BEAUTIFUL

Brian Eno made music for airports in the 1970's, so I'm surprised that it took a band over 30 years to finally create music for airstrikes. To put it simply, PLAY THIS ALBUM LOUD. Your pulse is going to race, your ears are going to throb and you are going to love every second of it. Did somebody order Don Caballero on steroids? Here it is, in the form of About Tess.

What more can I say besides fast paced instrumental frenzy? Oh wait, there is plenty more. The first thee songs are just a violent flurry of bass guitar and pounding drums, and like I said before, you might think it is painful now but one listen and you will be wanting more. However, Beautiful is truly a masterpiece because of it's technical progress. If you aren't a big fan of heavy, over-the-top extremes, they will take your request and tone it down for. Flip to track #4, Sleep Snatchers, and drift away in one of the best laid back, mellow openings to a Math Rock song you will probably ever here. Fast forward to the next track, I Want To Live In All Remaining Lives With You, and experience the same, yet with more chills. Hang in there until the final chapters of this song and prepare to be blown away by the most intense feedback-driven guitar playing of the decade. On the last note, you might get to the end of the album and think to yourself that you miss the old About Tess that rocked you silly in the first half of the disc, so they will come back stronger and tighter than ever on the last track, somewhat to the tune of an orchestra being conducted by a thrash metal band.

Masterpiece in the most ultimate sense of the word, and I cannot wait for album #2. Excuse my bad pun, but I Want To Live In All Remaining Lives With This Album In My Hand.

5 stars!

This album was my first experience of Japanese math-rock ever. And I was really impressed.

First of all, I was almost blown by the guitar/drums/noises attack - fast, energetic, cold and almost aggressive - there are my first impressions of this album. Excellent musicianship technique, nervous industrial sound, chaotic noises included in difficult musical structure.

Can you imagine The Mars Volta fastest and heaviest pieces played without psychedelic influences, but with cold calculated and perfectly organized extase? Then you can more or less understand, what this album is about.

After three first songs the tension decreased, sound became much more acoustic and melodic, but compositions still stayed complex. Longest album's composition " I Want to Live in All the Remaining Lives With You " has catchy ,in fact pop-song's, melody, but extremely complex and unusual drumming, changing this music to something very different.

Quite unusual, specific and interesting work. Could be interesting for wider circle of listeners, not math-rock fans only.

3.5 stars. ABOUT TESS are a six piece Math rock band from Japan, and they have released four studio album since their inception. We first heard from them in 2005, and the last recording they released was in 2014. These guys are players to say the least. They have doubled everything with this lineup of bass, guitar and drums. I like how the bio here describes this band as being bass heavy like RUINS and DON CABALLERO.

Math Rock has proven to be one of my least favourite sub-genres, for me it's so clinical and cold. Yes I'm blown away by the musicians who can pull this style of music off, it just doesn't resonate with me that's all. I like how this band connects their albums to birds, I'm a fan. All instrumental of course. And talk about high energy, complex, and powerful music. I mean check out the first three tracks and the closer and you get this in spades. Out of those four pieces I prefer "Imaginedit" for that 1 1/2 minute section of beautiful guitar. Next favourite would be the longest one at just over 8 minutes called "I Want To Live In All The Remaining Lives With You". So romantic. The start of "Sleep Snatchers" seems out of place, so catchy with that strummed guitar, but it's also a nice break from the norm.

This is a short recording at 36 1/2 minutes, but only six tracks. A lot of fans get pretty enthusiastic over this band for a reason. If your at all into this style of music, you owe it to yourself to check ABOUT TESS out. I like that they have had a stable lineup from the start as well.