Tesseract – One

Axiom: “Nobody on this planet can play like Meshuggah!” But there are those who are brave (or foolish) enough to try and reach the unattainable, achieve the impossible. A whole new music scene, often self-defining itself as djent, has emerged from all around the world, and tries to do so. And there are those who come close to success, TesseracT being one of them and surely among the best.

TesseracT are one of the pioneers of this djent movement, working hard for years to come up with music that is 100 % metal and 101 % progressive at the same time. Hailing from England and having recently signed a contract with Century Media, they offer us 11 songs (6 of them were included in the “Concealing Fate” EP which came out last year) full of British elegance and sensitivity. They have been described as “the easy-listening Meshuggah”, and there is a hint of truth in this definition. All of them are expert musicians, giving attention to the details. But whereas other bands tend to overexpose their technical talents, TesseracT write actual songs which are filled to the brim with haunting melodies, passion, lyricism and essence. No musical brainteasers and Dream Theater-isms here, just straightforward progressive music that breathes, cries, laughs, screams, frowns, smiles, lives!

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that their singer, Dan Tompkins, is not your average nerdy prog geek. His looks are those of someone that listens to Coldplay, not those of one singing in a technical progressive band. And as a singer he doesn’t sound like your average prog idols (La Brie or Tate for example). He is more like Jared Leto, known actor and frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars. His sweet clean voice sounds emo sometimes, but if that bothers you and drives you away from TesseracT, then you are too narrow-minded for your own good. Take the earplugs off, or you will lose one of the best prog albums of the year.
Overall, TesseracT with their debut album make a statement of how progressive metal should sound nowadays. I would go for a 9 rating, but I didn’t because half of the songs were published before in the EP, and also because I’m sure they will offer us something even better in the future!