TesseracT - War of Being (2023)^{Release ID: 47365}

In the 5 years between this album and the last, Tesseract have been busy with other projects. Vocalist Daniel Tompkins made a couple solo albums with one of them including a song featuring Trivium's Matt Heafy. Then in the midst of it-that-shall-not-be-named, the band performed a "live cinematic experience" on stream with then-Monuments drummer Mike Malyan, which became a live album Portals. And finally, they released Regrowth, a charity single for people involved in the war in Ukraine.

The time has been used well and the band have their most ambitious album in 10 years, War of Being! It's a concept album that includes its own video game made using Unreal Engine. I think it has really suited fans' expectations and then some.

"Natural Disaster" punches through with no time to waste, unleashing heavy riffing and screaming right from the get-go. The crushing side is balanced out with the melodic side and they both set the album's path. "Echoes" keeps the momentum with some energy in the drum grooves. The rhythm is given a spoonful of grace. "The Grey" throws back to the band's earlier djent, and it's a perfect throwback too. Another technical sound storm!

"Legion" has some mysterious drama to go with the diverse vocals of Tompkins. There's a brief heavy strike to remind you about what they still have. "Tender" is exactly that, so soft and clean, before another heavy storm... HOLY MAMMOTH, the 11-minute title epic has really gotten me excited and on my seat! There are so many intense twists that it's hard to count. And the vocals are so majestic. This is the kind of epic Tesseract has had with "Concealing Fate" from One and the 4 epics that make up Altered State, missing in the two albums that followed. Tesseract is really back!

"Sirens" has more of the electronic softness. Then comes "Burden". "I'm afraid, and I don't know what I am, and I don't know where to turn, but I'll learn", lovely lyrics of hope sung by Daniel Tompkins, almost having similar falsetto-like singing to the late Michael Jackson. Just don't expect any of the "HEE-hee!" Finally, "Sacrifice" is one more nearly 10-minute epic that offers a conclusive summary of this progressive djent adventure.

It's not every band that can grab your attention throughout an hour as much as Tesseract. They continue waving the djent flag as the instrumentation and vocals encourage listeners to fully appreciate this talented bunch. War of Being shall be known as another offering of innovative greatness!

Favorites: "Natural Disaster", "The Grey", "War of Being", "Burden", "Sacrifice"

I've been listening to progressive metal for quite a long time and it's becoming more and more frustrating to hear the modern djentification of the genre. Not because it's bad per se, but rather because of how poorly it's presented. Most modern djent acts use the exact same bad compositional and engineering mistakes that are littered throughout metalcore. So it's kind of nice to hear an album that doesn't sound like its was mixed from the inside of the percussionist's bass drum. War of Being is a expertly produced album that still maintains the exact tropes that one would expect out of djent-y metalcore. The record's performance is precise and punchy and TesseracT have done plenty of experimentation to differentiate it from other, more comfortable acts like Veil of Maya. The compositions are well crafted; it does fall a little flat at times, especially in the lyrical content as well as the title track that feels like its running on just a tad longer than it should. But "Natural Disaster" is one of TesseracT's best performances, and "The Grey" and "Legion" are superb as well. As it stands, War of Being will likely turn out to be 2023's best "conventional" djent album, even though that might not mean much coming from me. Take that for what it's worth.

Best Songs: Natural Disaster, The Grey, Legion, Sirens, Sacrifice