The Contortionist Megathread

[JosephAOI]

Yeah, I think Mike's vocals vocals are the icing on the cake for this album. I like the fact that he's trying to branch out with his voice and try to do more unique things with his range and character. I also especially love the fact that he incorporated his gospel influence into a lot of stuff on the album (The Source and Integration are the first examples that come to mind)

I still stick with what I said before. This is an amazing album, very cohesive, very well written, and it's extremely mature. Subjectively, I like Intrinsic more, but this is obviously a very well thought out progression from Intrinsic that all members of the band and many fans, including myself, are very happy with.

 

[Augmatted]

i've given the album a good 5 or 6 listens now, and feel like i can give it a soft rating and leave some comments:

basically i'm a little puzzled with some of their choices. the vocalist sounds very talented, and there are times when everything comes together harmoniously. but then there are times when i feel like he tried way too hard to come off as artistic and unique, that it ends up sounding pretentious and irritating.

the really soft, almost a whisper, things he does with his voice bother me. a lot. it's unneeded, and it sounds more like he's emulating maynard from tool instead of doing his own thing. i feel like maybe he just tried to hard to reinvent the wheel here instead of cautiously and carefully coming up with vocals that fit the music well. i'm starting to see a pattern here with other bands that get new vocalists, where the first album they release with the new guy is over the top sounding and dramatic. (see: Ashe with Tesseract, and Howard on his first album with Killswitch) and while i appreciate him trying to be thematic with the lyrics in the album, the overuse of "ebb and flow" and "intuition" became frustrating.

i'm also getting slowly annoyed with albums coming out with 10 or 11 tracks, and then finding that at least 3 of those are just ambient sounds or short lead-ins to other songs. the guys in Contortionist are a very talented bunch, and for the most part i've enjoyed these types of things in Exoplanet and Intrinsic, but in this one i just skip or fast forward past those bits. i don't want to hear the singer doing his soft vocal thingies over some subtle guitar work, so i just skip past it. maybe with the last guy i would have, or if the music were more interesting.

so basically i feel like this album was high concept, but a bit of a hollow execution. and then the singer just makes things worse by overdoing it. things should have just been kept simple. it also lines up with yet another pattern i've noticed: when a band finally gets a GREAT sound mix in one of their albums, it always ends up being unimpressive musically. it's a shame.

this is by no means a rant, or me being upset that it's not as heavy as their previous entries. i actually quite like Language 1 and 2, as well as Thrive, but that's about it. the songs, the riffs, etc. is all love it or hate it this time around. i'll keep listening though to see if anything clicks eventually, but so far i'm a little let down.

hopefully Corelia's album doesn't turn out the same.

How can you be let down? If you don't like this album then it is because you don't enjoy this genre of music (jazz fusion/prog). Everyhing about this album is unique in its own way (sick chord progressions, part writing, rhythmic manipulation, dynamics, atmospheric synth, harmonized vocals, etc.) I honestly don't understand how someone who is a fan of this genre could not enjoy this album in its entirety, but thats how opinions work I guess?

 

[jjfiegel]

There's nothing unique about this album though. It's solid. It's a sum of it's parts, part Tool, part Cynic. Not to mention it sounds an awful lot like Last Chance to Reason. Seriously, everything this album thinks it's doing has already been done twenty years ago. I like the album, and I like the band, but let's not pretend we got something more than we got. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to like this album, and there are perfectly legitimate reasons to dislike it.

Also, can I use this thread to vent about how I hate the recent use of the word "mature" in terms of music? It seems that any time a band abandons harsh vocals and plays slower, they get called "mature." What's mature about this album? What's not mature about Exoplanet?

 

[Augmatted]

There's nothing unique about this album though. It's solid. It's a sum of it's parts, part Tool, part Cynic. Not to mention it sounds an awful lot like Last Chance to Reason. Seriously, everything this album thinks it's doing has already been done twenty years ago. I like the album, and I like the band, but let's not pretend we got something more than we got. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to like this album, and there are perfectly legitimate reasons to dislike it.

Also, can I use this thread to vent about how I hate the recent use of the word "mature" in terms of music? It seems that any time a band abandons harsh vocals and plays slower, they get called "mature." What's mature about this album? What's not mature about Exoplanet?

Please direct me to music that has the same melodies/harmonies found on Language. Honestly, how could you call it not unique? Maybe you just can't distinguish melodies/harmonies/chord progressions/rythmic and melodic contour/part leading very well. If that is the case I feel quite bad for you. Especially if you require new timbre/instruments/dynamics never heard before in order to enjoy music and find it "unique". If you require something to be genre-defining in order to find it unique, you must like literally almost no new music.

 

[anomynous]

Not to mention it sounds an awful lot like Last Chance to Reason.

Don't see how that's possible

 

[JosephAOI]

Don't see how that's possible

Inb4 bc Mike Lessard

 

[Entropy Prevails]

Please direct me to music that has the same melodies/harmonies found on Language. Honestly, how could you call it not unique? Maybe you just can't distinguish melodies/harmonies/chord progressions/rythmic and melodic contour/part leading very well. If that is the case I feel quite bad for you. Especially if you require new timbre/instruments/dynamics never heard before in order to enjoy music and find it "unique". If you require something to be genre-defining in order to find it unique, you must like literally almost no new music.

Why are you so set on defending the album? If you like it, enjoy it, arguing about it on forums will only diminish your experience. Why do you care if other people like it? Should people only like the things you like? Opinions are like assholes...

