It has been five years since the last release from TesseracT, and it is no surprise that as part of the process they link back to ‘Sonder’ and offer up their latest work ‘War of Being’ a colossal chunk of Prog rock, destined to sail into prominence.
Living with the consequences of climate change we engage with a ‘Natural Disaster’ to open the show, heavy and burgeoning, determined to get the important points across, but then at 4.01 things quieten down a bit, leading us into the most extraordinary outro, rousing, uplifting and almost choral, a joy to listen to and completely unexpected. The thing with TesseracT is exactly this, there are many twists, turns, ups, downs, ins and outs, listen to this with no prior judgements of prejudices.
The band are Daniel Tompkins – vocals, Acle Kahney – guitar, James Monteith – guitar, Amos Williams – bass and Jay Postones on drums, relentless in their individual responsibilities and exuding a confidence in representing their band. They are an enigma; posing questions, puzzles even, that require time to address and time to analyse and reflect upon.
The power ballad is the expressive ‘Tender’ reaching those wilted and worn out aspects, refreshing them and given them a new lease of life.
The video for ‘War of Being’ is like watching Transformers, a conflict that rages on, imagery that is steeped in Sci -Fi with all the necessary brooding, desolate landscape, out of which two characters emerge to fight it out. The eleven minute saga is an adventure, part of the larger picture, meandering through life and what it holds for us all. We may be tethered through familial, societal bonds but ultimately, we all have our own individual journey. This is the link to ‘Sonder’ in which they discuss the idea that everyone has a life and is dealing with events or situations that may be more difficult and complex than our own. The internal frustrations, personal to us, pitted against the external forces and frictions of others we know nothing about.
That agonising ‘raise your eyes, notice me’ is the power punch that sends your vital organs running for cover.
The meat on the bones continues with ‘Sirens’ another ‘bring down the house’ number, absorbing and easy to listen to, and like the other songs here, it has that portentous quality, you wait for something to happen, and the record delivers it, timely and with purpose.
This is an influential piece, picking up human attributes, frailties and fixations and thinking about them deeply. Resorting to the philosophical and the spiritual to gain invaluable insight and knowledge of the world, avail yourself to really appreciate the process, the application of their own experiences, their own victories and failings, to secure an album that deep- dives for pearls amongst the detritus. A level of ‘Sacrifice’ is needed to achieve such a prize, an elaborate project that is labyrinthine, exposing our inadequacies and offering opportunity for discourse, and possibly reconciliation.
The hand that holds the tesseract, is the hand that rules the world.
Azra Pathan
TesseracT – War of Being out 15th September via Kscope