Fast forward a few months, and I am holding a copy of their debut full length, One, which is out now via our friends at Century Media. I take back what I said earlier, because now I am literally doing backflips! Will definitely say now that I thoroughly enjoy these progressive metallers, and that I can continue to put One in my CD player on a continual basis. The use of dark, melodic, theatrical, and sometimes pop-like clean singing in progressive metal has been a hot trend lately. Many of you nobs are quick to think Tesseract and Periphery, but think back 4-5 years when The Human Abstract came out with Nocturne, and you can love or hate that band (I’m kinda 50/50), but at its time it was totally different and groundbreaking. Go back further and study up on the Swedish progressive metal movement of Katatonia and Opeth and the harmonic vocals that were used, maybe not in a pop fashion, but with a great sense of harmony. Now rewind back to the beginning where Queensryche and Fates Warning helped define everything that is progressive metal, taking influence from Rush to Judas Priest, and making something completely brain numbing at the time.
Anyways, the point I’m trying to make here is that I’m glad to see progressive metal keep progressing when a great band like Tesseract comes along. The term progressive metal is almost being taken for granite now, and I can’t fucking stand it. With every new band on the block cloning Meshuggah and calling themselves “progressive” really bugs me! I’m not going to namedrop a million bands here, nor am I even the biggest prog nerd in the world (my Uncle worships Queensryche religiously, so I’ve had my fair share of Tate [Geoff] growing up) , but what’s obvious is obvious – I want that real, rhythmic challenging, epic, and trend setting progressive metal that defines such a niche genre.
TESSERACT’s opus One album flows perfectly from start to finish, and you’ll easily get sucked into its rich concept.
“Acceptance - Concealing Fate Part One” is my favorite song on One, and is loaded with memorable melodies, thick overtones, an undeniable clean guitar rhythm, and plenty of low end, as AcieKahney and James Monteith’s guitars gently weep. The song buildup of “Acceptance - Concealing Fate Part One” keeps the listener engaged to the max, and is filled with a lot of down tuned drops, a gentle yet perfect-sounding clean guitar, Tomkins’ epic vocals, and even a few mosh worthy breaks. Complexity is a norm for Tesseract as all of their progressive transitions, sudden mood swings, and time signatures come so naturally. The ending is as epic as can be, with Tomkins is at his catchiest expressing his great harmonic vocal range. This song will move you.
Other great songs like “Deception - Concealing Fate Part Two” and “The Impossible - Concealing Fate Part Three” have their moments. Tomkins’ vocal prowess is quite intriguing, and there’s plenty of low end and interesting time signatures for all you djent lovers! The clean guitar passages and the atmospherics again is what really separate these boys from the pack. These two songs showcase more of the heavier side of Tesseract as well as introduce a tribal side of the band, and at times sounding very similar to fellow UK progressive metallers Sikth in the instrumentals.
Tesseractcan also put on quite the jam session in “Epiphany - Concealing Fate Part Five” and “Sunrise”, and show the band a tad heavier than their other songs. In “Sunrise”, the song is brutal yet equally unique with its ambient passages, and the intro chugging reminds me of old Sevendust for some reason. Vocally, Mr. Tomkins I swear starts to morph into Maynard James Keenan when in clean singing motion, and screaming, yeah, a little bit like Morgan Rose of Sevendust. The percussion truly shines in “Epiphany - Concealing Fate Part Five” and talk about quite the Meshuggah jam session in that one. You definitely hear a heavy Meshuggah influence, and if you’re a fan of the almighty Fredrik Thordendal then you’ll probably like “Epiphany - Concealing Fate Part Five”. Tight and heavily syncopated riff work at its best on One.
One is easily one of my favorite progressive metal releases of the year. Overall, Tesseract does a great job enveloping the listener, and taking them into their own world. I’m curious to see what Tesseract has up their sleeve next, because a band as creative as this has always got something neat in the works. Yes, I’ll say it right now: I think Tesseract is better than Periphery. Anyways, would anyone like to come to the 4th dimension with me??
-- Alex Gilbert
Buy here mp3: One [+Digital Booklet]
Buy here CD:One
