Tag Archive: TesseracT


Tesseract Offer Some Perspective On New Acoustic EP; Sophomore Album Out This Year

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases, Video
Mar.12, 2012

We broke the news a month or so back that Tesseract were working on a new acoustic-inspired EP featuring re-recording songs from One. It would be the first official release featuring new vocalist Elliot Coleman, and we were all very excited, indeed. This weekend, our appetites grew with the release of a teaser trailer for Perspective, which features samples of the EP’s tracks. You can watch and listen below.

The acoustic sound is perfect for Tesseract; the spacious and haunting melodies are captured quite well with acoustic guitars, and it’s something that the band really should try more often as a standard tool and not just a go-to device for special occasion, along with piano, which they’ve included very subtly before. It could certainly expand their musical palate and breadth of songwriting repertoire. It did wonders for Opeth‘s career — just saying!

The most divisive part is easily Elliot’s vocals, which some feeling the need to incessantly whine about. I was hesitant at first to the lineup change last year, but after hearing the re-working of ‘Eden,‘ I was sold. The samples I’m hearing so far from Perspective have me as excited as ever. Elliot’s going to be a great fit, and I can’t wait to hear what he can bring to new material.

Here’s the tracklist, likely not in the right order.

Origin
Dream Brother (Jeff Buckley cover)
Eden 2.0
April
Perfection

So get excited, because Perspective is due out May 21st in Europe and May 22nd in the US on Century Media. That’s not all today in Tesseract news, though! The Perspective trailer was cross-posted to each of the members’ own accounts, including Elliot’s, where this comment was made:

Score! I cannot wait. More info when available!

- JR

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Shattered Skies – Reanimation EP

Filed Under: Reviews
Feb.22, 2012

Shattered Skies

Reanimation

01. Beneath the Waves
02. Delusions
03. Attrition
04. Chasing After Time
05. Take the Beaten Path
06. This is What We Built

[05/08/11]
[Self Released]

Anyone who has invested any time in the online music scene knows that the “djent” style is getting over-saturated at an alarming rate.  New artists are popping up daily, and not all of them are as “different” as they claim to be. Dublin, Ireland’s Shattered Skies, however, are one to watch. Shattered Skies unique blend of sounds show hints of Meshuggah with the electronics and riff styling of Raunchy. Throw in a nice helping of guitar work that show cases solid Animals As Leaders influence along with vocalist Sean Murphy’s soaring cleans and you’ve got a band that deserves your attention.

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On Djent, And The Return Of Its God

Filed Under: Editorials
Feb.10, 2012

Let me preface this by saying that the first person to comment “hurr durr djent is not a genre” is going to get forcibly bedded by the business end of a rake. No dinner, no candles, and no fucking Kenny G. The argument of genre/chord/sound comes up more often lately than racism in football, but the bottom line is that’s it’s a word. The function of a word is to convey meaning, and the word “djent” describes a genre to a lot of people, and thus the word’s purpose is served – no matter how hard you scream and kick your legs.

Javier Reyes djents; not to whom I'm referring in the title.

 

Last night we ‘broke’ the news that a brand new Meshuggah track had been ‘leaked’ – albeit intentionally – and although it happened late in Britain, the overnight evidence pointed to the internet simultaneously going nuts…and also being somewhat underwhelmed.

I could not have been less surprised on either count.

In the same way that Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin are now considered tame nowadays, and as the widely recognised progenitors of that sound, Meshuggah are in very serious and imminent danger of sliding into the very saturation and mediocrity that they spawned. Sacrilege, surely?!

Let’s look at the facts. By the time Koloss is released it will have been just over four years since Meshuggah last put out a record – 2008′s obZen. Unless you’ve been living under a five-ton lump of iron, you’ll know the ripple effect that this record in particualr, but all of their records really, have had on the progressive metal landscape; a landscape that has long been towered over by the monolithic bastion that are this Umeån quintet.

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Basick Records Offer Update On Skyharbor’s Blinding White Noise

Filed Under: New music, Upcoming releases
Feb.10, 2012

With the release of Chimp Spanner‘s exemplary All Roads Lead Here now in the past, Basick Records have wasted no time in announcing the next release, which is to be November singing Skyharbor‘s album Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos. Huzzah!

The output from Basick has always been varied – with the instrumental All Roads Here (which I reviewed last week), the glitchy beats of The Algorithm before that, and the ultra-techy The Animation Of Entomology from Blotted Science before that, but this release promises to wax the soaring prog metal string of their bow.

Hailing from New Delhi, Keshav Dhar’s Skyharbor are one of the most exciting prospects of the Indian metal scene. What started as a one-man project (how rare!) quickly evolved into something more, and earlier this month Pune saw their first ever performance to over 1,000 people at the Bacardi NH7 Festival. That’s not bad going.

The album will also feature a number of guest spots, including vocals from former TesseracT vocalist Dan Tompkins, former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman, and Amogh Symphony mastermind Vishal J. Singh. Impressive, no?

I’ll stop waxing lyrical now and instead remind you of how awesome this transcendental record is going to sound with the newly released disc one closer ‘Illusion: Maeva‘:

If you really need more information, tracklisting for both discs can be found after the jump. Blinding White Noise: Illusion & Chaos is due out worldwide April 23rd.

- CG

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The Omega Experiment – The Omega Experiment

Filed Under: Reviews
Feb.06, 2012

The Omega Experiment

The Omega Experiment

01. Gift
02. Stimulus
03. Motion
04. Tranquility
05. Furor
06. Bliss
07. Karma
08. Terminus
09. Paramount

[02/14/12]
[Self-Released]

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.

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Elliot Coleman (Tesseract) Fronted Zelliack Releases New EP Of Sweet Baby Making Music

Filed Under: Audio, New music
Feb.02, 2012

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.

Give Noir Tone a listen below, and click through to Bandcamp to buy the EP for a dollar.

- JR

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Chimp Spanner – All Roads Lead Here

Filed Under: Reviews
Feb.01, 2012

Chimp Spanner

All Roads Lead Here

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?

Oh, a new six-track EP you say? Well, marvellous!

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Hacktivist Have ‘Cold Shoulders‘

Filed Under: New music, Video
Jan.26, 2012

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!

- NT

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Outrun the Sunlight – The Return of Inertia

Filed Under: Reviews
Jan.23, 2012

Outrun the Sunlight

The Return of Inertia

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.

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Tesseract To Release Acoustic Perspective EP This Year [UPDATE]

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases, Video
Jan.23, 2012

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.

This came to some light on Saturday when bassist Amos Williams posted bass tabs for ‘April’ while mentioning the new EP and the title. UPDATE: Since this post was published, the band confirmed the acoustic EP along with a bass playthrough of the new version of ‘April:’

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!

- JR

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