Hey there tech fiends, it's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
Contrarian is a band I've covered in this space before when helping them launch an exclusive premiere of their 2017 song, "Memory Eternal" here. When I got to thinking about it, I've actually been covering Contrarian since way back in 2014 at No Clean Singing when they were still an unsigned and far more unknown force. As most everyone knows by now, yes, Contrarian is probably best known for including Nile death metal drummer extraordinaire George Kollias in their ranks, and, from the last 2017 album and on into the present for the new one, also on all vocal duties as well.
Today we've got the early exclusive premiere of a new song from the band called "My Curse", which comes from their upcoming 3rd full-length, Their Worm Never Dies. The album will see release on March 15th through the always excellent Willowtip Records. I don't think it's mere coincidence Willowtip along with a few others are ones I help most, as these are the labels really bringing quality technical minded death metal of all shades to the masses on a yearly basis.
The band's founder and architect, guitarist Jim Tasikas had this to say regarding what "My Curse" is all about: “My Curse" is the song within this concept story when the main character begins to express some regret for his interaction with the fictional dragon. “Reality is far more dangerous than any Demon” is a variation of a classic quote that some veteran metalheads might be familiar with. Basically, the situation described in this song has happened to every person at some point in their lives. They discover a truth about the reality of the world which in some way or form diminishes their innocence and increases their mental burden."
True to form as always for Contrarian, "My Curse" showcases a fresh take on the progressive death sound with a complex precision that intersects between homage and forward-thinking in equal measure. Like I stated last time when helping them premiere "Memory Eternal" here in 2017, Contrarian creates progressive death metal strongly rooted in old-school Death and Cynic influence, but, adapt and alter the formula for the modern era of death metal on the more technical end of the spectrum.
The end result, as it's always been with Contrarian, should please both old-school heads and modern death metal fiends equally. While I've mainly dorked out on it when talking about Contrarian in years past at NCS, the supporting talent for Contrarian beyond George Kollias on drums and Jim Tasikas as the band's architect is a big part of what makes this group so special and memorable. The other guitarist, Brian Mason, is a part of seasoned hard-to-categorize Rochester, New York-based experimental technical deathgrind metal maniacs Sulaco, and is joined as always by Jim Tasikas's bandmate, the incredibly gifted bassist Ed Paulsen from prog-death/jazz fusion metal freaks Delirium Endeavor. So check out our early stream of "My Curse" below, and if you're into it, pre-orders can be placed here and here. You can follow the group over on the Contrarian Facebook Page.
