I've been hearing good things about this band and about this album for a few months now so this is an opportunity for me to find out what people have been going on about.
Meshuggah meets Textures. That's what I heard. Sounded fine to me. Seems to be part of the Djent scene. Yet another genre name. As you may or may not know, I don't do genres. Its either metal or its not.
This Tesseract album is most assuredly metal.
But some of it is just so pretty, too.
Third track Acceptance, which is the first (of six) part of Concealing Fate, originally released last year , tells you everything you need to know about Tesseract. Riffs that could grind diamonds coupled with subtle, ethereal passages that complement each other remarkably well.
This juxtaposition...sorry, forget that, juxtaposition is too poncy a word to use in an album review. This mix of light and heavy continues gloriously into the next song, almost sounding like two different bands fighting for prominence. That sounds like it shouldn't work but oh my laws how it does.
The Meshuggah influence is there for all to hear and actually that's thrilling. At the moment, no-one can match Meshuggah for what they are bringing to the metal world and to be both bold enough to attempt it and capable enough of getting anywhere near them is more than impressive.
There's also a hint of Oceansize in there. 'nuff said.
Normally, I'd pick out a few tracks individually but I really don't need to. This is an album to listen to all the way through in one go, if you can, and savour its many delights.
The playing throughout is remarkably assured and suggests to me that Tesseract could go anywhere they choose in the next ten or twenty years. I will be tagging along for sure. I strongly recommend you do, too.
In fact I insist.
