Album Review: Contrive - 'The Internal Dialogue'

A certain amount of respect must be given to bands that shake things up a little with their second album as it is a gutsy move, especially if you have worked hard on securing a fan base, only to risk losing it by moving in a new direction. The set of gonads required to do this are something that Melbourne three piece Contrive, seem to have plenty of. Granted the Metal genre can be restricting, but these boys have done their best to vary the sounds on their second album ‘The Internal Dialogue.’

Opening track Is This The Way?, encompasses the many different avenues this record takes all in the one song, which is heavy but still maintains a certain groove.

The mix, by Metal high priest Devin Townsend makes this album even better than it probably is, and helps the new but subtle ideas carry their weight.

The bass heavy Confusions Way, is a standout, especially thanks to the rhythm section which happens to contain Triple J’s very own Metal expert, Andrew Haug on drums. Haug’s brother Paul, the band’s front man, manages to match the intense sound of the music with a guttural growl perfectly suited to the genre. Things change up on Spirits Alive, which is lead by an acoustic guitar (gasp), and melody heavy clean vocals, a style that Contrive adopt quite easily which makes this unexpected track a nice surprise.

For all of the exciting new ideas that can be found here, there is also unfortunately a fair bit of repetition, especially in the guitar tones which can make some of the tracks blend together a little too easily. Luckily for its faults there are twice as many successes, like stand out Hope, the most progressive this band has ever sounded with the usual brutal vocals swapped for spoken word.

Contrive have taken a step forward with 'The Internal Dialogue,' and are moving outside of the metal handbook, a risk that this time, seems to have paid off.

1. Is This the Way?

2. Both Sides All Lies

3. This Time Last Week

4. Spirits Alive

5. Hope

6. Confusions