Kontrust are an Austrian and Polish six piece group featuring both a male and female singer who have been around for almost 20 years. The band integrates some very disparate cultural and genre styles into a cool but odd metal/pop/folk crossover.

The female vocalist, Agata, would fit well as a more mainstream singer (but thankfully she chose Kontrust instead). The male vocalist, Stefan, has a distinctively un-European vocal style faintly reminiscent of a less intense version of Max Cavalera's turn towards semi-rapping around the time of Sepultura's Roots and Soulfly's self-titled album, mixed with a bit of Jonathan Davis from Korn.

Time To Tango was their second album, released in 2009.

The album features occasional elements of tribal-style percussion reminiscent of South American or rarely African music, catchy hooks and vocals that would be more fitting in pop music, mostly straightforward heavy riffing with some occasional delicate guitar and bass work, and reoccurring Middle- and Eastern European folk influences such as use of the accordion. They even manage to work in a didgeridoo and a horse hair fiddle!

Track by track

The album opens with a strong track to draw you in. Dancer in the Sun features some straightforward but heavy riffing in the verses and chorus, with some effective use of slower bridges, and a nice interplay between Stefan's heavy and Agata's clean vocals.

We then move on to Play With Fire, a more upbeat piece where the guitars take a slight step back, giving Agata more space to show off her range from clean and sweet to slightly stronger but still clean vocals, with a brief interlude of Stefan's growled vocals.

On the Run then features a catchy little guitar riff as a lead-in, that is repeated sparsely throughout the song, and a very catchy chorus line that would translate well live as a crowd singalong.

Personal Rotation slows things down into a sparser and slower track, much of which is driven by the tribal style percussion (with a more African feel than the otherwise South American style found elsewhere on the album) and the interplay between the two vocalists.

The Smash Song is a straightforward but energetic and very much danceable track, and unsurprisingly was the first single from the album.

Sin takes a very different path to the previous songs - a sophisticated pop ballad with some very subtle background guitar work, a piano interlude, and Agata's clean vocals centre stage, making for a song that would easily fit on mainstream radio.

We Add the World returns to a style similar to Smash Song but a little slower and more subdued, giving the bass more room to move in some sections. Also the first song on the album that passes the 4 minute mark.

Mainstream Bypass is a 2 minute instrumental led by percussion, with some nice interplay between the bass and clean guitars.

Clown Parade then introduces us to elements of swing through some trumpet work, punctuated by the sparse guitar and straightforward drumming for an energetic but not amazingly standout track.

1k1 is short (just under 3 minutes), but definitely fits a lot in. Most of the song is a not-so-heavy repeating guitar melody with solid bass and percussion behind it, but the song then alternates between this and a bass line with a heavy dose of wah/fuzz.

Then we have Lato - the shortest track on the album at just under 30 seconds, and not really a song at all. The entire track is just Agata's soulful singing in Polish as a lead in to the next track.

Vodka, Tribe and Dynamite is a slightly slower but still energetic track interspersed with accordion, and is very much a party anthem.

Zero then slows right down as an acoustic pop ballad with a heavier but still emotive chorus, and some heavier vocals late in the piece.

Känämänännä is a 1 minute showcase of the band's tribal styles, with just group percussion and Stefan's distinctive tribal rap vocals.

This brings us to Bomba - the longest song at almost 5 minutes, and the most successful single that came from this album, having made it onto the Dutch charts. The song begins with a didgeridoo (which reappears about half way through for an atmospheric interlude), before leading into the energetic but not too heavy main riffing. Honestly there is nothing really standout about the instrumentation, but the catchy vocal hooks definitely make the song what it is, and would be a live favourite for many fans.

Face and Filter then rounds out the album as another track which, except for the occasional growled vocals from Stefan and a heavier bridge, would mostly lend itself well to mainstream radio.

Stand-out tracks

Sin for its sophisticated pop ballad sensibilities. Vodka, Tribe and Dynamite for its feel good energy.

Rerelease

The album was also rereleased in 2011 as "Czas Na Tango" with Agata's vocals primarily rerecorded in Polish (except Lato which was already in Polish, and sections of some songs which I can only assume did not translate well lyrically), and most song titles translated to Polish. However Stefan's lyrics remain primarily in English with only a few sections rerecorded.

Stylistic progression

I honestly haven't heard their first album, apart from the one song they have on YouTube called Phono Sapiens.

That song was very much derivative of nu-metal - the guitar was higher in the mix, full of chunky riffs interspersed with some noodly guitar melodies. Thankfully they dropped that style for Time To Tango, and no longer sound like an unimpressive mashup of Korn, Limp Bizkit, and maybe a touch of Mudvayne.

The vocals also broke from the nu-metal cookie cutter copy they sounded like on Phono Sapiens where Agata's vocals were a little less dynamic and much more forced to fit the more aggressive musical style, and Stefan's vocals were less prominent except for a very Korn-esque freestyle interlude.

Based solely on that song they have made a huge leap from their previous sound, and I probably wouldn't listen to them now if they hadn't changed (coming from someone who still listens to a decent amount of the early nu-metal).

Why I like them

I'm VERY picky when it comes to female singers in metal. I don't like the typical operatic female metal vocal style - I won't deny they are technically brilliant singers, but I'm not overly fond of the power/symphonic metal you most commonly find such singers fronting. However I do throughly enjoy a female metal singer who can pull off the growl's. Jinjer are currently one of my favourite recent finds, plus I've started listening to Infected Rain, and I own Sinister's Creative Killings from 2001, which featured female death growls indistinguishable from any male singer.

But here we have a band whose female singer doesn't (and isn't trying to) fit either category, and the band and their songs are all the better for it.

Kontrust also do not take themselves too seriously. While some of their lyrics are definitely meaningful, they also have a healthy sense of fun on this album (and their more recent releases) that weren't apparent in the music or video for Phono Sapiens.

They are known for wearing lederhosen on stage, and their videos are often intentionally filled with parody or silliness. The video for Bomba has the band dressed in lederhosen amongst the Alps (some of it real, some obviously green-screened) in a parody of the typical folk stylings of the region, while the video for On The Run has the guys dressed in pink tutus with Agata teaching them to dance (although the video also carries a concurrent potentially political message which has been lost to time since the referenced website no longer exists).

TLDR

Female singer whose voice suits a more mainstream style, male singer with distinctive vocals, very strong percussion work, fun crossover musical style blending metal, pop, and various folk influences.