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tesseract_one
Title: One
Artist: TesseracT
Genre: Progressive Metal
Release Date: 18th March 2011
Label: Century Media Records


Album Review

Do you remember that movie ‘Cube II: Hypercube’. That was actually a TESSERACT, the four dimensional equivalent to the cube, or as our much loved Wikipedia puts it very simply “The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square.” So much for definitions! The TESSERACT is also what you’re going to look at on the front cover. A complex geometrical structure! Transferring that to music can only bring you to one conclusion: The music is anything but easy-digestible, and to certain extends that is indeed true, but just as the tesseract the music of the eponymous band has more than just one dimension.

The opening is made by ‘Lament’ with a reversed sound phenomenon, combined with a carrier of weightless atmospheres and the quite mellow vocals of Daniel Thompkins, forming a dense current of sadness. Sheer desperation turns into unbridled fury when the drums finally kick in to rip open gaping wounds. Even though the time signature changes several times within the song it’s never disrupting the feeling of coherence it leaves. Thinking about it more closely it seems like every time a signature change occurs it simply adapts to a subtle change in the mood like cause and effect. A feeling of unease comes with the second track ‘Nascent’. It sneaks in with the first gentle strokes of the guitar, then a short burst of violence and the daring dance on the brink begins with a rhythm not circling around you but doing sidesteps over and over, and when the eruption comes it‘s sweeping you off the feet cause you didn’t see it coming. A brilliant transformation from the fragile to the harsh in a fraction unpredictably! It’s getting clear those 2 tracks were something like a prelude to the actual core suite of the album ‘Concealing Fate’ whose five parts have been put out in October 2010 as an EP already.

What you’ll get to hear now is a pure replica of emotions in music. The first episode ‘Acceptance’ kicks off gently, stepping towards ambient until something jumps in your face with furious screams. Thompson showcases an incredible vocal range here and I’m surprised time and again about how abrupt the styles change. I’ve heard this track so many times now and am still baffled by the twists and turns it contains. The end flows into the second part ‘Deception’ that conveys a feverish attitude with the thrashing of the broken, upbeat rhythm. I think that one is even something to do some heavy moshing…at least for a while. Further on we go to ‘The Impossible’, a colossus of chugging riffs, drums doing summersaults and soaring vocal wizardry, which is quite a good summary for the rest of the pentalogy’s episodes and brings us to a highlight of the album called ‘April’. It emphasizes the ambient parts of the music much more than the techy metal stuff going on there. The melody backdrop they’re coming up with in the chorus section is a spine-tingling experience. The album’s closed up with the lengthy ‘Eden’, uniting all the strength, the harshness, the beauty and the thrill, concentrated and multiplied.

The name TESSERACT never crossed my path, not even in mathematics to be honest, but from now on it is anchored in my mind and if you’re a fan of complex metal music and if you like to try out to something new and don’t mind ambient you should definitely give ‘One’ a chance for it is truly a stunning debut.


Tracklist

01. Lament - 4:53
02. Nascent - 4:09
03. Acceptance - Concealing Fate Part One - 8:34
04. Deception - Concealing Fate Part Two - 5:23
05. The Impossible - Concealing Fate Part Three - 4:51
06. Perfection - Concealing Fate Part Four - 2:38
07. Epiphany - Concealing Fate Part Five - 1:29
08. Origin - Concealing Fate Part Six - 4:44
09. Sunrise - 3:57
10. April - 4:49
11. Eden - 9:08


Line-Up

Daniel Tompkins - Vocals
Acle Kahney - Guitar
James Monteith - Guitar
Amos Williams - Bass & Vocals
Jay Postones - Drums


Website

www.tesseractband.co.uk / www.facebook.com/tesseractband


Cover Picture

tesseract_one


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10

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