To be fair, there are a fair number of sub-genres of metal that following, collecting and absorbing them all would be a truly momentous endeavor. Many metal fans are familiar with most of the core genres such as Metalcore, death metal and black metal, but smaller genres slip through many people's fingers and are usually lumped into a broader, higher sub-genre. But what THE CONTRADICTION bring to the table is truly a chimera of genres, including strong elements of Metalcore, Arab Metal and Blackened Deathcore with smatterings of progressiveness, Djent and oriental colorations which makes for pleasantly interesting things to pick up on multiple listens.

The trio of Nikita Tarassenko handling all guitar, bass, programming and all around composing duties, Ferdinand Elvis Grossman on drums and Maxym Vulchyn on vocals are based out of the Czech Republic but the band members are originally from Poland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. They like to refer to their brand of music as "Warhammer Metal" - given to them by fans - mainly because their lyrical and musical inspiration is that of the dark sci-fi game Warhammer 40K, nerds unite! They have collaborated with the likes of Silent Generation, Shokran, Obsure of Acacia and many others on this record. It is an attempt, along with their member's diverse cultural background, to "prove that art doesn't have any borders and we all can create beautiful music, no matter who and where we are from"

Opening instrumental track "The Wolves Are Burning", begins with an intriguing, nearly cinematic orchestra opening with an ominous air, ending with sitars giving the listener an idea of the oriental tinge to their sound. The next track flows right into a brutal opening right out of the beauty of the opening. This is pure Deathcore with a dual vocal attack of black metal style screams and an actual intelligible death growl. There are some interesting synth samples in the background, a classic breakdown, fake fadeout and ends with keyboards and growling vocals. Next is the beginning of the many guest appearances. "Welcome to Sortiarius, Planet of the Sorcerers" features THE SILENT GENERATION, more Deathcore vocals but in this middle section features some clean vocals with lots of effects, features more Djent than Deathcore chugs, doubled "drone" vocals during the choruses and maybe even a choir.

Essentially a track by track analysis could be given for this album but despite all the progressive elements thrown in, this still plays as a pretty solid deathcore/metalcore album. It does go in a lot of different directions but tends to stick in that vein and if you're into that, you'll really dig those sections as they have been enhanced by a multitude of guest stars and some truly remarkable production from an independent release. However, the downside comes from that genre, many of the songs follow around the structure of 1. Brutal opening 2. Slow breakdown 3. Possible progressive elements added like sitar/synths/other effects 4. Brutal ending. These trappings make the tracks sound very similar despite their added elements.

Where they must be commended is their excellent lyrics. They are captivating, despite being very violent and war-like I found myself wanting to find out more about the setting, world and armies of Warhammer 40K. As an added bonus, they are quite poetic and are very tightly structured with a coherent rhyme scheme, something you don't often see in this genre. While it may not be everyone's preferred style of music there is something here for every metal fan to love and THE CONTRADICTION should be commended for their blending of elements from other genres. A suggestion would be to just make it bit tighter, vary the song structures a bit more and keep the tight lyrical content up and I see a near perfect record in their future.