Overall Score: 8/10 Songs: 8/10 originality: 9/10 listenability: 8/10 Pros: Unique ideas and Well crafted songs Cons: Some ideas could have been expanded
There is a certain level of prestige that comes with a band like Tesseract. Constantly performing at the highest level, there aren’t many bands that can compete with them at their best.
Sonder their fourth full length album looks to further this point by being absolutely breathtaking in almost every concievable way. This is music that brings the listener on a journey through every human emotion imaginable.
Sonder perfectly veers between the serene and the apocalyptic. Daniel Tompkins voice hits a wide variety of moods and at its harshest sounds like thunder cracking from the sky, but it also has a softness and a beauty to it that soothes the soul. Songs like Luminary and King demonstrate the balance that Tesseract hold to very well. Both songs feature big chunky doom laden riffs, sweet sweeping melodies and the most soulful and yet vein popping contrast in vocal. The main difference between Tesseract and most other bands is the ease with which they do it.
The albums centre piece Beneath My Skin/Mirror Image is an 11 and a half minute epic that packs more into its run time than most bands can muster in entire careers. Its the longest track on the album by a wide margin, but somehow manages to fly by. It shows that even though this album is more accessible than previous releases, that Tesseract haven’t forgotten their progressive roots.
Sonder showcases everything that Tesseract have became and is a timeless crystalisation of a band that knows who they are and where they want to go. It’s a record that is made to be taken in as a whole and digested as a body of work rather than the sum of its parts. There is a reason that Tesseract are the kings in their field and that reason is because they are constantly evolving and never release the same album twice. Sonder will please old fans and hopefully bring the band to a whole new audience in the process.
