Contrarian - confronting the fraud in metal music

Contrarian

Sage of Shekhinah

Willowtip Records

17 March 2023

Think of Contrarian (2014-present; New York, U.S.; EP in 2014; album in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) as a band playing their music but also making a statement with it about the genre in which they operate. In broader terms, they are not happy with the fraud that is computer software metal music, and more specifically, the sound of this album makes it clear in no uncertain terms that prog extreme and tech-death are a fraud (an issue that is not exclusive to that genre; no doubt you have seen the reports and testimonies of witnesses who have seen famous bands doing lip synching and playbacks and all sorts of deceptions, lies and cheats). For instance, all that a listener has to do is hear a tech-death album (or any rock/metal album, for that matter) to sense the plastic-toy sound of it all. Is a human even playing any of that stuff? Is it just computer software music, a type of ugly techno music, except that in electronica (and pop, hip hop, dance, etc.) audiences know that it is computer software products? In metal, you see comments online, such as “great drumming” or “a great drummer” or “a great vocalist.” C’mon, now, friends, there isn’t an actual human drummer or singer doing those things! It’s computer programs, apps, software and the like! You are being bamboozled.

Why should you listen to the music of Contrarian? First, by yourself by listening to the music you will notice an effort to give to you music that sounds more real, more like the musicians can realize these performances on the stage. It is progressive, technical extreme metal, but it is made in such a way that you can hear that Contrarian does care about deception and lies and they would like not to sound like fraudsters. Second, it is quality progressive death that emphasizes songwriting, not just capable musicianship. Third, the vocals are meant to match the quality of the music, and there is a certain standard in the growling.

There are a couple of unknowns. I am not able to tell you if these are fake drums of the sampled kind, which is the standard practice in metal and rock, unfortunately. I do not know if what we hear is the actual work that a human drummer did in a room. Second, I do not have the lyrics. Thus, I unable to tell you if the lyrics are intelligent, clichéd or pedestrian. Third, how much of these vocals were done by real people?

The band hopes that their general sound is less of a fraud. For example, they like to let you hear the bass lines throughout the songs. It is a balance between prog musicianship and headbanging extreme metal, resulting in a work that is brutal and beautiful at the same time, assuming that the audiences like growling vocals.

Sage of Shekhinah by Contrarian

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