INTRINSIC

The Contortionist's first album, Exoplanet, is strongly based in djent and deathcore, and their third album, Language, is full of melodic, soft passages with the occasional heavy interlude. Intrinsic is a logical bridge between the two, less founded in deathcore (and metal in general), with gentle, sugary parts balanced nicely with the heavy, and perhaps even dominating. The closest match to this band's sound would have to be Cynic, considering the band's roots in metal and their tendency to float into completely unaggressive, soft parts. (The Contortionist doesn't excessively use robot/vocoder vocals, so that automatically puts them above Cynic in my opinion.)

The juxtaposition of soft and heavy parts is generally done well, transitions between the two flowing rather than sudden. The melding of these portions is a good effect, useful in bringing Intrinsic more variation and a more progressive sound, but the interplay between the parts seems lacking, like it could have been done better. The parts don't sound like they have much relation to each other and they don't do a good job of moving the song anywhere. After a heavy part occupied by harsh vocals, The Contortionist returns to sugary singing and warm guitars as if it never happened. Since the band's transitions themselves aren't inherently worthwhile (you won't be left thinking "wow, that was cool"), there should be some kind of purpose to the part that is transitioned into. The interplay makes it Intrinsic a more entertaining and progressive listen, but in the end it doesn't really affect how the song moves along, the soft and hard only serving to contrast each other. It doesn't leave the listener wondering what is going to happen next? all of the songs sound very similar to each other anyway.

While the each song as a whole flows but seems as though it is not constructed with the larger musical idea in mind, the individual parts are not bad, though the album's major flaw is that it would be much better if the riffs and instrumentation were more memorable (as an example, I am a sucker for keyboards, but these ones did nothing for me). The clean singing that helps mark the soft passages isn't great, as it is completely emotionless and unaggressive. It resembles the whiny emo vocals so often used in metalcore, but it's not an exact fit. There's a slight spacey, futuristic feel to the music, especially demonstrated and emphasized by the lyrics, and The Contortionist has mostly abandoned breakdowns? mostly.

Given this step away from deathcore and a smooth but still somewhat ineffective incorporation of soft passages into metal roots, Intrinsic is a fairly decent album in a small niche of prog occupied by bands like Cynic. The Contortionist has an interesting sound, though it is one that could be executed better and probably has. Intrinsic is more progressive and an improvement from their first album. The album following Intrinsic is even better, and hopefully this band will continue to improve because they have the potential to make some great prog. Baby steps, guys.

2.3/5 overall meh, did not absorb me like exoplanet and did not intrigue me enough with memorable songs. Intrinsic was an attempt from the band to be more melodic than exoplanet. It took a way different approach from the 1st album and as a result was just not as absorbing or memorable as the first one. Sure, the first one lacked overall melody, but was fun to listen to and the deeper metal riffs to calm grooves transition was well worth it and absorbed me into the album. I feel in this album they sacrificed all the pros within the last album, to obtain more melody and more clean vocals.

The Contortionist's second album Intrinsic is the one, for all intents and purposes, I know the very least. It does however mark an important point in the band's career, their final to feature the original lineup. I ignorantly had to check their personally-unknown first two releases (EPs from 2008 and '09) to verify this fully. Most notable I'd assume across the board is the would-be replacement of vocalist Jonathan Carpenter with Michael Lessard. Then of Last Chance to Reason, Lessard's been a most successful career replacer haha. Carpenter also contributed keyboards up to this point, ultimately replaced in this regard by collaborator and co-producer here Eric Guenther. Likewise, this is the final release to feature original bassist Christopher Tilley, the role subsumed additionally (momentarily) by guitarist Robby Baca.

