With a name like “The Contortionist,” you know you’re in for a ride.
Nestled between a railway and a busy interstate, The International, a local music venue, hosted several up-and-coming metal acts Monday night determined to reshape and redefine the traditional face of progressive and hardcore metal.
To start the night off, local Knoxville death metal band A Body Divided entered the room with a raw, forceful energy that persisted throughout their entire set. Delivering death-growling lyrics and a lively stage presence, the band inspired violent moshing from several sects of the audience, setting the tone for a night of adrenaline-fueled mayhem.
Next arrived the largely instrumental, Dallas-based band Polyphia, focused on generic, precision driven music offered a much-needed respite from the preceding band’s unrelenting attack on the audience’s senses. Following that band’s departure, The Intervals emerged and offered the spectators a taste of what was to come through their semi-progressive, hardcore style of metal music.
As the night drew on, the headlining performance from the The Contortionist eventually took the stage. With the audience expecting a raw, energetic sound following the previous bands, spectators were instead treated to a progressive, melodic display of precision-style metal that illustrated the band’s willingness to straddle the line between artistic rock expression and full out, aggressive musical force.
In line with their latest album “Language,” The Contortionist showed no qualms in effortlessly transitioning between deep, entrancing, progressive metal to the abrasive, almost unbearably raw sound demonstrative of their early work.
As the band began to find their footing on stage, the audience seemed unsure how to react to the constant shifting of the band’s style. At times, members of the audience reacted excitedly to the group’s forceful death growls and unrelenting double bass drum by flailing their arms in reckless violence in the middle of the crowd. Yet in a matter of seconds, these same, unruly concert-viewers found themselves nodding silently, eyes closed, to the band’s slow tempo, all-encompassing barrage of progressive execution.
By the end of the night, The Contortionist had proven themselves to be a band completely comfortable with intertwining the styles of deep, introspective composition with a contrarily aggressive, screaming hardcore energy.
It’s not often that one is able to experience bands so unique and unforgivably brutal as those displayed at The International on Monday night. While it might not be popular with all your friends, The Contortionist nevertheless offers an unrelenting and unforgiving experience of artistic, soul searching metal combined with perfectly testosterone fueled, hardcore music that is sure to deliver unending joy to even the newest of metal fans.
