The Contortionist

Emerging from Indianapolis, Indiana, the progressive metal quintet the Contortionist assembled a wide-ranging set of touchstones that encompassed Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Isis, Rush, and Pat Metheny. The group first convened in 2007 with an original roster that placed Jake Morris behind the microphone, Robby Bacca and Cameron Maynard on guitars, Christopher Tilley on bass, and Joey Bacca behind the kit. Their earliest recordings appeared that same year as the EP Sporadic Movements, followed the next year by Shapeshifter. When the third EP, Apparition, surfaced in 2009, Morris had already departed and Dave Hoffman had stepped in to handle both vocals and keyboards. The band’s debut full-length, Exoplanet, reached listeners in 2010 through eOne/Good Fight Music and also introduced vocalist and keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter, who had taken Hoffman’s place. Their second album, Intrinsic, arrived in 2012. Two years after that, Language became their third long-player and simultaneously welcomed Michael Lessard as the new frontman. In 2015, Cameron Maynard exited and Jordan Eberhardt assumed bass duties while Eric Guenther joined as the ensemble’s dedicated keyboardist; that year also saw the release of an alternate, reworked edition of Language titled Language Rediscovered. The Contortionist delivered their fourth studio album, Clairvoyant, in 2017.