CJAM Album Review: Contexture: Gods, Men and the Infinite Cosmos

Written by Aiden Russell (CJAM Staff)

I wish that Broadway had a more successful career. Misha Camacho is an amazing singer. Felipe Sanchez’s lead riffs and Sean Conners’ rhythm guitars together created something really special. They’ve had a bit of an odd career. Their first album, Kingdoms, was a heavy metalcore album. The following piece, Gentlemen’s Brawl, garnered controversy as it mostly abandoned the metalcore direction to focus on pop punk. Their final album, Contexture: Gods, Men and the Infinite Cosmos, is somewhere in between the two in terms of sound. It has some of the softest songs Broadway has released in their career, but it also isn’t afraid to get heavy. It’s their strongest album overall. It’s also a concept album about space and aliens.

Manifest Prosperity is a great opener. The main riff and beat is fairly simple, but it’s pretty catchy and gets the listeners pumped up for what’s to come. It’s not exactly a metal song, but the rapid fire kick drums keep listeners on their toes when they hit.

Prometheus is also a solid track. The guitar solo is great and really pumps the listener up for the final chorus. Like the previous track, it’s built pretty simply. The main beat of the song is a basic four-on-the-floor. The lyrics of both songs could be considered weird, but I am pretty hyped to hear where Misha and the boys take their space journey as the album develops.

The drumline in Artificial Love is incredible. The verses are a simple disco pattern, but the prechorus and chorus both have strange and interesting drum beats carrying them. I also really like the soft part in the bridge. Quiet parts leading to big finishes are a big theme of this record, and Artificial Love has the best use of this technique on the album.

One Night On Mars is the weak spot of the album for me. I like the drumline in the chorus, but everything else is lacking when compared to the rest of the album. Lyrically, it seems like the romance that Misha is singing about feels like a filler arc. It might appeal to some people, but it doesn’t grip me.

I felt that Found You also didn’t really work… initially. On repeated listens I found myself getting into it more and more. Having an acoustic song in the middle of the album is still an odd choice, but this is definitely the better of the two love songs. The gang vocal part at the bridge and the ending might be a little heavy against the soft guitar, but I can’t argue that it’s a ton of fun to hear.

Volcano Jack was the album’s lead single and is a really fun one. It’s heavy, it’s catchy and it really moves the story of the album forward. The song leans more punk than metal, focusing on raw speed rather than complex double kicks. However, Misha’s voice trends more towards metal here, helping to create a powerful energy.

dOPPLEGANGER is the heaviest song on the album by a good margin. It’s the most metal song, even featuring a really heavy breakdown in the bridge. Punk speed still manages to creep in at times over mostly screamed vocals. I really like this one. Both because it’s really different and because this new found energy also makes for a great story beat.

Interstellar Avalanche is a solid song if a little derivative. The main riff seems to be pulled from One Step Closer by Linkin Park, but it’s sped up. Aside from that part, it’s a pretty cool song. I love the way Misha delivers the verses like he’s trying to be different characters complaining about being poor in space. This is another really fun one.

I Am Man is the climax of the album. Very high energy throughout before becoming slower and almost ballad like in the last half. It then closes out with a soft chorus over acoustic guitar. This is a nice, uplifting fight song that very much gives the impression of the hero vanquishing the enemy in the final fight. The breakdown in the chorus is really cool, too.

Gods and Men is my personal favorite on the album. It lasts seven minutes, which might seem a little long for an epilogue song, but it’s the perfect closer to the hero’s journey of the album. The bridge in particular is amazing. It’s soft and has the best lyrical passage of these ten songs.The lyrics drive home just how small scale the main conflict of the album is against the vastness of space at large.

I would rate Contexture: Gods, Men and the Infinite Cosmos an 8/10. It’s certainly not flawless, but Broadway managed to tell a pretty interesting story using only ten songs. I like how the songs are almost story vehicles first rather than music pieces.