ALTERED STATE

When Tesseract signed to Century Media they lost their singer Abisola Obasanya and replaced him with Daniel Tompkins with whom they recorded their debut album. The album gained them a great deal of kudos and they toured hard, but soon they again needed a new singer so brought in Eliot Coleman with whom they recorded an EP, but it wasn't long before they yet again needed a new vocalist, but let's just hope that they chain Ashe O'Hara to the bus and just feed him and throw him the occasional bottle of beer as he is a real keeper. Much has been made of Tesseract's musical style, and they are often referred to as Djent, but to my ears they are a prog metal band that are using loads of influences from lots of different musical areas and who cares what they are labelled as anyway?

This is an album that is all about strange time signatures and percussive guitars, combined with loads of reverb and atmosphere. Ashe's vocals are incredible as he morphs between different styles and types, but always at the front, and always very much in control. Although there are hints of Animals as Leaders and Protest The Hero, I found that the two bands I kept being reminded of for some reasons were Evanescence and New Order. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Amos Williams has been hugely influenced by the bass playing of Peter Hook, and this combined with staccato riffing makes for some very powerful music indeed. Williams says that "mood, atmosphere, melody, and experiment are the main focus" of the album and I have to agree with him wholeheartedly.

This is an album that is not always easy to listen to, with many angular edges and plenty of riffing combined with the atmosphere and emotion, but it is always interesting and pushing forward. They have been together in one form or another for ten years, and now is their time as this is a heck of an album on so many levels. www.centurymedia.net

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Posted Monday, June 10, 2013 | Review this album | Report (Review #975418)

The most important movement in modern progressive metal has been the proliferation of the so-called "djent" style; "djent" being an onomatopoeia for the sound that emerges when playing highly syncopated, often polyrhythmic, palm muted guitar riffs on down tuned or extended range guitars. While t ... (read more)

Report this review (#2248653) | Posted by ssmarcus | Thursday, September 5, 2019 | Review Permanlink

Well, in the world of prog there had to come a moment when a band called Tesseract would write a song about Palingenesis. Anyway, this young British band's songs typically alternate between sections that are more atmospheric and dreamy and those with a wall of sound and odd stop-start rhythms, ... (read more)

Report this review (#1473563) | Posted by Progrussia | Wednesday, October 7, 2015 | Review Permanlink

After scrolling through the long list of bands in attendance at Sonisphere, I came upon the band TesseracT. Before Sonisphere, I had never heard of them. After some basic research, I found out how renowned the band was in other countries, how they have been together for many years, and have re ... (read more)

Report this review (#1226427) | Posted by k3no444 | Tuesday, July 29, 2014 | Review Permanlink

Tesseract are a band I've had a slight interest in over the past few years. And when I say that, I mean I have heard bits and pieces of them and have enjoyed them. For my sins, I do have their first album "One", but I haven't gotten around to listening to it. So while trying to get some newer ... (read more)

Report this review (#1018776) | Posted by arcane-beautiful | Wednesday, August 14, 2013 | Review Permanlink

I am sorry but I really do not understand all the hype surrounding this band (see latest issue of Prog magazine). No doubt they are good in doing what they do and their mix of distorted percussive riffing and soaring melodic vocals is surely rock-solid. However, I do not find their musical direct ... (read more)

Report this review (#975799) | Posted by lukretio | Tuesday, June 11, 2013 | Review Permanlink

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