TESSERACT — Concealing Fate (review)

TESSERACT — Concealing Fate album cover EP · 2010 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
bartosso
I admit it, I hate mixing prog with mainstream, especially if it concerns djent. As a great fan of this... well I shouldn't call it genre so let it be style. So, as a great fan of this style I constantly look for Meshuggah followers to find some gems and indulge in that weird atmosphere, discordant riffs and brain boiling drum beats. This time I got not my brain but fingers burnt. The gem turned out to be just an ordinary stone.

Okay, maybe it was a little bit too harsh. The main problem with this release is that it has some really bad, annoying even, qualities and some really good ones too. I will start with good ones if you don't mind. First of all this is perfectly executed and written material, with very nice, thick and clean production, pleasing the ear with full range of frequencies. Secondly, djent parts of the record are professionally composed and attract attention, even if most of them are just cribbed from Meshuggah. Thirdly, some (but very few) melodic parts are good, haunting even, and made me, for these few times, enjoy the record.

Now the better part - bloody flaws. What I hate most about TesseracT? [drum roll] Vocal parts! They are the biggest curse of this EP. The singer has quite powerful, clean voice and wide vocal range, but the way he uses it brings to mind (unpleasant) associations with Linkin Park and so-called melodic metal core. That kind of singing leads directly to tearful/gushing melodies which I... well, can't stand actually. It's not only the singer to be blamed of course. Other musicians rarely (but still too often) follow him in this run of the mill. In the end we've got a record where heavy djent themes alternate, quite smoothly, with melodic passages of "pure emotion", making up consistent creation of accessible prog metal.

All in all, it is not a bad work. I don't really like it but there's no denying that the guys are talented and managed to combine discordant sounds of djent with purely melodic modern metal. It's admirable.
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