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TESSERACT: One (Album Review)

By Mikhail Madnani

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Record Label: Century Media

My rating:



    Track Listing:
  1. Lament
  2. Nascent
  3. Acceptance - Concealing Fate Part One
  4. Deception - Concealing Fate Part Two
  5. The Impossible - Concealing Fate Part Three
  6. Perfection - Concealing Fate Part Four
  7. Epiphany - Concealing Fate Part Five
  8. Origin - Concealing Fate Part Six
  9. Sunrise
  10. April
  11. Eden

Meshuggah are the innovators of the so called Djent scene. Countless bands have tried to follow Meshuggah footsteps ever since Destroy Erase Improve was released in the late nineties. Periphery and TesseracT have been the pioneers of this New Wave of Djent Metal as I like to call it. Both bands have an almost identical fan base with periphery having more guitarist fans.

TesseracT's album has been delayed for quite a while now with them not being able to record with their first vocalist due to logistics. Luckily Century Media gave the green signal for them to release an EP last year entitled Concealing Fate. This is an almost 30 minute song split into six parts. The EP has received great reviews and also appears on their album One. For most fans this album features only 5 songs that were previously unreleased. The band released the weakest track on the album as a digital single some time ago. I love when bands release a certain song and people assume that the rest of the album will be like that. This song is like Iron Maiden's Benjamin Breeg for me.

The album opener, Lament sets the tone for most of the other songs. I love how ambient and layered this band is. The production is near perfect and the songs have only 1 flaw in my books, the lack of guitar solos. Most people might not have a problem with this but I really feel songs like Lament and Sunrise could have done with one. That being said, the guitar playing is spot on and Acle and James chugging rhythm and haunting clean riffs make their songs shine. With an epic song like Concealing Fate, one would wonder why the band would choose to split it up into 6 parts when its entire feel is lost if it isn't heard as one song. For the fans with a shorter attention span, the standout parts of Concealing Fate are Acceptance, Deception and Origin. The entire song may be one of the best pieces of progressive music ever recorded. Dan's vocals are very unique. His clean vocals are brilliant and outshine most other vocalists of the genre but I am not a huge fan of his screams. The best part about the drums is that they do not sound like the stale programmed drums most djent bands have in their songs. Jay and Amos together form one of metal's finest rhythm sections. Amos' bass playing can be clearly heard on April. This song is definitely one of the highpoints on the album. Eden, the album closer seems highly inspired by Meshuggah's Destroy Erase Improve and None in terms of music. Clocking in at over 9 minutes, it is the longest song if you do not consider Concealing Fate. Tompkins is in rare form on this song with near falsetto vocals and he proves what a brilliant vocalist he is here.

Even though the production covers a major part of the emotion in the music, Dan's clean vocals and the brilliantly awesome musicianship prove that TesseracT is a force to be reckoned. With the perfect playing and production, I am reminded that sometimes a small human touch is all that is needed. TesseracT's One is one of the best Debut albums ever and is only the beginning for the Milton Keynes metal act.

The album also comes with a bonus dvd that features the entire Concealing Fate song performed by the band in the studio recorded in 5.1 which is a very nice touch and will definitely make more people buy this album.

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