Contagious
Be Ready
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
I was surprised to see a fully-produced shrink-wrapped cassette in the mail from Contagious. This album is good. The cover art shows the members walking the streets reading the Word. On the back their shoes and the Bible are all that's left of 'em, because of the rapture. "Water Then Fire" starts off the tape with a real punch. The drums thunder and the guitars collide with distortion, creating a metal lunch. The message is about the coming judgement of God with fire, which is similar to the judgement with water that God saved Noah from. "Jesus Is The Way" rocks hard with some solid drumming to back it up. The chords used in the rhythm are very basic, but they're accented by some very good leads. The hooks in "He's The Light" are very pop-influenced, but delivered through distortion to sound metal. The leads have a very wicked bite to 'em. "One Way One Truth" is a real cool ballad with a great message. "Nowhere To Run" fits perfect into the song order of the album. It starts screaming right after the soothing ballad "One Way One Truth." The vocals sound just like Lance Keltner, of Follower. The leads here scream louder than all the rest on this album. "Lost and Lonely" has a very nice melodic intro. The music fits the message very well. A lonely and hurt person can probably relate to melodic metal more than thrash at their moment of grief. The chorus comforts the listener with, "The Son is watching. He cares about you." The album overall has a good sound because Randy Thomas, of Allies and Sweet Comfort, produced it. It was recorded in the band's church. Randy came down with his portable studio in a van and ran the wires into the church. It came out great! You might be able to find it in your local Christian record store, because it is getting distribution. If you can't, and, might I say, you must, you can order it by sending $7 to Contagious c/o Mark Lewis, 5960 Olive St. Long Beach CA 90805.