George Kollias, the main man behind the band CONTRARIAN, is not only a bad-ass Death Metal drummer, but that doesn't stop him from having bigger musical ambitions. After getting attention as the drummer of the Greek Goth/Melodic Black Metal band NIGHTFALL (an underrated band if you ask me) he went on to become the drummer of the Tech-Death institution NILE. Apart from his eponymous solo-project where he handles all instruments as well as vocals, he's behind the drummer and vocalist - and is presumably involved in songwriting too - for CONTRARIAN, the band whose third album "Their Worm Never Dies" we'll examine in this review.

CONTRARIAN's sound pays homage to the Tech/Progressive Death Metal forefathers DEATH, ATHEIST, CYNIC. The influence of the Florida sound is unmistakable: progressive song structures with extended instrumental sections, rhythmically complex passages, slightly "jazzed up" melodies, even Kollias' vocal style is not dissimilar to Chuck Schuldiner's hoarse shouts. The vocals are a bit "low-key" and let the listener focus on the instruments. CONTRARIAN feels more melodic to me than DEATH - the influence of CYNIC's jazzy style is noticeable, some of the melodies are even a bit quirky. But heaviness and melody in a good balance, the album is by no means soft.

The album has a strong start with "Vaskania (The Evil Eye)," that has a memorable main melodic riff and rushes through high-intensity passages with a driving rhythm and ebbs in mid-tempo sections with complex jazzy drumming and a bubbly bass-line. Next song "Exorcism" has a soft extensive opening, but the body of the song is quite sinister. The mellow opening section gets repeated right before the last eruption of evil screams and heavy riffs. "My Curse" opens with a sinister melody and the verse is dark as well, but later in the song there is an upbeat, mischievous lead melody that injects some variety and depth into the song.

"Among the Misled" is a song that stands out to me. The lead melody is kind of quirky (it sounds a bit laborious to me, it took me a while to get into it), but the verse has a catchy riff and headbangable groove. We find weird instrumental sections in the song with a simple Funky/Hip-Hop breakbeat, that will probably catch many by surprise, but I find them tasteful. The song also ends with this "Hip-Hop beat." The shorter instrumental "Their Worm Never Dies" gives breathing space before the 8 minutes long closer "Whomsoever Worships the Whiteworm". (The album title refers to a passage from the Gospel of Mark in case you are wondering.) The song is dark and pretty intense, but there is an extended mellow instrumental section with nice intertwining guitar melodies and soloing. Not a bad ending at all.

This album was a bit of a grower to me. I love the style, but my feeling about CONTRARIAN is that their music is mainly style but not enough substance. But after two weeks of listening, I started to appreciate the music for what it is. The musicianship is excellent (obviously Kollias' drumming is amazing but the guitars as well), the compositions are tight (the whole album 37 minutes long, so obviously there is no space for filler), and you have to love the riffs. I also enjoy the production which sounds clean but at the same time has the warmth of old-school records. I recommend this record, especially if you like Progressive Death Metal.