Looks like
The Contortionist’s inventive formula of progressive metal really has paid off. After the Indianapolis quintet formed in 2007, plenty of fans became interested in their first two EP’s, “Shapeshifter” in 2008, and “
Apparition” in 2009. Soon after that,
The Contortionist struck a deal with Good
Fight Music, the current home of
In Flames,
The Chariot, and
This Or The Apocalypse.
That’s when they released their debut full-length album “Exoplanet” in 2010. Simply put, that was a great release. The quintet combined heavy-hitting death metal and deathcore elements, with spacey and euphoric sounds into one innovative and intriguing listen. It would be pretty hard for the band to top that record, considering how high they set the bar in that record. It even landed them a record contract with eOne Music, along with
Darkest Hour,
The Human Abstract,
Crowbar,
Straight Line Stitch, and other famed acts. However, it turns out that
The Contortionist may have just achieved the almost impossible, with their second full-length album of
2012, “
Intrinsic.”
The musicianship and sound production are both just spectacular in “
Intrinsic.” However, some things have changed around in that regard compared to their previous works. First off, there is more clean singing in this album compared to the last, although there are still plenty of growls and roars throughout. This is actually a turn for the better, because this singing has a peaceful tone to it, and it adds to the ambient moments this record has to offer, particularly in the first track “Holomovement.” Secondly, the guitarists show much more complex prowess than they did in “Exoplanet.” There are more jazzed-up and melodic parts that the guitars demonstrate, and it emphasizes the spacey-prog side of
The Contortionist’s music. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of moments where the guitars retain the pummeling deathcore edge that they had in the preceding albums. The drums have also become a tad more technical than they were before. Thankfully, it never goes to the point where they are so all over the place that it’s more overwhelmingly complicated than impressive. Finally, the synthesizer and effects are wonderfully used in “
Intrinsic.” Mainly consisting of cosmic, atmospheric, and progressive twists, they simply serve as icing on the cake. Overall, the musicianship is brilliant in “
Intrinsic.”
The Contortionist appears to be starting to lean more to the ambient side of progressive and experimental metal than they did before. Although there were plenty of hints of atmosphere in “Exoplanet,” “
Intrinsic” is much more abundant in these throughout the record. They also have an incredibly science fiction feel to them. The album starts its intergalactic march with “Holomovement,” which has a very ethereal tone to it. As stated earlier, the clean singing thrives, and it adds to the song’s atmospheric mood even more. All of the tracks in “
Intrinsic” have ambient moments, but the most ambient track of them all would be the album’s outro, “Parallel
Trance.” The song is about three and a half minutes long, and it’s very entrancing. The listener would feel like he or she is traveling through the most outer regions of the galaxy, or is being lifted up through a heavenly cosmic journey to another dimension. The synthesizer and other spacey effects that play in this track are morphed into one beauteous, vast soundscape, and it’s highly capable of sending chills down one’s spine. This metal quintet has sacrificed a little bit of their destructive death metal and deathcore roots to make way for a more progressively euphoric and encompassing sound. In the end, it only works in their favor wonderfully.
For those who are worried that this band has lost their punishing death metal and deathcore edge, never fear. There is still plenty of that edge in “
Intrinsic,” only not as much as the band’s preceding albums. The second-to-last track, “Solipsis,” is the best specimen of this album’s destructive side. It opens with an ominous synth intro, before the complex drum beat and vocoder kick in. Then it explodes into a really heavy deathcore track, loaded with lots of calculated punches to the listener’s face. The introduction to the fifth track, entitled “Geocentric
Confusion,” also contains a technical yet destructive slab of progressive death metal, and even “Holomovement” has a brief moment of brutality about a minute into the song, before receding back to its progressive rock trance. As a result of all of this, fans of “Exoplanet” and their other two previous works should not be disappointed at all by this record, if they were into them for the progressive death metal and deathcore frenzies. In addition, this also proves that
The Contortionist really has gotten much better at balancing on the thin line between progressive ambience and technical deathcore onslaughts.
Like they always were,
The Contortionist’s lyrics still pertain to their same usual subjects of space, time, and scientific phenomena. However, even they have a new twist to them in “
Intrinsic;” There seems to more of an emotional feel to them, but not to the point where they compare astral science with some dumb and whiny story of wanting to slit some guy’s ex-girlfriend’s throat. Instead, this emotion comes from the singer with many questions, analysis, and thoughts about our human existence, and these lyrics tie together with their usual scientific matters. One such example is “Geocentric
Confusion,” where the vocalist has a quandary, with questions such as “What does this creator want from us? Would insignificant worship bring forth meaning?” The lyrics strongly yet eloquently question the characteristic of human belief in a higher and unseen force in order to increase one’s own self-confidence, and they are incredibly intriguing, if not well-written. “Holomovement” also conceals great lyrics within its spectacular music, and they deal with the flaws of society, brandishing lines including “How primitive are we still? Widen your peripheral; Socialized rules scale back the progression” and “Disregard direction; Our microstate feeds their energies.” As a whole, all of the lyrics in “
Intrinsic” are as fresh, inventive, and intense as the music, and they are very well thought-out.
“
Intrinsic” is just stupendous.
The Contortionist has officially progressed and topped itself after “Exoplanet,” and that truly is saying a lot. Everything is done right in this record. The musicianship is incredible, the production is very crisp, the balance between progressive and heavy has grown stronger, the music is technical without becoming overwhelming or incomprehensible, and the lyrics are stellar, if not interesting. There are ambient and destructive parts that intertwine together in “
Intrinsic” seamlessly, and the end result is an incredibly well-made and simply outstanding album. This album is so diverse that fans from almost all over the metal and rock genre must try it out. Whether it be straight-up death metal from bands such as
Meshuggah and
Gojira or ambient and progressively spacey bands including
Cynic or
Opeth, to any fans of such groups, this album is definitely for you.
The Contortionist has added yet another astral masterpiece to their collection.
You must be logged in to add a comment