Recent years have seen The Pineapple Thief mastermind Bruce Soord in an experimental and pace changing mindset to say the least. From the electronica driven prog of his Wisdom Of Crowds album, his reflective solo album and PT’s previous, more hard rock and riff focused album Magnolia (Kscope); charting Soord’s course has been an unenviable task. So it isn’t too surprising that, against his own omission previously, that latest album Your Wilderness(Kscope) is somewhat a return to more familiar territory.
To say that this is a return to their roots is a quite a disservice but Your Wilderness definitely fits closer to the mold of the likes of Someone Here Is Missing(Kscope); particularly in its soothing and smooth atmosphere which proves, for the most part, uplifting with hints of melancholy. Ultimately however Your Wilderness performs a happy medium between such albums and the sharper counterpart Magnolia.
There is plenty of evidence of its predecessors more refined and harder edge, such as in the way “Tear You Up” builds into a more metallic territory, or in the majority of the album’s succinct song durations and structures. Not that fans lost on the way won’t find plenty to restore their faith, with plenty of exploration and layers and the near ten minute “The Final Thing On My Mind”. The addition of Gavin Harrison on has also added a much greater dexterity and dimension behind the drum kit.
Your Wilderness has a difficult role to fulfill coming after such a polarising and somewhat unique release in Magnolia, in that it has to appeal to both the fans perhaps lost at that point yet not feel like a backwards step for them; and they do so with seeming ease. Still as accessible as their brand of prog has always been but with enough deep intricacies to offer something new each time. Some will say this is back to form, but this is also a perfect evolutionary step for one of Britain’s greatest prog forces.
Progressive metal stars Tesseract have hit the ground running hard since the release of their new album Polaris (Kscope) in 2015. Re-energized by returning vocalist Daniel Tompkins and new horizons to reach for musically, the band has been slaying out on tour. Will a huge headline run of dates in their native United Kingdom, as well as the rest of Europe, rabid fans were in a froth. Especially to see Tompkins, who is truly a great conduit vocally and lyrically for what the bands lays down. Most of the shows on the tour are already sold-out, attesting to the greatness of this band; already a modern legend. On this night at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham, the band was supported directly by like-minded US proggersThe Contortionist and Nordic Giants (not pictured). The Contortionist themselves are another great young band, with a similar career arc of the headliners. Now fronted by Michael Lessard (Last Chance To Reason), the band is touring hardcore behind their own recent release the “Rediscovered” version of their album Language (eOne). As for the headliners, if you have ever seen them live, they are masterful performers. On this night they crafted a set list highlighting their newest work, but always remembering the moments from older albums that got them here in the first place. Captured here for Ghost Cult by Luke Denham of Luke Denham Photography, you get a glimpse one of tomorrow’s best band, today.
They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes the front can tell you exactly what to expect and emphasise something’s importance. The stunning scene from Liverpool’s Cathedral which adorns this particular cover perfectly encapsulates not only the grandeur of the cathedral itself, but the stunning atmosphere that any Anathema show has to offer.
A Sort Of Homecoming (Kscope) gives both a live video and audio version of Anathema’s Liverpool Cathedral show; part of a run of stripped down, mostly acoustic shows across similar venues around the UK and Europe, but a show in the band’s home town shows a great personal significance and familiarity to them. Some brief, jovial heckles here and there do not detract whatsoever and even highlights the warmth their music generates.
Much of the set on offer has been in heavy rotation in recent tours, and of course the latest album Distant Satellites (Kscope) gets a heavy airing, but even the regularity many will surely have heard these songs before does not lessen their effect or their presence whatsoever, and in actual fact the band do a lot to keep them sounding fresh.
‘The Lost Song Part 2’ opens the show to a fairly sombre note and curiously is done so without its corresponding parts, as Lee Douglas takes the first vocal duties of the night, and once again showing her improving confidence each and every show. Elsewhere, the poignant ‘Dreaming Light’ becomes a duet with Vincent Cavanagh sharing vocals with Lee, and ‘Internal Landscapes’ gets taken to its bare bones and sees Vincent and Danny singing together. An uncommon airing of ‘Electricity’ also helps to keep this set unique, alongside stunning performances of the likes of ‘Ariel’ and ‘A Natural Disaster’.