 

[codync]

There's nothing unique about this album though. It's solid. It's a sum of it's parts, part Tool, part Cynic. Not to mention it sounds an awful lot like Last Chance to Reason. Seriously, everything this album thinks it's doing has already been done twenty years ago. I like the album, and I like the band, but let's not pretend we got something more than we got. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to like this album, and there are perfectly legitimate reasons to dislike it.

Also, can I use this thread to vent about how I hate the recent use of the word "mature" in terms of music? It seems that any time a band abandons harsh vocals and plays slower, they get called "mature." What's mature about this album? What's not mature about Exoplanet?

Backed. "Mature" songwriting is just a code word for "....ing boring". 75% of the time "mature songwriting" equates to losing some of the band's personality in favor of repeating themes and motifs for the sake of songwriting. Also, while we're at it, can we stop calling everything with pretty, clean 7th chords jazz fusion?

 

[Taylord]

I love all three records for what they are. I feel the new one has the potential to stay relevant the longest, but all of them are doing something a little different. There isn't anything to gain from tearing it apart!

 

[jjfiegel]

I like the album. But it's not unique. Cynic's entire discography proves that. Laterlus proves that. Altered State is also very similar. It's a fine album, but it isn't a 10/10 prog jazz fusion masterpiece. I don't need it to be genre-defining, though I would argue that something should break some ground it you're going to call it unique.

Also, I think one of the biggest contributors to this sounding like a "Level 4" is the way Lessard writes his lyrics. The beginning of Thrive being the worst offender.

I like to argue. I find consensus boring on forums. Debate is fun. I like Exoplanet, I like Language, I like the Contortionist. But let's just have some fun discussion while we're here too.

 

[Augmatted]

Why are you so set on defending the album? If you like it, enjoy it, arguing about it on forums will only diminish your experience. Why do you care if other people like it? Should people only like the things you like? Opinions are like assholes...

I just bugs me when people say that something is not "unique" when all of the melodic/harmonic/rhythmic material is clearly different from anything that has been done before. Just because something isn't insane from a technical viewpoint, doesn't mean it is not unique. Besides, this album has insane things going on from a theoretical standpoint.

 

[Augmatted]

Backed. "Mature" songwriting is just a code word for "....ing boring". 75% of the time "mature songwriting" equates to losing some of the band's personality in favor of repeating themes and motifs for the sake of songwriting. Also, while we're at it, can we stop calling everything with pretty, clean 7th chords jazz fusion?

It's not jazz fusion because of "clean pretty 7th chords" it is jazz fusion because it has elements from jazz (non diatonic harmony, extended harmonic, extensive use of chord inversions, altered dominant chords) and elements of metal ( distorted guitar tone, distorted vocals, syncopation) and fuses the two genres, hence "jazz fusion".

 

[sakeido]

It bugs me when someone says it isn't unique, but then has to list three separate, totally different bands to account for all of the elements on the album in question

 

[splinter8451]

It bugs me when someone says it isn't unique, but then has to list three separate, totally different bands to account for all of the elements on the album in question

Come on guys it is nothing that Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, and Napalm Death weren't doing 30 years ago. All music has already been done there is no such thing as unique I hate you for thinking this album is unique.

/sarcasm

Internet.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I ....ing love this album, aoty for me. I think it's extremely unique.

However, definitely not jazz fusion. That phrase is used way to liberally around these parts

 

[jjfiegel]

Alright guys, what makes this album unique and not another album from a band that listened to Traced in Air one too many times?

 

[gorthul]

Well, I wouldn't call this album that unique at all. For example "Primordial Sound" is very similar to Cynic's "The Space For This" in the beginning, also there are many other similarities to Cynic.
Nevertheless I enjoy the album for what it is. Not the album of the year, but It deserves a place in the years top 20.

 

[Nykur_Myrkvi]

Wrote a review for the album on my blog:

Contorting the Language - Review - Daedric Influence

 

[teamSKDM]

So I have some interesting news! I took a scroll through the previous vocalist jonathan carpenters facebook and noticed he had his own home studio. so curiously I asked him about it, and it appears altho he is done with the band life, he is not going to stop creating music. i know he is also a guitarist, so its quite possible we can expect a side project from him in the future he told me. He says he sure is loving his family life tho, and loves being their to provide for his beautiful family. he seems to spend alot of time with his family which is honestly worth his departure with the contortionist, altho im a big fan of him. anyways, VERY excited to see what he puts out! He says it will still be alot like the contortionist.

 

[goherpsNderp]

How can you be let down? If you don't like this album then it is because you don't enjoy this genre of music (jazz fusion/prog). Everyhing about this album is unique in its own way (sick chord progressions, part writing, rhythmic manipulation, dynamics, atmospheric synth, harmonized vocals, etc.) I honestly don't understand how someone who is a fan of this genre could not enjoy this album in its entirety, but thats how opinions work I guess?

i get what you're saying, but it's not as black and white as you're making it out to be. it's like asking a Plini fan why they don't like a new track he put out that has clowns loudly laughing in the background drowning out the otherwise remarkable music. just because there are elements in an album that i find enjoyable doesn't mean i will automatically like the whole album, including the bits i don't like...

i don't like *most of* what the new vocalist has done on this album, and it's to the point where it distracts me from the music. as far as the music itself, most of it i really like, but it doesn't feel like Contortionist to me. so the prog fan in me enjoys a lot of what i'm hearing in this album, but the Contortionist fan in me is still waiting for the heavy guitar acrobatics to kick in, as well as singing that doesn't "get in the way" or try so hard to "be the star of the show".

it's not the end of the world. i'm still listening to it every day or so, but as i said before, i'm just disappointed a little. at least i have Monuments and Fallujah to tide me over until the new Corelia and Scale the Summit come out.