TesseracT – War Of Being
Kscope
Release Date: 15/09/23
Running Time: 60:47
Review by Simon Black
10/10
Metal sub-genres eh? Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, Metal is littered with them. It was all so simple in the 70’s when I was a sprog – there was Hard Rock, and there was Metal, with a bit of a Venn diagram thing going on in the middle occasionally, but since then they’ve been propagating little baby subgenres like rabbits. What started as a simple way of grouping similar sounding acts to make it easier for an audience to work out whether it was worth the risk taking a punt on a band has become a black art for the writer to evaluate, and the subject of many online flaming sessions. For me, it’s increasingly irrelevant, since most people can’t really agree on any kind of common definitions; for you, dear reader, it’s got to come down to whether you trust our opinions enough to take a bite…
The UK’s TesseracT have been around for a while, with this being their fifth studio opus since 2011 (although they’ve been around way longer than that) when a band with a little bit of the Progressive, a little bit of Groove, plenty of old-fashioned Metal sentiment hit the stage, adding something else to the mix that sort of kick-started Djent. Whatever, the point is this is technically complex, yet lovingly well-crafted music which existing fans are going to be punching the sky to, and newbies like me expressing delight at a fucking shit hit ‘new’ act to listen to that we’ve been missing out on to date.
With a five-year gap ‘twixt albums, expectations will be high, but TesseracT seriously do not disappoint. If there’s one word that describes this, I am going to go with ‘epic’, but being happy me, ‘fucking epic’ is far more appropriate. It’s a complex concept story piece, and although I should spend a little more time unpeeling that (I get the feeling that that’s coming, as this one’s not leaving the platter just yet), at this stage and after three full listens in I’m still just captivated by the writing, the performance and the production which is really, about as good as it gets, and really showing me why investing in silly size speakers was money well spent, even if my neighbours don’t agree. It roars, it soars and has so much atmosphere you could terraform the moon with it, plus the added advantage that that shit tonne of bottom-end heaviness would throw in a whole magnetosphere for free.
So dear reader, I hope you do trust my opinion, because ‘epic’ is rapidly becoming too small a word for a band whose genre on the back of this should now simply be known as ‘Fucking Excellent Metal’… So, bite, and deeply… you won’t regret it.
‘War of Being’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Natural Disaster
02. Echoes
03. The Grey
04. Legion
05. Tender
06. War Of Being
07. Sirens
08. Burden
09. Sacrifice
LINE-UP:
Daniel Tompkins – Vocals
Acle Kahney – Guitar
James Monteith – Guitar
Amos Williams – Bass
Jay Postones – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Simon Black and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.