Sonder is the latest album by British progressive rock act Tesseract and is only fitting to be the 4th full length by the prog outfit given the band’s name and the dimensions in which each of the songs give to the listener. It’s a melodic journey of sorts and completely wears off the metal tag that has been attached to the band since the beginning, it’s full of mellowness and atmosphere with djenty moments and a more rock feel than anything else. It’s different and that’s what you kind of expect from Tesseract.
Now into their 15th year, Tesseract have been given free range to really experiment and play around with their sound given the nature of the progressive nature of their style of music. Their last album “Polaris” was a continuation of that idea and “Sonder” further expands on that by adding more dimensions and elements that fit perfectly with what Tesseract do best. While only clocking in at a meagre 36 minutes or so, the album definitely does not feel short and does give you the sense of a full length album. While not necessarily interlude pieces per say, “Orbital” and the closer “Arrow” does add to that album feel with it’s more atmospheric, synth sounds in a way that interlude pieces tend to do.
“Luminary” opens the album with a big, heavy and punchy intro before setting out on a melodic journey of sorts that has a slightly off beat tempo. While it tapers off a bit in the middle it does come back around to round things off nicely before proceeding to the next track. One of the stronger tracks and maybe not coincidentally, the longest on offer, “King” has a slight middle eastern twang in the main riff but overall is a nice proggy track that blends some heaviness with more softer touches. More importantly however is the song has some depth to it and a real atmosphere but gives off a great moodiness to it.
“Juno” is a more uptempo affair, a funky riff drives the verse sections of the song with anthemic chroruses bleeding through out. The ending however, is the real highlight of this track. “Beneath My Skin” backs off the pedal a little with more mellow passages but with some riffy off beat rhythms with tinges of heaviness and continues to reel the listener in with the kinds of moods this album overall gives out. If there was any real downers on the album though, “Mirror Image” is probably the track to skip but I think given time and if listening to the album as a whole, the song does fit where it belongs on the tracklist as a sort of breather or space to relax a little more.
“Smile” comes close to the end and has a little bit of a Korn feel with the bass and drums really driving this song. Breakdowns lead out to the chorus sections making this one of the more aggressive tracks on the album but not in such an overpowering way. Tesseract does that brilliantly in their own way, giving you the impression that there’s some muscle in the engines of the band’s core sound but really speaking, it’s the melody and the vibes that truly make their signature sound. Tesseract fans will be keen on this one for sure, especially if they loved “Polaris”.
TRACKLIST
Luminary
King
Orbital
Juno
Beneath My Skin
Mirror Image
Smile
The Arrow
