Kscope

The release of War Of Being by TesseracT was a triumphant departure by the firm, but an uninventive grasp the band had originally had upon their previous works. I try not to get too deep within the ideas of music and the concepts and philosophies that some bands convey, but this album revolutionized my outlook upon modern progressive metal and the genre of Djent. While continuing their narrative story throughout their past series of albums, this art piece takes a detour within the story to explore themes of the dark side of human nature. Think of this as a spinoff to the other works of TesseracT. But to understand these ideas and the greatness of this album, we must analyze and observe each track, to see the master this band created with War Of Being. I will be rating this piece with a rating out of five (one being the worst, five being the best).

Natural Disaster: 3 

The opening piece to the album starts with a bang. This piece sets up the relationship between the two individuals, one being more passive, the other a more antagonistic force within the other. Between the piece-unique scream that Dan Tompkins presents only in this track. Another is the bending harmonics of the chugging mid-lower tones of the guitars present such a great foundation to this album.

Echoes: 5

This second piece is a huge highlight within this album since the switch to a more traditional structure, while blending the rondo form ( the structure of music most known to mainstream music) with a more sonatic approach to hit those notes of progressive metal. This is really what made me realize the complexities of their music in a more radio-friendly nature, which I love. That and a powerful message of mortality and Tompkins’ clean vocals enhance the harmonics and beautiful nature of each chorus, while delivering the negative undertones within the end of the song via his traditional screams. The guitars see the bending nature while also creating a thick sound which creates a beautiful counterpoint, almost within the nature of Chopin or Faure’s works. 

The Grey: 4

This track kind of introduces the more complex sporadic nature of certain tracks within this album.  This is taking some principles from the first two tracks and combining them into a fairly well-sounding solution. The narrative of the song is a statement upon the constant and malignant state of negative entities or just overall antagonistic situations within one’s life.

Legion: 4

Legion is the initiation of the more technical and emotional side of the album, and this truly is a great transition towards the back half of the record. The main selling point of this song is just a canvas for Tompkins to do his vocal acrobatics, and it does it so well.  He uses different styles for highs and lows, and behind him are guitars that switch from full-sounding riffs to more muted funk riffs. It’s overall a display of the band’s techniques and overall skillfulness. To the point of sounding more like a Liquid Tension track than TesseracT.

Tender:5

This song is so beautifully made, with the combination of the fullness and powerful ability of each riff and Tompkins’ approach to simplistic but powerful vocal approaches. The control of harmonics into a very simplistic rondo ballad, while its narrative is a very simplistic love story in a nicely poetic wat. Overall this is one of the songs that I can highlight to be one of the best pieces on the record.

War Of Being: 2

This self-titled track is one of the more underwhelming tracks, since it doesn’t have the most effective narrative, and the writing itself was just very forgettable. But to give where credit is due, the opening riff was cool, since it was constantly building upon itself. But due to the constant changes being melded together, the nearly ten-minute song doesn’t capture a memorable experience but more of a trusted experience.  I just feel the Sonata-esque structure and instrumentation isn’t effective for me. But if you like the more traditional progressive metal, then this song is for you.

Sirens: 4

If I could explain this song in one word is “mystic”, the atmosphere of this song is unique with a more atmospheric take on rondo form, and the usage of panning in Dan’s high vocal style creates the mysticism as stated earlier.

Burden: 4

Burden is a very interesting track due to it being a somewhat extended version of the self-titled track. However, it adopts a lot of the style of sirens, which in a way creates a more effective listening experience in a somewhat experimental style that prog is known for. Overall this song does a great job at combining the dissonance of SIrens while creating this constant build, which won’t truly get expounded upon until the finale.  Usually, this would be a point of contention, since I don’t believe there should ever be a five-minute interlude within an album that only has nine tracks, but it does well at establishing itself as a multi-functional track with a track of its own and an interlude to the finale.

Sacrifice: 5

The finale of this record is probably one of the best to ever be produced. I feel this track serves as recovery from the other, longer track within this record being War Of Being and its lackluster experience. I’ve always loved songs that use very simplistic narratives and lyrical concepts to make them more poetic take on said lyrics. This song combines the principles of songs like Echoes and Legion to then create the emotional heaviness of Tender. This song is an amalgamation of these things to create the perfect finale.

Overall, this album changed my outlook on the genre of prog and djent while keeping the same characteristics within it. Each member of the band created not just a record, but a painting, a world, and a narrative, to not just review the nature of the story they have been building up for nearly ten years, but to reflect the nature of ourselves and life. I try not to compare music to art in everyday life, since it can sound too much like I am being a hipster, but this body of pieces is one of my very few exceptions.