A conformally deposited metal liner used for forming discrete, wrap-around contact structures is localized between pairs of gate structures and below the tops of the gate structures. Block mask patterning is employed to protect transistors over active regions of a substrate while portions of the metal liner between active regions are removed. A chamfering technique is employed to selectively remove further portions of the metal liner within the active regions. Metal silicide liners formed on the source/drain regions using the conformally deposited metal liner are electrically connected to source/drain contact metal following the deposition and patterning of a dielectric layer and subsequent metallization.