Every now and then I come across a band so great that I can’t help but wonder why any label would pass on the opportunity to have the act a part of their roster. In the case of The Omega Experiment, I have never before been so absolutely baffled. I don’t know what’s more shocking; the fact that The Omega Experiment’s self titled debut album wasn’t picked up by a label or that—for a debut album produced and released completely DIY—the quality of every aspect of this release is so top-shelf. Do not take it lightly when I say that The Omega Experiment is the best independent progressive metal album I’ve heard in recent memory.
Did you know that Tesseract frontman Elliot Coleman sings jazz, soul, and Rn’B? It’s true! Zelliack (made up of multi-instrumentalist Zack Ordway and vocalist Elliot Coleman) have released their first EP, Noir Tone. A lot of people have been drawing comparisons to artists like John Mayer and Jason Mraz, and I think that it’s a fair judgement, only this is definitely better than the two. If this doesn’t quash the idea that Elliot isn’t a great vocalist, I don’t know what will. I’m now completely sold on the man; after hearing Noir Tone, I feel like I’ve been wooed by him.
01. Dark Age Of Technology
02. Engrams
03. Mobius Pt I
04. Mobius Pt II
05. Mobius Pt III
06. Cloud City
[02/06/12]
[Basick Records]
Ah Chimp Spanner. Not just another one-man bedroom project, the past couple of years has seen the enterprise morph into something more. Ere the lapse of the festive season helmsman Paul Ortiz was capping off a fantastic year of live performances with his live band (consisting of the shred-tastic Jim Hughes, the ever-cool Adam Swann of Monuments, and the eternally entertaining Boris le Gal), touring with the likes of the legendary Cynic along with Hypno5e, and having also spent time with the likes of Uneven Structure, TesseracT, Aliases (twice) and Cyclamen. Whatever next?
So, here’s something that you will probably hate on principle (I don’t blame you):
Hacktivist are what I’d call… rap-djent. Yes, this will probably turn off most listeners, but I can definitely see some potential in this kind of music. Right now they sound like Linkin Park meets Tesseract and Meshuggah, and surprisingly, I kinda dig it.
Well, I used to like old school Linkin Park back in the day, so perhaps that has something to do with it. But they’re walking a fine line here, because this can easily turn into something very sour. I’m both mildly intrigued and slightly turned off, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for them. As it stands, this song is an acceptable experiment in fusion, all the elements are well done as parts, and it comes together pretty decently. The problem is, there is probably not too much overlap in listeners of all these styles, so most people will not be happy with the final combination. But if you do enjoy both styles, well, good for you, and keep an eye out for Hacktivist!
01. Being : Begin
02. The Peter Pan Complex
03. Ambivalence
04. Psychic Cycles
05. Apeirophobia
06. Archetype
07. Quark
08. Telencephalon
09. Diencephalon
10. Phyllotaxis Complete
11. Toska
[12/20/11]
[Self Released]
Admittedly, djent — like every other genre out there at one point — is starting to get derivative and generic. So many bands out there jumping into a sound they love isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself; people love making the music they want to hear. It makes sense that at this point in a genre notorious for being easily DIY, people following the first break-out of djent have gotten around to releasing their own records. It took metalcore a little longer to reach this point, but that’s technology for you.
Despite the genre’s steady stagnation, there are bands that stand apart as being worthwhile and I’m not about to dismiss a genre just because of a flooded market. There are the signed bands that pave the way like Periphery, Tesseract, Uneven Structure, and Vildhjarta, but lurking around just below the surface are some bands that practice the sound and do it justice, adding a signature flair and developing their own sound that does more than rely on palm-muted chugs and glorified breakdowns. Outrun the Sunlight, a guitar duo based out of Chicago, are a smaller band that manages to do it right.
As you may remember, Tesseract (with vocalist Dan Tompkins still intact) did a short acoustic session for Metal Injection last year (video from the session above). It looks like the idea of Acousseract went over well and has stuck with them, because they’re releasing a new acoustic EP this year called Perspective (a working title). The EP will feature acoustic interpretations of select tracks from One with newcomer Elliot Coleman on vocals.
