My first exposure to TesseracT actually came from seeing them live when they played with Animals as Leaders and Between the Buried and Me. Me and my friend Brad hated them, and called them boring. I wrote the band off from that entirely, but I learned afterwards that we saw them with their new vocalist, and that their debut album has a different vocalist. I was willing to give this a try, due to that fact alone, and holy hell, how did I just listen to this?
No offense to their current vocalist, Elliot Coleman, because I think he's great at other stuff I've heard him do, and maybe it was just the sound set-up at the concert, but man, Dan Tompkins is talented. His vocals soar all over this album.But anyway, onto the album.
It's a djent album alright, but the style of melodies in here I've never heard anything similar to. Dan's vocal style reminds me of Matthew Bellamy from Muse, Thom Yorke from Radiohead, and whoever the hell that guy was from Coldplay, but with more elegance, if that makes any sense. He simply rules this album, singing over some epic instrumentals, ranging from gentle quiet strokes of the guitar, to heavy rhythmic jams. His singing style makes it hard to get into them at first, but it's easy to listen to, and you keep easing yourself into it. To be honest, I've listened to this a bunch of times in the past few days, and I don't even know every twist and turn along the way just yet, all I know is that I love it.
He doesn't scream, though, he yells, which oddly works out great for TesseracT because it somehow fits with the music, although I do think if he had some type of scream, that'd be better, but who's complaining with an album this layered and epic? This album will gently test your mind until you unlock every piece of the beautiful puzzle, but just when you think you have, like an ever unwinding ball of yarn, TesseracT manage to slip something new by you.
Sadly, vocalist Dan Tompkins left the band after this album, but Elliot Coleman is a fitting replacement, as judged by his vocals over the new version of the track 'Eden'. Still, Dan's the man.
It's not a shower, it's a grower, but if you stick with this, you may find a lot to like. I don't know if I'd see them live again just yet, but you can consider me a TesseracT fan from here on out.
8/10
Recommended tracks: Nascent, Sunrise
