is Ian Lay and I'm a 31 year old male who lives in London. About 2 years ago I turned my back on the charts because I just couldn't find good music to listen to in the main. I decided to get a hold of Marillion's Misplaced Childhood on CD (as I only had it on tape and hadn't played it for quite a while). I bought it on Amazon and then proceeded to seek out the other Fish-era Marillion albums. From this I picked up a couple of Fish CDs and through a recomendation from Amazon I found Pendragon and Arena.
I also listen to Genesis, IQ, Yes, Pendragon (mentioned above), Pink Floyd and others.
I really love the music Arena write and certainly their music is found more often on my hi-fi than any other band. Though I 'll be honest and say that IQ's Subterranea has been getting a lot of play since I got it a few months ago (excellent album, worth checking out if you have not heard it).
Now... to Contagion. I have had the album about 3 or 4 days now, like others I expect. I'm not going to go through it track by track (Need to play it a lot more before I can do that)
It needs a few listens. It's a very complex piece of music. It's obvious the guys have put a lot of work into this album and like most concept albums it is only fully appreciated in the whole.
It was at about the 4th or 5th time of listening that I started to really appreciate Contagion. It's different from what they have done before but the influences of The Visitor and Immortal? are there in places.
There are not so many obviously catchy tunes as in previous albums, but this doesn't detract from the fact that this is a very powerful and emotionally stirring album.
At places it gets quite heavy... certainly heavier than Arena have got in the past. But that is transcened with some beautiful soft pieces like "An Angel Falls" and "Never Ending Night".
I don't normally like to compare things too much as with any piece of art you should judge it on it's own. Also when making comparisons, a person's own bias, likes and dislikes play a factor. All I will say is that many amongst you will find this to be their best work yet. For me The Visitor is my favourite all-time album from any band so for Contagion to beat that... well only time will tell.
The bottom line is this is a very very good album and each time you listen to it you will discover things you hadn't heard before. You will, I expect, enjoy this as much as any previous Arena album... and for some it will be the highlight so far.
Can't wait for the extra material released later this year.
Cheers,
Taz
