One thing that I want our readers to learn about Madness To Creation is that I try to incorporate philosophical musings and whatever inspiration comes to mind when I pen out these reviews. Such is the case with Socrates. Socrates once said in his teachings that “the unexamined life isn’t worth living” as Socrates was accused for his beliefs for that they were corrupting the youth in the days of Ancient Greece. This quote comes to mind as I pour over the emotions, themes, and lyrics of the April 20th release of “Sonder” by TesseracT via Kscope.
TesseracT is composed of Daniel Tompkins on vocals, Amos Williams on bass, Acle Kahney on guitar, James Monteith on guitar, and Jay Postones on drums. They have taken their binaural sounds which is designed for a 360 listening experience designed by Klang: Fabrik headphones which bassist Amos Williams has described as having “the concept is to push past the restrictions of a stereo headphone mix and create an accurate 3D space in which positioning outside of the normal Left Right axis can occur. This is something that every artist that uses in ear monitors on stage wishes to recreate; the real and accurate positioning of instruments. We immediately felt this technology could be applicable to us in the studio. TesseracT loves to bring what it does in the studio to the stage, but this time it’s experimenting with bringing a live element to the studio”. This is an absolute state of the art listening experience that is couple with the sonic and emotional visions and philosophical musings that TesseracT has with its April 20th release of “Sonder”.
The word “sonder” is a noun which means: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. It is also known as the “realization that everyone has a story”. In this album, TesseracT does an immaculate job of encapsulating that experience for the listener. Case in point, with the opening track entitled “Luminary”. The guitars and breakdown in the intro with subtle ambiance as it breaks into the incredible falsetto voice that Tompkins possesses. The transitions in the music are absolutely seamless and it creates that wall of sound, and the chorus is this wonderful midtempo sound that discusses the concept of the realization that being insignificant in life can be absolutely devouring to the mind, body, soul, and spirit. TesseracT expresses that in the lyric: Are you alone locked inside/That prison in your head?/You walk in the crowd/lost in the sound/Invisible to every passing eye. The opening track tells me that they are building the concepts that have been discussed in “Sonder”.
In the single entitled “King”, TesseracT explores the topic of history repeating itself along with the arrogance of those that are power hungry. This could apply to anyone because we’ve all had that boss or a certain leader(not naming names as to keep my political views to a bare minimum) that lets power go to their head and they do what’s best for themselves instead of what’s best for their workers or subjects. Again, the sound is mind boggling as they are absolutely able to make it sound atmospheric and sonically brain crushing within a couple of breaths, yet it makes perfect sense in the music. TesseracT is quickly becoming the kings of experimental progressive metal with “Sonder”.
The track “Orbital” is a beautiful interlude that sounds like one is floating in the atmosphere way up in the clouds while listening to it. It really shows the multiple layers that one needs to unpack when listening to TesseracT. In “Juno”, TesseracT pushes the musical boundaries with the funky bass that Williams provides and the seemingly poppy vocals that Tompkins provides in the verses of the songs, before the rhythm section and the guitars come crashing in like a sonic boom in the chorus. In “Beneath My Skin”, the ambiance is overwhelming and I mean that in amazingly good way, and TesseracT really showcases the art of patience and building up to that sonic moment where it gets the listener absolutely lost in the music and the song explores the concept of “finding freedom when one has lost everything or feels like they have nothing to lose”.
I really want to discuss the whole album, but my job is to whet your appetite to where you can’t get enough of TesseracT. The words that I’ve penned don’t provide any sort of justice for TesseracT’s masterpiece of “Sonder”. TesseracT makes you think and they are absolutely brilliant at what they do. Experience TesseracT’s brilliance with this 10 star masterpiece!
Check out the track listing below!
- Luminary
- King
- Orbital
- Juno
- Beneath My Skin
- Mirror Image
- Smile
- The Arrow
TesseracT will be touring in support of “Sonder” with special guests Plini and Astronoid to a city near you! Check out the tour dates below!
TESSERACT LIVE IN 2018
NORTH AMERICA HEADLINE TOUR
Support from Plini(https://www.facebook.com/PLINI) and Astronoid (www.facebook.com/astronoidband/)
Apr-19 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
Apr-20 Philadelphia, PA – TLA
Apr-21 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Sound Stage
Apr-22 Greensboro, NC – Arizona Pete’s
Apr-24 Tampa, FL – Orpheum
Apr-25 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Apr-27 Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill
Apr-28 Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
Apr-29 San Antonio, TX – Alamo City Music Hall
May-01 Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
May-02 Phoenix, AZ – Club Red
May-03 Los Angeles, CA – Regent
May-04 San Diego, CA – House of Blues
May-05 Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre
May-07 Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre
May-08 Seattle, WA – El Corazon
May-09 Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
May-11 Edmonton, AB – Starlite
May-12 Calgary, AB – Marquee
May-14 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
May-15 Denver, CO – Summit
May-16 Lawrence, KS – Granada
May-18 Minneapolis, MN – Skyway
May-19 Chicago, IL – Metro
May-20 Detroit, MI – Majestic
May-22 Toronto, ON – Opera House
May-23 Montreal, QC – Club Soda
May-24 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Check out festival tour dates below:
Festivals:
26/05/18 – CH, Monthey – Irreversible Festival (http://www.irreversiblefestival.ch)
08/06/18 – UK, Donington, Download Festival
22-24/06/18 – BE, Dessel, Graspop Festival
22-24/06/18 – FR – Clisson – Hellfest (https://www.hellfest.fr)
28-30/06/18 – ESP, Madrid, Caja Magica, Download Festival
15/07/18 – SWE, Gavle, Gefle Festival (http://www.geflemetalfestival.se/)
22 – 28/07/18 – SL – Tomlin – Metal Days Festival (http://www.metaldays.net)
More to be announced
Australian headline dates
September 11 AUS – Perth Capitol
September 13 AUS – Adelaide The Gov
September 14 AUS – Melbourne 170 Russell
September 15 AUS – Sydney The Metro
September 16 AUS – Brisbane The Triffid
European headline dates
Support from Between The Buried & Me + Plini
November 09 DE – Cologne, Live Music Hall
November 10 NL – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
November 11 BE – Vosselaar, Biebob
November 12 FR – Paris, Le Trabendo
November 13 DE – Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
November 14 DE – Hamburg, Gruenspan
November 15 DK – Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
November 16 NO – Oslo, Parkteatret
November 17 SWE – Stockholm, Kägelbanan
November 19 DE – Berlin, Lido
November 20 DE – Stuttgart, Im Wizemann
November 21 AT – Vienna, Flex
November 22 DE – Munich, Backstage
November 23 CH – Aarau, Kiff
November 24 IT – Parma, Campus Industry
November 25 LU – Esch, Rockhal
Fans can find TesseracT at the following locations:
http://tesseractband.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/tesseractband /
https://twitter.com/tesseractband
http://www.kscopemusic.com/artists/tesseract
One thought on ““Sonder” by TesseracT, a life unexamined isn’t a life worth living”