The Contortionist Have Created An Intrinsic Masterpiece

(Album Cover)

From Indianapolis, IN comes a band that in this reviewers opinion is one of the best up and coming metal acts in the United States. The Contortionist wowed metal heads everywhere with their 2010 release Exoplanet.  Now I know what you're thinking. If Exoplanet was so amazing there is no way that they could make a better album, right? Wrong! The Contortionist new album, Intrinsic, is truly a thing of beauty. The core elements, while still present, have been slightly diminished in order to bring forth more progressive elements. Vocalist/Keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter's clean vocals, while taking a back seat to death growls on Exoplanet, are just as if not more prominent than death growls on Intrinsic. The keyboards, like the clean vocals, took a back seat on Exoplanet. This is not the case with Intrinsic. The keyboards are just as prominent as the guitars on Intrinsic. You can order Intrinsic here.
More after the jump!


Track by Track Breakdown:


1. "Holomovement"- I'll admit when I first heard this song I was disappointed. Upon further listening I've discovered the beauty of this song. It has a slow build that works wonders with Jon's vocals. Very progressive. My only complaint about this song is that I felt it was longer than it should have been. Other than that it is a great song that shows the bands growth as musicians.

2. "Feedback Loop"-  This song comes out of the gate swinging, Exoplanet-esque. The song progresses into a very mellow section similar to "Holomovement." After the mellowness fades it builds into another section that you can mosh to. Everything from the drums to the guitars, to the keys, to vocals on this track are amazing. Really impressed by this track. Jon's use of the vocoder was pure brilliance.

3. "Causality"- First off the guitar riffs on this track are a thing of beauty! Jon's vocals, both clean and growls, work very well with this song. Beautiful keyboard outro. One of my favorite tracks of the album. I think this track is one that both old fans and new fans can enjoy equally.

4. "Sequential Vision"- I really like this track. The guitar work is excellent as always. The bass was good and audible, something a lot of metal bands seem not to care about. Surprisingly, this track does not contain clean vocals. The closes thing to clean vocals on this track is a vocoder. I thought the piano part in the middle was pretty cool.

5. "Geocentric Confusion"- Good track. The guitar work is great (notice a pattern?). I liked the short keyboard solo that lead the song into a good minute and a half of ambiance. I really liked the guitar solo towards the end. Very beautiful song.

6. "Dreaming Schematics"-  This song is great! The guitars and the keys blend together quite well. Jon's vocals are excellent. I could talk about how great the guitar work is on this track all day and it still wouldn't do it justice!

7. "Anatomy Anomalies"-  I really enjoyed this track. I like how it starts with keys and ends with keys. No death growls until after the halfway mark. The bass work, as well as the guitar work (of course!), was outstanding. I enjoyed the outro quite a bit. It was nothing but keys and bass and it was beautiful.

8. "Cortical"-  Slow building song. I liked the mix of clean and distorted guitar riffs. Contains a nice mix of clean vocals and death growls. Isn't really a song you can mosh to. It's one of those songs that you just need to take in and admire.

9. "Solipsis"- This the shortest track on the album. It contains no clean vocals (unless you count vocoder usage as clean vocals). Nothing really extraordinary about this track. I wish it had lead into the next track but alas it is a stand alone song.

10. "Parallel Trance"-  Ambient track. This song is made up of pretty much nothing but keyboards and scattered vocals here and there. I felt this song was a good way to end the album.

Final Analysis:


This album really shows The Contortionist evolution as a band. They haven't completey abandoned their deathcore elements, they still have breakdowns, but they have expanded their horizons with Intrinsic. I'm very impressed with this album. I think it will satisfy old fans while attracting new ones. I would recommend this album to not only metal heads but also to their mothers. Yeah it is that fucking good! This is definitely not the last we'll here from these guys.

Rating: 9.5/10


Top Picks: Too many to choose. I would say everything except the last two tracks.


-AJ