Original album single "Holomovement" starts us out, a display of their more ambient flavors, before opening up the sonic floodgates. Definitely one of Jonathan Carpenter's strongest clean vocal performances I can think of. The cadence of the bridge's vocal melody reminded me stupidly, hilariously of the 'There's no sex in your violence' refrain from Bush's "Everything Zen". Those jazzy chords, though, evoking the great Allan Holdsworth (a plenty-Post-Bop, broadly), return us to known context. A big n' wide opener, with a much softer, melancholic and simply more melodious mode. In most positive comparison, "Feedback Loop" pulls all the strengths of the Contortionist of Exoplanet (2010) with that of Language (2014). The chord changes are almost frantic; it really sets a mood... The loudly underlying ambience sported here interestingly only intensifies the heaviness. Then we have this super clean bridge section, fleshed out with Wall-of-Sound instrumentation (including that of some mallets?). Definitely one of their more interesting compositions, given it's also just 5 minutes in length.

Continuing in somewhat similar vibe, comparable in quality, is "Causality", another über-melodic heavy- hitter looking ahead to the band's work anew (sans aforementioned OGs). It's very pretty, and a groovy head-bopper, too. Ever-drummer Joey Baca is a force on this track, toward the end laying down some exceptionally interesting percussion over more wide-open sweetness. Set apart from those preceding is another balls-to-the-wall forward march, "Sequential Vision". Vox FX are in full effect, their Cynic-love easy to spot; and I'm all for that. And just like Cynic's Paul Masvidal, at the same time, moments later that is, we get thrown the beef (Carpenter's harshest vocals yet). So heavy, with this killer, near-never-ending beat. Spunky fun was indeed had that day. Returning to serene beauty for a moment, the beeves delivery continueth on "Geocentric Confusion"; more brutal aggression at the gates of the Celestial City [Man, you ever struggle coming up with a great idiom? haha]. These last two were natural fits for my workout playlists.

The at-the-time-still-living ghost of Holdsworth comes in full force at the top of "Dreaming Schematics"; gotta get my hands on those, dang it (and Allan's ghost). Apparently the wonkiest grooves are the most intense; ridiculous rhythms herein. Yet again, Jonathan's clean vocals are at their peak in quality to my ears. With Progressive Deathcore in full, clear view at the end, I'd expect or hope earliest fans would have been pleased; the up-down cadence at the end brought contemporaries Job For A Cowboy to mind. Synths are padding all things near and far at the top of "Anatomy Anomalies", another which looks ahead to the heavy-to-delicate balancing act of Language. I can't put my finger on the time signatures for the life of me; so as a dork, that's genuinely cool haha. As much as it's somewhat set apart from some tracks before, it's songs like this that are really making me excited to return to this material far more frequently.

"Cortical" certainly starts off strong, but it's another where I can see how their older fans, on the other hand, could have been upset. Some metalheads are certainly unwavering in the amount of 'clean' they feel most appropriate. The incursion resumes, mind you, don't you worry haha, by the middle of the song, but will it be enough? (Sorry, this is too tongue-in-cheek, I'll behave). Genuinely, though, this is the weakest thus far, compositionally anyhow; they're still damn good at what they do, don't get me wrong. "Solipsis" picks things right on up next, the shortest of the bunch at just a minute and a half; a very fine interlude of Progressive Deathcore, I must say. With no mystery as to why it's least streamed, "Parallel Trance" is ambient minimalism that might make even Eno blush. It's very pretty, but a certain shock to the senses if you don't know what's coming (I didn't today). In that, pleasantly surprised how effective a closer this was. Interestingly solely available to me was the Deluxe Edition, featuring this closer's "Alternate Version", discernably distinct at first. I may like it more; it's cold as hell in my apartment, but this "Trance" is truly chilling.

I won't feel too bad about liking something much more than the lot this once haha. It's definitely different than what came before, perhaps a bit much to those waiting two years since the heavier statement that is Exoplanet. But as it looks ahead, as I really couldn't help but point out throughout, it's definitely neat to see this as a bridge between (in a sense) two mildly-to-fairly different, very excellent bands. All in all, it's a pretty darn cohesive album, without a single track I really disliked for any reason.

True Rate: 3.75/5.00