CD REVIEW: Tesseract - One

(Originally posted on www.411mania.com/music)

As a name, Tesseract is probably about as nerdy as they come. 

Their music says otherwise.
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The London quintet isn't the inch-thick four-eyes with pocket protectors you might know-- they're the debonaire over-achiever who just happens to score straight A's while holding captain position on the basketball team (and most of the cheerleaders' numbers on speed dial). These guys could steal your girlfriend and then do your taxes. 

Beware: your prog just got game.

sensitive and technical

Those familiar with Tesseract likely know them as the long-standing side project of Acle Kahney, lead guitarist of the now-defunct UK tech-metal band, Fellsilent. In his older act, Kahney displayed an unusual knack for layering heaviness with un-earthly ambiance; the rest of the band wasn't so interesting. In 2010 the guitar-ace got his priorities straight and left the group in favor of making Tesseract his main gig: good decision making 101.

Tesseract's debut album, which the phrase "long-awaited" barely begins to describe, is a win sandwich with a side of awesome au jus; freedom fries dipped in glory sauce; a four-course meal untouched by the hand of an English chef. You get the point-- this fivesome has got it.

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As far as valid comparisons might go, I was reminded a bit of another album I reviewed last year: Underoath's Ø (Disambiguation). The two records aren't carbon copies by any means, but the former's concoction of baritone-to-stratosphere guitar textures, ethereal vocal melodies, and punchy, jagged rhythms proves a good point of reference.

Tesseract's style actually has a lot more in common with post-hardcore and alt-rock than it does metal (at least, in any traditional sense). This should be of little surprise given new vocalist Dan Tompkins experience singing for the little-known, but highly awesome English prog-punkers First Signs of Frost. You know how John C. Reilly once described Will Ferrell's voice as "a combination of Fergie and Jesus?" That's a pretty apt description of Tompkins' pipes as well. The guy's greatest attribute isn't even his range, though, it's his creativity: he uses his voice like an instrument, another layer that deepens his band mates' dense cosmos of sound.

Spearheaded by the brilliant "Lament" and uneasy "Nascent," One immediately displays its strengths whipped into a blistering mix. The opening of "Lament," alone, almost warrants the price of admission, with Tompkins shifting within a split second from bellicose howls to the most sublime high note imaginable, all atop a riff that could split your leggings.

It's possible to call Tesseract a number of things, but show-offs wouldn't be one of them. There are no solos, no shreddy leads, and no extended tech bonanzas. It's the little things that show the ear-popping skill of the players (especially the band's baller rhythm section of Amos Williams and Jay Postones). Bass slappers and groove connoisseurs need apply.
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Their six part song-cycle, "Concealing Fate," is about as close as the group comes to any sort of indulgence and even it is handled quite admirably. There are some jarring spots here and there as well as a couple songs that might have been better on their own, but unlike Porcupine Tree's recent exercise in self-gratification, it will never have you itching for the seeker button. 

There is a moderate criticism that surfaces over the album's duration, an unfortunate one that dogs many of Tesseract's peers as well: variety, or lack thereof.

Sure, the group can go hard, they can go soft, they can go hard on top of soft and vice versa; but the overall moods and textures are fairly consistent from track to track. The guitars are relentlessly boomy and low with all kinds of ambient squiggles gliding on top. It's a cool sound, if I've ever heard one, but what you hear on track one is more or less what you get on tracks two through eleven. It isn't hard to get lost if you aren't paying ample attention. 

The Bottom Line: Tesseract rocks-- there isn't really much else you need to know. These five Brits found a musical wormhole that allowed them to squeeze the most technically exciting aspects of prog and metal into a sleek, accessible package. There's definitely some room for growth and the album cover is also socks-in-sandals dorky, but don't let that deter you-- One stands as one of the year's best releases thus far .

(4 out of 5 devilsticks)