Record Review: The Contortionist

The Contortionist
Exoplanet
Indianapolis, IN

“Progressive metal from America’s heartland. With aliens.”

The Contortionist is a group of young guys from Indianapolis who have created an album that musicians with years more experience could be proud of. This group takes progressive metal, turns it inside out and hands you a tightly wrapped package of awesome. There are many adjectives you could associate with the music; complex, heavy, fast, gentle, subtle, thoughtful. The most important are expressive and inventive.

The lyrics talk about sentinel beings looking over a world and the organisms in it, first contact and escape from a destruction of the world. It’s like listening to a sci-fi story mixed with old beliefs, religion and bedtime stories. The crawl-like singing is occasionally replaced by robotic sounds, which only emphasize the message.

The Contortionist has fabricated their own sound and is not afraid to mix in soft and quiet sections to emphasize the complexity of the polyrhythmic and heavy staccato riffs and fluid solos. The band creates a sense of space with winding instrumental passages that allow you to settle into the song, just as they are about to yank you the other way. The album is full of small nuances that are performed with exceptional precision. (Good Fight Music)

Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Ken Susi

www.facebook.com/thecontortionist