Author: Primož Novak
Artist: TesseracT
Label: Kscope
Release: year_month
Length: 36:24
Rating: 4/5
Seven years ago, when English djent standard-bearers Tesseract dropped their debut, nobody could have guessed the band would manage more than two albums. After all the trouble with vocalists, Tesseract barely kept their heads above water, but they kept swimming. Now it’s 2018, and Tesseract are back after a three-year break with their fourth album, following the not-too-successful Polaris. The band hasn’t been slacking, they just took a bit more time, and they also squeezed in quite a few tours.
At first glance, Sonder can be a real letdown, since it runs just over 36 minutes. So Tesseract have delivered the shortest record of their career, which raises the question of how good those 36 minutes actually are.
Sonder opens with Luminary, which maybe isn’t the best showcase of what the band can do. The song definitely hits hard, the sound is polished as ever, and the standout is Daniel Tompkins’ vocal, which shines most in the chorus. A solid start, but what comes next shows the band’s true face. King is slower, more rhythmically varied, with a lot more ambient flavor. On top of that, the band surprises with an unconventional structure, and Tompkins even throws in a few screams, so there’s no shortage of variety. Definitely a bright spot on the album, and one that has made it into the live set too. After the calm intermezzo Orbital, Tesseract serve up Juno, a punchy, groovy track that’s incredibly well crafted; the rhythm section absolutely dazzles, and the bass guitar gets its moment as well. After that the album calms down quite a bit, with Beneath My Skin leaning on ambience and atmosphere, though of course it also has a heavy section in the style of the mighty Meshuggah. Mirror Image goes a similar way, building nicely all the way to the end, which is then backed up with some hefty distortion. Otherwise the emphasis is more on ambience, which gives the record some diversity as a whole. There’s more punch in Smile, which the band released as a single ahead of the album. Smile is quite different from the original version, with some industrial touches that add one more shade to an already rich soundscape. Smile flows into the shorter The Arrow, which closes this brief circle.
With Sonder, Tesseract kind of stitch together elements of their past albums. The band is still technical, atmospheric, melodic and unpredictable, but as a whole the album doesn’t hit as hard as the first two. Like its predecessors, Sonder is superbly produced, with everything polished down to the smallest detail. The sound is rich and just begs for a good PA. To sum up, with their fourth album Tesseract prove they haven’t run out of ideas yet, it just feels like they’re searching for themselves a little.
Lineup
Acle Kahney – guitar
James Monteith – guitar
Jay Postones – drums
Daniel Tompkins – vocals
Amos Williams – bass
Production
Aidan O’Brien, Acle Kahney
Tracklist
1. Luminary
2. King
3. Orbital
4. Juno
5. Beneath My Skin
6. Mirror Image
7. Smile
8. The Arrow
