As the tech metal scene around them threatens to boil over with promising young talent, Tesseract are another band preparing the album that could take them into metal’s big leagues.
The wave of technical, progressively inclined metal that exploded out of the underground in the late 00s may not yet have produced a household name to stand alongside the Parkways and Asking Alexandrias of the world, but it did produce a cadre of bands that seem capable of climbing right to metal’s top deck – none more so than the Brits, especially now they are putting a few unstable years behind them. “I don’t really know where the limit is with Tesseract, and that’s quite an exciting thing,” newly returning singer Dan Tompkins tells Hammer. “The key for me is to keep level-headed all the way through, and be personally attached to the music and ensure that that is the centre of everything. Enjoying what you do and producing good music should be the key focus, and not dreaming about where the band could be. It’s a good question, but it’s one I personally tend not to worry about too much, because otherwise you just go down a self-destructive route./o:p
“Bands like Periphery have really exploded now,” he continues, assessing how well his band’s peers are doing. “I’ve seen Hacktivist do really well recently. They’ve got a good following, because they’re doing something [different], adding the rap aspect to the metal, and it’s new and exciting to people. Is there a cap on that kind of stuff? Probably, but I think if you try and remain original and do your own thing and be exciting and find new sounds, the fanbase is growing and the music’s changing. It’s proving to work, so that can only suggest things are going to get bigger and better.”
Tesseract were, of course, one of the first bands to initiate what became known as ‘djent’, laying down some of the generic conventions a few too many bands were subsequently happy to adopt. But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Tesseract have used that for inspiration rather than allowing themselves to become complacent.
“When I started doing [first album] One, I was doing ethereal vocals and melodic sounds, [guitarist] Acle [Kahney] had a particular clean sound to his guitar, and I’ve seen hundreds of bands doing the same thing – and that in itself does drive you as a band to be different,” says Dan. “You’re always, in the back of your mind, thinking that other people are copying what you’re doing, so you constantly want to try and stay one step ahead of the game, to be that pioneering act doing something a little bit different. So that’s why every album that we will do will have a little bit of evolution to it.”
Their next evolution could well be a seminal marker in the UK metal scene./o:p
CASHING TECHS
The tech metal onslaught shows no signs of stopping yet!
DESTRAGE
Last year’s brilliant break-through bonks-merchants Destrage are following up Are You Kidding Me? No. by heading here for Bloodstock, to introduce their DEP/BTBAM/SOAD combination to a whole new audience. The stage is set for big things indeed.
BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME
With the band recording the follow-up to 2012’s astonishing The Parallax II: Future Sequence and with an appearance at Temples in May confirmed, their step into the big time seems inevitable.
PERIPHERY
Arguably the most bankable band from their scene in terms of crossover potential, this year’s bold Juggernaut two-discer shows that they ain’t mellowing out or chasing trends for anyone, and we think their trailblazing ways will only see them get bigger from here.
HACKTIVIST
After landing a main stage showing at Reading and Leeds festivals last year, the British djent-hop experts will surely go huge if they finally, like, actually get around to putting some new music out. One of modern UK metal’s most unique prospects could also become one of our biggest. Watch this space.
