TESSERACT — Sonder (review)

TESSERACT — Sonder album cover Album · 2018 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Kingcrimsonprog
In my mind, there’s no doubt about it. Tesseract are the undisputed kings of Djent. There are a lot of great tech metal and alternative metal bands around right now, a lot of bands who mix elements from Tool or Messugah or Nine Inch Nails with the lessons learned from modern metalcore. Some are good, some are even great, but for me none are as effective as Britain’s own Tesseract.

I’ve seen Tesseract a good few times live both with Ashe O’Harra and with Dan, (Never with Good Tiger’s Elliot Coleman sadly) and slowly fallen completely in love with them. Amos and Jay are the perfect rhythm section. The guitarists work so well together weaving through each-other and creating glorious shimmering melodies. To date, all their studio albums have been great, from the heavier debut One to the beautiful and haunting Altered State and the hypnotic Polaris. Even their live album Odyssey/Scala is cracking. With a track record that good something was bound to go wrong. No one can keep it up for so many albums in a row. No one can keep a hot streak alive forever. Sadly however…

…Gotcha! No, 2018’s Sonder is far from a disappointment. Sonder is a triumph! The album is getting some seriously good media attention now. Its not hype. Its not major label pressure on the magazines. Its because Sonder is an absolute barnstormer.

Its got some absolutely electrifying singing. Its got some damn catchy rhythms. It got some pretty classy lyrics (its a concept album exploring a profound sense of insignificance). It flows perfectly from beginning to end. It is expansive and progressive in one way, but is punchy and concise in another way.

Its too early to tell obviously, but a lot of people are calling this the band’s best ever album. As much as I’m skeptical of hyperbole, and think statements of that nature need longer to be sure, I don’t feel utterly resistant about it in this case. (I mean its amazingly hard to top Altered State, which is my personal favourite due to when I came on board, but it doesn’t seem that much of a stretch).

There are some terrific tunes on this. The second single ‘King’ is Djent perfection, that section where it goes ‘Bow. Down.’ is so strong. ‘Juno’ is one of the catchier numbers, up there with ‘Nocturne’ for their catchiest song to date. The lengthy ‘Beneath My Skin/Mirror Image’ is the album’s epic moment. To be fair, its all well and good picking highlights, but this is the kind of thing you have to listen to all the way through.

If you like weird time signatures, if you like emotional and evocative clean singing, if you like awkward polyrhythms and a band who can be technical but make it sound catchy instead of just showing off, Tesseract are the band for you. If you like Tesseract, there is no other option, you need Sonder in your collection now.
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