The video performance of this does well to showcase the gravitas of the surroundings and offers a clear, well shot document of the event throughout, all the while sounding crisp and note perfect, making this a live album that holds a candle to many of the greats. The largely familiar set list could have been a pitfall for those who have seen Anathema regularly in recent years, but the band’s unsurprisingly resonant and strong performance, plus the originality of the stripped down song versions and the magnificence of the venue itself, make this a very special release, and shows just why these guys are held so dearly in the hearts of many.
In the world of contemporary prog, very few bands take it to such artsy and fascinating landscapes as Norwegian’s Gazpacho, whether it’s in their musicality, their craftsmanship or their narrative. Hitting a career high last year with their brave and majestic Demon (Kscope) saw them perfectly meld a haunting, classical style with a continuous and suitably dark tale of a Demon. Over a year later and the follow up album sees them not sitting on their laurels, with further stylistic changes and an equally unconventional concept.
Molok (Kscope) takes the brain stalling idea of a man who decides, in the 1920s, that all worship of any God has become the worship of stone as God has retreated to such objects. Coupled with this head scratching idea is the fact that a frequency at the album’s close could spell the end of the world.
Rather than just simply coming up with a weird and wonderful story alone, Gazpacho compliment and match it with vibrant and extremely well executed atmospheres and sounds that once again fully breathe it to life. At times there is a much greater focus on a more tribal and dissident sound such as on ‘Algorithm’ which emphasizes large, traditional percussion throughout, whilst the likes of ‘ABC’ prove almost contrasting with a more soothing and dreamlike air. The title track even includes like-to-like recreations of Stone Age instruments, contributed by music archaeologist Gjermund Kolltveit.
As such, this may borderline on becoming pretentious and even elitist, but Gazpacho manage to encapsulate all this in a way that is still warming and welcoming. Those unfamiliar with art rock and prog could find it daunting, but otherwise this is very melodic and has plenty to latch on to whilst all the while proving dynamic and imaginative. Meant to be enjoyed as a whole rather than broken up, each new listen reveals further nuances and details. Jan Henrik Ohme’s voice also proves as hypnotic as ever, conveying melancholy, serenity and menace with aplomb, and the accompanying female vocals add an extra, welcome dimension.
As ever, a new Gazpacho album will reveal further secrets with each additional listen and thus trying to articulate it entirely is futile, but what is clear is that Molok is a rich and heavily detailed and thought out work which will prove more and more rewarding with time. Where Demon was the band’s benchmark, Molok has very easily matched it at the very least. This could well be the band’s greatest opus to date.
If there is one thing that djent bands are very adept at it is their ability to lose vocalists, so much so it seems to be a rite of passage amongst bands of this ilk, from Monuments and Periphery to The Contortionist. TesseracT it is well documented are no slouches in this department, seeming to change as much as the WWE attitude era Hardcore Championship. Still in the touring cycle for previous album Altered State(Century Media) and on the eve of the summer festivals, came the news that Ashe O’Hara had left the fold, and the welcome surprise that talismanic vocalist Dan Tompkins (at the time also singing for Skyharbor and his own project White Moth Black Butterfly) had assumed his old role.
At the time it seemed completely out of the blue for Tompkins to return, but as Jay Postones explains, he was always the right man for the job, it was circumstances that played their part: “We always kept in contact with Dan and he just couldn’t do it back in the day, when we were touring it was a bit much for him really. But now we are in a much better position, more stable financially and we are able to do it as a proper band. He’s always been able to ride to the music very easily, he’s always been a part of TesseracT, really it’s just the right time.”
In that time, as Postones states, they were always in contact, and during his absence Tompkins had kept very busy with other bands and projects and has been a frequent part of the scene so the idea of rust wasn’t an issue. With so much time passed however you’d expect a settling in period of sorts. As it turns out, this wasn’t the case: “There was no need for integration at all. The hardest thing was getting all the legal stuff right because he had been screwed over before with record labels, management etc, but in artistic terms of what we were trying to create; our vision and his vision align so it was spot on as it’s always been…It was very simple, he came back in and started writing and it was seamless. It’s just great to be working with him again.”
Talking with Postones it is abundantly clear that the band are extremely happy to welcome their old singer and brother back in, in part due to the memories of those early and older tours that they were so fond of. His return brought back that sense of nostalgia as well as the lease of life to move forward: “One of the cool things was that we had a lot of material and demos written from about 2011/12 when he was with us before that we were able to revisit; there were some riffs that we started for Polaris (Kscope). It was really nice to start at that point because a lot of them were written on tour, Dan would be singing along in the van when we were driving past things like crazy, massive lakes in Canada and places like that, and it was nice to be able to start and think back to then.”
