It still bears a strong similarity to the seminal offerings of Atheist and Pestilence, but put into more of a melodic adjacent packaging that reminds heavily of Death’s 1998 swansong “The Sound Of Perseverance”. Where this album finds itself diverging a bit from Contrarian’s past works is a greater degree of consonant melodic interplay and a somewhat swifter pace that corresponds more to the latter days of the original progressive death heyday.
Truth be told, this is an album where the concept serves to explain the meaning behind the genre-bending excitement and technical gymnastics, but also takes a backseat to them as well. This installment sees the inquisitive character embarking on an adventure via time travel, seeking absolution and fulfillment outside of his native place in history, and the accompanying music mirrors this lofty and vivid undertaking. To the rank newcomer, the cloaked and hooded figure often adorning this fold’s album art is actually progressive death metal’s answer to Orden Ogan’s Alister Vale, namely an enigmatic mascot dubbed “The Cloaked Contrarian” who functions as the protagonist of an ongoing storyline.
Naturally one would be wrong in doing so, as in the closing weeks of this tumult-dominated first year of the 2020s they’ve outdone themselves with another solid studio entry.Īs with prior offerings, this band’s fourth studio LP “Only Time Will Tell” is a thought-provoking excursion into philosophical inquiry, told through the lens of conceptual storytelling with a highly fantastical plot. Having already hit the ground running with a string of inventive albums that both recall the glory days of death metal’s progressive stint in the early to mid 90s and builds upon it, not the least of which being their impressive showing on “Their Worm Never Dies” just last year, one might think that this highly ambitious quintet would stop for a respite. Such is the status that any thinking man would convey upon the New York-based death metal with a progressive edge outfit Contrarian, a band that makes such persons their target audience.
Being the new kid on the scene does not preclude one from being fast-tracked to veteran status, even when your highly impressive track record only reaches back a little over 5 years ago.
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