Language is the third LP from Indiana prog band The Contortionist, following up from their previous effort Intrinsic. Nine tracks of some rather wonderful cuts, this is a release that requires more than just a passing glance.
One of the things that immediately hits you about the album is the vocals of Michael Lessard. There’s almost a Swallow The Sun-esque style to them at parts, with the smooth and deep clean vocals complementing the aggressive and powerful harsh vocals absolutely perfectly. They really give the release that extra spark and leave a sizeable impression on you, the versatility of them something to behold.
The strongest inclusion of the album is by far Primordial Sound, an intriguing listen that slowly builds things up and up into a frenzied chaos before drifting away; taking the listener full circle. Starting off with a soft and stripped back introduction with just some acoustic ambience and vocals, things are added bit by bit until you reach the middle and are faced with a good chunk of noise and aggression, before things slowly calm down with the addition of clean vocals and pieces of instrumentation slowly disappear until you’re left with nothingness. It’s such a clever way of constructing a song, and loops perfectly – simply asking to be listened to on repeat!
All in all, a rather interesting listen. At times, it does feel like the release is carried by the vocals, as the instrumentation is a little lacking in places, but Language is still a great listen and if this is anything to go by, the future is surely bright for The Contortionist.
7/10
