...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI.



..::OPIS::..

True to their namesake, CONTRARIAN continue to defy the odds and steer the head of progressive/technical death metal towards a more organic approach. On Sage of Shekhinah, the band counteracts genre norms with nuanced composition and subtle production.



Back in the day when you listened to progressive music, you knew what was being played was real. You could have listened to prog death or prog jazz, but you knew and could tell there were no studio tricks. Ever since Necrophagist in the early 2000's, every "tech death" band has been tripping over themselves to achieve the synthetic vibe of the aforementioned band. I cannot tell you the sigh of relief upon hearing a progressive death metal band with this organic and natural sound.

This is not only metal of the highest caliber, but music of the highest caliber. It is so much cleverer than it needs to be. No doubt this band and specifically this album will go over the heads of most metal fans. The likes of this type of musicianship haven't been in and around the metal genre since the early 90's with bands like Atheist, Death, Fates Warning, Cynic, Watchtower, Queensryche (DeGarmo era), Psychotic Waltz, Spiral Architect, etc,

Speaking of the production. Veteran record producer Neil Kernon (Nevermore, Spiral Architect, Queensryche) was the perfect person for the job. The natural approach to the production is a key factor to its success. It separates Contrarian from the sea of quantized tech death. We will hear comments like "raw production" and "sloppy". These types of comments are indeed a result of how far the metal genre has deceived themselves with ridiculous studio productions (ROS type deathcore and quantized tech death being prime examples of this).

Once word should stand out when discussing the nature of the riffs and songwriting is this album - nuance. You cannot listen to this album just one time to capture this nuance. Both guitars and bass are constantly intertwining in different layers of execution. While manner of the songs do have a standard format, it is the clever transitions that make it so enjoyable. This is best displayed of the song "In Gehenna" where the rhythm guitars are harmonized, lead guitars are also harmonized, and the bass has a clever counter melody - all at the same time. Then add the dizzying polyrhythms of the drums also going on at the same time.

The vocals are the glue that keeps everything together. Jakob Sin's voice sets perfectly into the mix. Vocal placement is ideal, and his range is constantly varying to keep things interesting. Layering and delays are added here and there keeping things fun to boot.

While this is a shorter album at 34 minutes, the flow is what makes it work smoothly and accessible for multiple listens. Let's be honest, this new trend of hour-long albums has gotten out of hand. Hour long albums inevitably have tons of filler. No filler on this latest album from Contrarian, they get their point across and get out.

Again, no doubt there will be people calling the band an imitation of these bands. But here is the thing, musicians can only write this type of music when they are intellectually capable and there has not been capable people to do this in a long time. This album makes us realize how little modern tech death has to do with progressive death metal originators.

Do yourself a favor if you are into busy and layered progressive metal. Go get this album and spend sound time with it. 9/10

Confessor4U



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. Sage of Shekhinah 05:38
2. In Gehenna 05:20
3. Ibn al-Rawandi 03:31
4. The Guide for the Perplexed 03:39
5. Zabur of Satfiyah al-Shamal 04:30
6. Apollonius of Tyana 03:55
7. A Madman From Island Patmos 06:45



..::OBSADA::..

Ed Paulsen - Bass
Brian Mason - Guitars
Alex Cohen - Drums
Jakob Sin - Vocals
Jim Tasikas - Guitars, Bouzouki, Keyboards, Songwriting




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmnru74tDCM



SEED 14:30-23:00.
POLECAM!!!