siLLy puPPy Clive Nolan’s original intent for the “Contagion” album from his band ARENA was for it to be a double album with several instrumental tracks appearing at certain points in the album for there to be a smoother flow between the segments that spell out the storyline. But the record label had other ideas and the band was forced to scrap the idea and instead trim the album down to a single disc and with the leftovers created two separate EPs released simultaneously with the “Contagion” album.

There are several head scratchers about this decision of how to release these extras though. First of all instead of releasing one compilation album of the seven extra tracks, they were instead issued on two different releases, one called CONTAGIOUS and the other “Contagium.” On this release CONTAGIOUS contains the tracks “Vaninishing Act,” “I Spy,” the title track and “The Hour Glass.” In addition to these surplus musical tidbits, there is a “Special Remix Of Witch Hunt” which sounds more like an early 80s new wave band than ARENA.

While the music on this one is quite good, this EP has been made somewhat irrelevant since in 2013 an anniversary release called “Contagion Max” was finally made public and included all the extra tracks in their original intended ordered on a double CD. That means only the “Witch Hunt” remix is unavailable anywhere else and believe me it’s certainly no reason to track this down separately. It’s also strange that these tracks don’t appear sequentially on the “Contagion Max” edition and are scattered about randomly on both discs.

FMOTP I listen to a lot of EPs. I think they're a good way to get a general introduction to an unfamiliar band. I had a read a lot about Arena and knew that they're often compared to Marillion with more metal influences. I hear the similarities mostly in John Mitchell's guitar playing and Rob Sowden's singing. That was enough to pique my interest, so I checked out this Contagious EP along with the related Contagium EP.

Both EPs contain songs that didn't quite fit on the full CONTAGION album. The best songs on Contagious are "I Spy" and "The Hour Glass". I find the remaining material a bit repetitive. "Witch Hunt" is a terrific song, but the original version is far better than this unnecessary remix. This EP does give a general impression of what Arena is about, but Contagium and the original CONTAGION album are stronger. Definitely explore them first.