TESSERACT — Altered State (review)

TESSERACT — Altered State album cover Album · 2013 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Kev Rowland
When Tesseract signed to Century Media they lost their singer Abisola Obasanya and replaced him with Daniel Tompkins with whom they recorded their debut album. The album gained them a great deal of kudos and they toured hard, but soon they again needed a new singer so brought in Eliot Coleman with whom they recorded an EP, but it wasn’t long before they yet again needed a new vocalist, but let’s just hope that they chain Ashe O’Hara to the bus and just feed him and throw him the occasional bottle of beer as he is a real keeper. Much has been made of Tesseract’s musical style, and they are often referred to as Djent, but to my ears they are a prog metal band that are using loads of influences from lots of different musical areas and who cares what they are labelled as anyway?

This is an album that is all about strange time signatures and percussive guitars, combined with loads of reverb and atmosphere. Ashe’s vocals are incredible as he morphs between different styles and types, but always at the front, and always very much in control. Although there are hints of Animals as Leaders and Protest The Hero, I found that the two bands I kept being reminded of for some reasons were Evanescence and New Order. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Amos Williams has been hugely influenced by the bass playing of Peter Hook, and this combined with staccato riffing makes for some very powerful music indeed. Williams says that “mood, atmosphere, melody, and experiment are the main focus” of the album and I have to agree with him wholeheartedly.

This is an album that is not always easy to listen to, with many angular edges and plenty of riffing combined with the atmosphere and emotion, but it is always interesting and pushing forward. They have been together in one form or another for ten years, and now is their time as this is a heck of an album on so many levels. www.centurymedia.net
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed