Tesseract – Altered State
Century Media, 2013
9/10
Altered State follows the release of one previous album
and two EPs from this English progressive metal band, and despite new singer
Ashe O’Hara being the third vocalist across this output Tesseract has delivered
an outstanding album that should earn them a place among the prog elite. More
thoughtful and introspective than technical and flashy, Altered State occupies a musical space somewhere between the
melodic beauty of the 90s output of Fates Warning and the rhythmic, modern vibe
of Karnivool. The album is divided into four multi-song movements that seem to
have more a lyrical than musical thread between them. Songwriting is the major
strength of Altered State, rather
than the performance of any individual band member. Strong from start to
finish, Altered State is the type of
album that commands attention through out its entirety. It’s hard to pinpoint
the exact reasons why the album doesn’t score a 10, but it would have to be
distilled down to the fact that there is not a single song that demands
inspiring passion which creates a bond with the listener. For example, “All I
Know” and “Goliath” draw me to Karnivool’s Sound
Awake, and I can’t listen to the album without hearing those songs. While
there’s not a bad song to be found on Altered
State, I’ve yet to be so enraptured by one to the point that my listening
experience feels incomplete without it. That said, the last 2–3 years have been
incredible for the growth of progressive rock and metal, and Tesseract deserve
a place alongside the burgeoning list of young bands that are poised to lead
the field into the future. Tesseract has released an album or EP in each of the
last four years, and I hope they keep up this pace of output for I’m eager to
hear further developments to their sound.
