Band:	Kontact
Album:	Full Contact
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	January 2024

01. Emperor Of Dreams
02. Doppelgänger
03. Heavy Leather
04. (Return Of The) Astral Vampire
05. Ixaxar
06. Watcher At The Edge Of Time
07. Bloodchild
08. Spectral Fire

Even over 50 years after it was first spawned, Kontact demonstrate that it is possible to stand out while playing traditional heavy metal; however, they arguably don’t stand out for the right reasons.

Playing an old style, Kontact are very much a new act, having only formed in 2021 and releasing just the one EP prior to this full-length debut (although at 33 minutes, it’s a short ‘full length’). There’s not a whole lot of information available about the band, although with an alien abduction on the cover of Full Contact and band stage names such as Morh Morf Xela, Matt B1257+12Z, and simply the Alien, it’s pretty clear that there’s an extraterrestrial theme to the band. ‘Alien’ is perhaps a fitting moniker for the vocalist (real name Ian Lemke), as the vocal delivery on Full Contact is quite unorthodox, and will likely prove to be either divisive or generally detracting.

I’ve seen a few people use Voivod as the likely intended inspiration for the vocal approach used by Alien here, although the combination of nasally lower register, reverberating snarls and occasional falsettos on opening track “Emperor Of Dreams” also has me thinking a bit of King Diamond (sadly, this falsetto is never repeated). However, whoever Alien might be intending to replicate, he arguably doesn’t succeed in the execution; it really can be quite distracting. I wouldn’t say that it ruins the album, and I can see some ardent trad metal fans appreciating the style, but there’s too many instances where I find it detrimental to the enjoyment of the song for me to consider it an asset to Kontact.

To be honest, it’s a bit of a shame, as vocals aside, this is a fairly good thrashy/speed heavy metal album; certainly, having immediately followed it with the new Saxon when trawling Friday’s releases, I found it to be a fair bit more engaging than the latter. Opening duo “Emperor Of Dreams” and “Doppelgänger” are both lively, have solid riffs, and decent songcraft; the transition into the first solo in “Emperor Of Dreams”, its opening note echoing the vocal falsetto at a similar moment earlier in the song, and subsequently the shift from the second solo into a tasty chug groove, is all quite satisfying. While “Doppelgänger” opens in perhaps underwhelming fashion, the way it ratchets up the intensity until the snare is rapidly pounding away works well as a lead into a nice extended solo segment.

Kontact do also mix things up a bit to keep the album sounding fresh; “Heavy Leather” is (probably intentionally, given the name) very reminiscent of classic Judas Priest, and curiously enough that nasal delivery feels a bit more fitting on this track than some of the others. It’s immediately followed by one of the faster and feistier cuts on Full Contact, as “(Return Of The) Astral Vampire” has pounding percussion and rapid guitar chugging.

Still, on that latter song, that nasal delivery continues to grate, and the song, adequate as it is for the style, isn’t strong enough to counteract the impact of the vocals. As Full Contact continues, the quality of the material begins to slide a bit, and if one’s goodwill towards Kontact is already challenged by the vocals, this might be where patience starts to run a bit thin. “Ixaxar” struggles somewhat to get going with a prolonged intro build, while the slowdown into doom territory on “Watcher At The Edge Of Time” places Alien’s vocals into an even more prominent position, and that nasal snarl during the otherwise muted vocals is more grating than anywhere on the album, even if the song otherwise has some quite nice tremolo lines fleshing out the mix. Probably the weakest cut on Full Contact, however, is “Bloodchild”, a plodding track with a flat chorus.

Still, all things considered, Full Contact is not a hopeless debut; the band are good enough songwriters to deliver engaging moments and tracks with more personality than quite a lot of retro-revival trad bands. The vocals are a major point of contention, but hey, Anvil have had bad vocals for over 40 years and they’re still going, so it may not end up being an impediment to Kontact finding some success in the trad metal scene.