Looking back at début album One (Century Media) and Tompkins’ other projects he has done it is clear that he is quite simply a phenomenal talent, but as Postones explains about the singer’s learning curve, frighteningly he is just getting better: “Everything he has done has improved his abilities, he can sing higher that he could before which is just insane because he could reach some stupid notes when he joined is. Everything he has done has helped him develop his voice to a stage he can effortlessly do stuff on Polaris without over shooting himself, and the reason I say that is because if you play an absolute blinder on recording, you have to do it live as well, especially for a vocalist, so what he has put down, every night he’d be fine.”
The impact of Tompkins’ return has not only seen his performance on the microphone skyrocket, but has also made an impression and effect on the rest of the band, rejuvenating them all to a whole new level: “I think the level we had come to expect, I think the bar was raised when Dan came back to us. He was able to absolutely fly with the material. Seeing him nail it every night made us up our game and it was inspiring to see.”
There is the old adage about people or things fitting together perfectly like a glove, and of course it is always cliché for bands to say this about any member when they are together and then that changes when they depart. With Tompkins’ back in the band however, the obvious connection amongst the entire unit and the bond they have shared even when apart suggests that this is the definite incarnation.
“We are all a similar age and we get on really well on tour. You’ve got to be a band of brothers when you’re in a band, not just a touring businesswhich it is for some bands. You can spot the bands that aren’t going to make it more than a few years because there’s arguing, bitterness and egos. The thing with this band for me is that there is none of that. If you need space you get space, we all know each other really well now and can support each other when having a bad time.”
Even the issue of distance between the members (mostly all scattered around the UK with bassist Amos Williams now residing in Shanghai) does not prove too much of a burden for TesseracT, with them all making sure the communication is still going, and the unity they have as a group: “There’s a lot of conversation, the amount of emails between us is ridiculous, like about 100 or so a day. But other than the time difference in Shanghai it’s the same as it’s always been. As well as the emails there’s the usual stupidity between us all, we are a band of mates which is great, and I hope it stays that way.”
With the music industry as difficult and un-financially viable a path as it is in the modern day, the survival of bands is not without some roadblocks along the way. Bands calling it quits altogether, members coming and going and a greater need to stand out and make a mark are just some such trials that can make or break.
Since their roots as a bedroom project of guitarist Acle Kahney in 2003, UK prog metaller’s TesseracT have overcome and experienced much more than many of their peers could ever have imagined, all the while almost making it look easy. Being considered a founding alumni of the ‘djent’ scene with their debut album One, they survived the style’s saturation through some evolution on follow up Altered State (both Century Media), vocalist changes as frequent as the weather. Oh, and they’ve also played on an iceberg.
The transition from One to Altered State saw a departure from the extreme metal influences of which they were known for a more melodic approach. On their newest effort Polaris (Kscope/eOne), as drummer Jay Postones explains, the forward motion is continuing: “It’s just progressed from the last album. I know that’s a really cliché thing to say because its progressive music and we just constantly strive to make something a little bit different but, I think we were perhaps more focused with this one, maybe less rushed and we had a bit more time to structure the songs and work on the ideas that really excited us.”
Comparing Polaris to its predecessors, it is an ever greater leap into more prog and ambient territory than Altered State was; a much more layered and even intricate work. As Postones explains, much of the reason for this was the working influence and presence of their sound engineer Aiden O’Brien: “He wrote a lot of the ambient parts and the piano; he had a massive input on this album. You can hear a lot of subtle differences, like, going between songs, and he has been involved in writing those parts. There’s a kind of sixth dimension to it which has been really cool.”
In fact the experience of O’Brien from other aspects of the music industry helped towards making an invaluable contribution to Polaris’ hypnotic and serene atmosphere. “He performs as much as we do (and) he’s been with us for a very long time; his main job is writing music for TV ads and stuff like that, so he knows how things should sound, for want of a better phrase.
“It’s very subtle things that many people might not hear but for people with massive speakers or headphones, they will hear the things he does. They may be subtle or subliminal but they make an impact and make a difference to us. It helps you feel the music a lot more. There’s a lot more going on than any other record.”
