Single Slam – Smile by TesseracT

Tesseract have released a new single called Smile via Kscope which will feature on their latest album. We know that the British progressive metal band are working on a new album but that is about it. There is no clue as to what that album will be called yet or when it will be released. The band have suggested it will be a concept album though.

Tesseract are Daniel Tompkins on vocals with Amos Williams playing bass and adding the heavy backing vocals and growls. Jay Postones is the drummer and James ‘Metal’ Monteith plays rhythm guitar with Alec “Acle” Kahney on the lead.

Before I start I should point out that the band have, in a statement, mentioned that the track may be unfinished. Essentially that makes this a demo. Smile has been released as a single though, so, unfinished or not, we can only judge what we listen to.

Smile is 3 and a half minutes long and is not for me. I am not a massive fan of Tesseract and this isn’t going to change that fact. Firstly it sounds like Amos Williams had the day off because there are no heavy vocals and I am struggling to find the bass for large chunks of the song. The vocals throughout are clean and the whole track sounds like a bit of a demo. There is a ton of synth over very gentle drums and a clean verse. The guitars come in for the choruses to dabble in the idea of a breakdown but they have a weird sound too and retreat from the heavy back to clean vocals very quickly.

Tompkins sings his sections well enough but I don’t really like anything else happening here. Perhaps once it is mixed and mastered I will take another listen. I would quickly like to say though that this is one track out of a concept album. While it doesn’t work for me as a song on it’s own, within the actual concept it could be very different.

Tompkins had the following to say about Smile – ” Lyrically ‘Smile’ carries a strong and forward sense of irony as we explore and darkest side of the human condition. The song will witness the manifestation of an ’entity’. Consciousness survives through constant manipulation only to propagate pessimism and hopelessness. Our entity observes, consumes and evolves, bearing witness to human existence, mimicking our presence in colossal form”.

Amos Williams added – “We chose this track as although it is part of a greater theme, and is in fact towards the end of a story arc, it stands alone very well. We have a solid idea of where we would like to take this track on the next album as it is in no way finished. It is merely one step in a journey. The verses and choruses stand very far apart from each other. There is a tension we wished to build through a minimalist approach, with small phrases that repeat against accompanying parts of different lengths. These undulate, seemingly getting lost against the nonconventional phrasing of the drums. All this is nothing new to TesseracT fans, but this time we have looked to really align the lyrical and musical messages”.

Check it out for yourself here. If you like what you hear, you can pick up the single from their website or from the links below. Check Tesseract out on Facebook, their own site and Twitter for more information on them. Be sure to give them a like or follow while you are there.

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