Now, TESSERACT fans will be pleased to hear the band is currently working on an acoustic inspired EP with new vocalist Elliot Coleman, to be released in Spring. Below is a video of bassist Amos Williams performing a bass guitar play through to a track from the EP. The video can be seen here, and Williams offers this insight on the video forthcoming EP:
“I’ve been planning to film myself playing along to TesseracT’s debut ‘One’ for a while now. Over the Christmas holidays I asked our fans which song they would like me to film first, to which the answer was ‘April’. This got me thinking however, as ‘April’ has evolved quite a bit, in a similar fashion to the way ‘Concealing Fate’ had evolved over the years of performing it on tour. So, I figured it would make sense to perform the latest version of ‘April’ which we’re about to release with our new EP, which has the working title of ‘Perspective’. We’re still not sure if this will be the title, but at the moment it kind of makes the most sense.
The EP itself was inspired by an acoustic session we filmed last year in New York, whilst on tour with Protest The Hero. It made us realize that a few of the tracks sounded really great when re-arranged and approached at from a different perspective. It will feature 3 new versions of tracks from ‘One’ plus a very special cover.
Once we finish off this EP we will stay in the studio and begin work our new album. This is shaping up to continue the TesseracT sound we began to develop on ‘One’. A sound that is dynamic, tender, crushing, soaring, visceral, beautiful, emotive and heavy. A box of contradictions and infinite possibilities. With maybe the exception of Euro House…we’re not really that into Euro House…sorry.”
If Tesseract manages to release the acoustic EP and a full length album this year, then 2012 is going to be HUGE for Tesseract on top of their breakout in 2011, which saw their debut album One on many of our year-end lists, including getting top honors for both editors’ lists. What are the chances of them getting album of the year two years in a row? I hope we get to find out!
The Omega Experiment released one of the coolest EPs last year with Karma. The only reason it didn’t make my top 20 list beyond the honorable mention is because of its short length and because I was holding out for the full album release, which was finally announced this weekend.
The Omega Experiment was produced by frontman/guitarist Dan Weiten and mastered by Tesseract‘s Acle Kahney, with the above glorious album artwork from Igor Omodei of Uneven Structure. The album will be available on Bandcamp and iTunes Valentine’s Day, February 14th. It’s going to be awesome.
Point of interest #1: this version of Heights are just one of two semi-prominent bands with this name
Point of interest #2: this is the one that includes Jamie Postones of TesseracT!
Now we’ve got those pleasantries over with (which, to be fair, we have mentioned before), I will now point you in this general direction to hear their new song ’AEOLUS‘, which is a taster of things to come from this instrumental three-piece, who have actually been around since 2006, if this is the first time you’re hearing about them.
Not quite metal, but still incredibly relevant, they’re currently working on their third, as-yet untitled album. If you really can’t wait, then their entire discography of two albums and two EPs is available here!
As a caveat to having already released the entirety of ‘Concealing Fate‘ as an EP, TesseracT included a bonus DVD of them playing the song in the studio with One. It’s a little bit different, and nice to see them doing their thang, so to speak.
This has probably already been stuck up on YouTube, but it now comes to you officially from bassist Amos Williams’ account. Enjoy!
2012 promises much more from thes mostly British/one part American chaps, with the verdict still out for many on new vocalist Elliot Coleman. Can’t wait to see what they’ve got.
[Not so fast! We have a late addition to our collection of best-of lists! Contributor J Bobski has given us his rundown of albums from 2011 that (bed)rocked thoroughly rocked his shit! - JR]
A lot of cool, progressive, trendy shit came out this year, but I found myself going back to the basics a bit. I definitely favored the things that never go out of style-fat grooves, killer riffs, and memorable songcraft-over adventurous dorkery this year. A lot of ‘djent’ and ‘prog’ albums that you will no doubt find on many a HBIH writer’s list this year simply didn’t do it for me at all. Admittedly, I probably didn’t spend enough time with some of them, but I did try quite a few of them out. I also love me some black metal and grind, but I was so busy jamming the shit out of the albums on this list that I didn’t have much time to get into any of it. I have some catching up to do, no doubt. But for me, 2011 was all about getting hooked on an album and listening to almost nothing else for days, weeks, and maybe months. I listened to my #1 album so many times it’s a wonder I even had time for 14 other albums to fit on this damn list, ya know? Anyhoo, that’s how I tried to structure this list, by how many times I actually listened to an album (so these are my actual favorites, not what I wish were my favorites or what I think you want my favorites to be) Here we go:
The Omega Experiment
Outrun the Sunlight
