Author: Primož Novak
Artist: Textures
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release date: year_month
Running time: 43:49
Rating: 4/5
Textures were one of those bands playing technical metal long before the so-called djent trend even kicked off. You could say that Textures, along with France’s Scarve and Gojira and the UK’s Sikth, were the forerunners of this strange genre that’s chaotic, rhythmically complex and progressive. With their second album »Drawing Circles«, which pretty much defined the band, they showed that at the time they were just doing their own take on metalcore, one they’d complicated quite a bit and made fairly unconventional. But over the years Textures, too, adapted to bigger crowds and started writing songs dressed up with clean vocals and melodic guitars, which you could hear above all on the previous album, Dualism.
Phenotype is the band’s fifth album, and it took them a full five years to make it. The long wait was mostly down to the departure of guitarist and creative mastermind Jochem Jacobs. Textures faced a tough job, since Jacobs wasn’t easy to replace. Especially because Jacobs also produced the band’s records. Luckily, Jacobs produced and engineered this album too, so the similarities to the earlier records are pretty obvious. It feels like Jacobs never left.
Textures haven’t changed all that much. With the opening track Oceans Collide, they show that the music is still punchy, rhythmically dynamic, unpredictable, atmospheric and full of embellishments with catchy vocals. From there on, a few surprises pop up that show their creativity hasn’t dried up. First off, there’s Shaping a Single Grain of Sand, which in its second half turns into a properly aggressive thrash metal-style »ass-kicker«, just as the band themselves have said, among other things. Illuminate the Trail, on the other hand, proves that Textures can also dream a little, which shows in a few atmospheric suspensions that give the whole thing an interesting structure, but then again the song starts to drag by the end. Thankfully, there’s none of the over-the-top melancholy and dreaminess that crept into many later bands. Metal simply remained Textures’ main foundation. The Fourth Prime confirms it, boasting aggression, groove and melody, with a dreamy section adding more variety to the track. For an intermezzo, Textures serve up the »tribal« track Meander, which gives the album a Gojira flavor, and for some embellishment there’s the mournful piano piece Zman, which flows nicely into the closing track Timeless, with its slightly more melancholic touch.
Probably the first thing longtime listeners wondered about was how new guitarist Joe Tal would fit into the band. There’s no major difference: Joe Tal and Bart Hennephof are practically the two most standout members with their crazy syncopated riffs, melodies and solos. The most standout member, though, is actually still drummer Stef Broks. Without his excellent rhythmic chops and sense of groove, Textures would sound mostly dry and boring. Daniël de Jongh’s vocals have improved a bit, although it takes quite a while for a listener to get used to his tone. Keyboardist Uri Dijk also plays a pretty important part, giving the songs atmosphere and a more rounded-out sound. Sadly, bassist Remko Tielemans is the only one who doesn’t stand out. He’s merely a support act for the guitars, even though he’s got plenty of work to do.
Phenotype is the first part of a set that will be completed next year by the album Genotype, which is supposed to be quite different and more atmospheric. It’s meant to be a more experimental record, but we’ll have to wait a while for that. As for Phenotype: it may not be the band’s peak, but it’s a good comeback that bodes well for the future. The album has everything you could want from a band: complexity, punch, melody and atmosphere.
Lineup
Daniël de Jongh – vocals
Bart Hennephof – guitar
Joe Tal – guitar
Stef Broks – drums
Remko Tielemans – bass
Uri Dijk – keyboards
Production
Jochem Jacobs, Yuma van Eekelen (Split Second Studio)
Tracklist
- Oceans Collide
- New Horizons
- Shaping of a Single Grain of Sand
- Illuminate The Train
- Meander
- Erosion
- The Fourth Prime
- ZMan
- Timeless
