Contrition’s debut Broken Mortal Coil is the third and final chapter of our Jeff Wilson-triple bill in the last few days. And man – this special showing goes out with a BANG! It is loud, it is rowdy, it is savage and yet – it is atmospheric, it is dense and it is the best finish on could wish for this trilogy.
On their debut, Contrition, the band comprised of Jeff Wilson (the former member of Nachtmystium, Doomsday and Wolvhammer), Jerome Marshall (known for his work in Yakuza), Gary Naples (Novembers Doom) and Jon Woodring, plays a wild form of Blackened Death Metal. That becomes clear through the first two tracks ”Diluted” and ”Amped”, especially the latter is a really fast song, somewhere close to D-Beat and Crustpunk even. However, the third track ”Nihilistic Right” shows the band incorporating some different guitar tricks into their soundverse, because here the guitar is not only stomping out riff after riff (it does in the second half of the song nevertheless) but also some very interesting swirling elements. All that, combined with the dynamics coming from the shift from a little faster mid-tempo to an upbeat mid-section and slowing down a tiny bit, makes for a good example of what Death Metal can be nowadays.
All those familiar with the big names in modern metal might recognize some howls and screams on ”For Misery” cause it’s none other than Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder. Generally one should not forget to mention the features on this album: Apart from Strnad there are David Brenner (Gridfailure) on ”Desolation Star”, Graveripper’s Corey Parks (”Nihilistic Right”) and Leon del Muerte (formerly part of Intronaut’s line-up) on ”Diluted”. The artwork was done by Ethan McCarthy of Primitive Man
However, it’s not this list of well-known artists featured on Broken Mortal Coil that makes he record a wonderful finale of the triple-bill but songs like ”Desolation Star” which are very far from Death Metal and rather harsh Electronics or noisy Ambient. In some way, the track is a bit of a turning point for the whole record because from here on, there are less “regular” Death Metal tracks but more experimental takes on what the genre can also deliver. ”Added Subtraction” follows the path that ”Nihilistic Right” had already set out to discover, with a more Industrial-influenced guitar sound, that could even remind someone of the glory days of the first and second Machine Head record (remember banging your head to ”Ten Ton Hammer” or ”Davidian”?!). These might be the most interesting 4:37 minutes on the whole record, even though others might regard them as “out of place”. ”Without Guilt” is certainly the grooviest song on the record, and thus it’s short length of under three minutes is perfect. That track is sheer madness and – trying to stick to those “old” comparisons – is somewhat closer to Slipknot than to Six Feet Under. When a band closes their record with a cover, they better do good, otherwise it may seem as if they are lacking ideas. But everybody that hears Contrition’s version of the Nirvana classic ”Tourette’s” can probably agree that they did the song justice by revving it up and turning it into even more chaos than the original.
So, one should conclude that this triple-feature of Altars Of The Moon’s Brahmastra, Chrome Waves’ The Rain Will Cleanse and now the debut by Contrition shows a musician at the peak of his creativity, churning out different records with different outfits and being able to make each sound completely unlike the others. I, for myself, can hardly wait for the next sounds to flow from Wilson’s mind and guitar-strings. Where will he turn next? For now, this cinema special is over and we hoped you enjoyed the show. That’s all, folks!