On the face of things it could be said that perhaps TesseracT, more than just moving from the scene that they helped to shape, are in actual fact veering from metal altogether. Certainly there are moments here where metal is entirely stripped away, for example the drifting, brooding ‘Hexes’, but simultaneously there are still heavier moments and even some growled vocals that were completely absent on Altered State. Postones gives an insight in this notion: “I think you’re fair in saying that to be honest. Even though there’s some block out moments and some screams which we didn’t do on Altered State; Dan (Tompkins, vocals)would say that works and put them in, and you never wanted to say never in case it works properly. But we’ve always tried to go with what feels right, we never want to conform to anything, we just want to write music that feels right to us.”
Postones goes on to explain that, rather than being a calculated decision by the band, or even a committee, the creative process simply happens organically: “There isn’t even conversations or emails from management saying you have to write a song like this, its never been like that with this band. We put our foot down and that’s how we choose to do it. If we ever had to compromise any creative aspect of this band to appease the business I don’t think we would get as much enjoyment out of it.
“We enjoy playing, we enjoy touring and writing. We aren’t stubbornly trying to do anything , we just do what we like to do.”
The history of TesseracT is very disjointed and confusing in places, both sonically and in terms of personnel. With a continuous base of founder and guitarist Acle Kahney alongside Jay Postones, James Monteith and Amos Williams, the vocalist has changed more than Doctor Who, now with Daniel Tompkins returning after his initial stint on the band’s first full length One. Since his first tenure the band’s sound has changed from the, at the time cutting edge djent metal sound, to one that focused towards a more expansive arena while diminishing their metallic influences on follow up Altered State (both Century Media). Now with Polaris (Kscope/eOne) they are venturing even further down the rabbit hole.
The albums opening song will prove the most familiar and easing track for those who crave a return to the crunchy metal of One, with a prominent, chugging bassline throughout, it shows signs of an underlying trait of their sound that has been there since day one, but less so through a Meshuggah lens. Instead Polaris shows an increasingly mellow and even ambient sound with a dreamlike atmosphere, punctuated by increased tempo and thundering basslines, a prime example being the ever building ‘Hexes’.
Of course, many ears will be on what Tompkins brings to the table again, and even with him still firmly on the radar during his TesseracT absence with a host of other projects, his evolution since then is staggering. Completely void of the harsh vocals that powered One, Tompkins clean vocals soar to new heights here, and his time with Indian prog metallers Skyharbor has elevated him even further, hitting new, astonishing high notes and ever improved vocal lines show his flawless adaptability to the band’s changes.
It has often been challenging keeping up with the changes TesseracT undergo, but for every roadblock that hinders their path they always come out the other side stronger than ever; this line up feels definitive as Tompkins proves even with the significant steps the band have made forward, that he still fits like a glove. Polaris is yet another important and impressive leap forward by one of modern prog’s most important alumni.
TesseracTis streaming their new album Polaris (Kscope/eOne) ahead of its release date this coming Friday, September 18th. You can hear the album at this link or below:
TesseracT released a new single today as a lyric video, ‘Messenger’, from their forthcoming album Polaris (Kscope/eOne) due on September 18th. You can hear the track at this link or below:
‘Messenger’ is available as a instant grat track free with pre-orders which are live at these links (digital and physical) link. Reunited with singer Dan Tompkins, he commented on the concept of Polaris.
“The concept of our new album, ‘Polaris’ is simple; it is about the transient nature of universal truth. There is no such thing as an absolute fixed human concept that will forever be the truth. Perhaps that is a message most of us can’t or don’t want to listen to but ‘Messenger’ highlights an ever growing awakening from the onslaught of the social conditioning we’re exposed to everyday from the media. The truth constantly obscured and the public subdued by ‘Casting fear into doubt.”
Midwest symphonic dream prog duo The Receiver is streaming “Transit” from their upcoming album All Burn, out June 23, 2015 via Kscope in North America here.
Watch a teaser trailer for the album below.
All Burn is also the first self-produced Receiver album, with mixing handled by Danny Kalb (Beck, Ben Harper, Foster the People, Karen O) and mastering by Brian Lucey (Sigur Ros, The Shins, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys).
All Burn Track Listing
01: Drift
02: Transit
03: To Battle an Island
04: Collector
05: Dark Matter
06: April Blades
07: The Summit
08: Let It Dry
09: All Burn
10: How to be Young
11: These Days
The Receiver is…
Casey Cooper – vocals, synths/keyboards, bass Jesse Cooper – drums, vocals
