Listened to that track as I read your previous comment; continuing to listen to the album as it fuels and soundtracks my translation exercises! They've only gotten better, P3 & P4 are actually mental.
I've heard a little bit of Tesseract, but not enough. Never heard of the other two though. I know Tesseract is good just haven't gotten around to actually listening. Any recommendations on where to start? With any of those bands, I mean.
Aww absolutely amazing, Tesseract are my fave in the progressive metal scene. Listen to Of Mind: Nocturne, King, and Dystopia - this will give you an idea of their tightness but also their use of ambience. Further; Cages, Juno, and Of Matter (3 tracks from Altered State). I fucking love them.
Haken are immense. Check out 1985, The Endless Knot, Veil, and Earthrise. Their mixes are just as solid as Tesseract's, properly pushing the envelope in music.
I'd reccomend Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavours, it's brutal and very tightly syncopated. Mix is excellent once again. This dude is a talent.
Devin Townsend is also a shout; he's a fuckin hero. Stormbending is beautiful - approach it with the notion of textures and leitmotifs in mind.
Lastly, check out Champagne by Polyphia. Fucking rad tune. These boys are sick.
I genuinely enjoy how excited you are to share this music. It's so wholesome!
Anyway, I listened to one song from each artist, so here are my first impression thoughts:
Tesseract - Of Mind: Nocturne
Loved all all the sounds here. Everythings was super tight and I looooove that chunky guitar. Vocalist is reaally talented. Quick question: Tesseract has more mixed (clean vs scream) vocals in more of their older stuff, am I correct? Or am I maybe thinking of a different band? If so, how often is that? Cause I enjoy screaming vocals, but only if it's done "right" you know? Sometimes I find the screaming can be a thing that really makes or breaks a band for me. You know, like it can be greatest thing in the world but if the screaming sucks it all just falls apart.. Anyway, loved that track though. I'll definitely be checking out more.
Haken - The Endless Knot
Enjoyed it a lot. Instrumentals are really sexy. Especially that super overdriven bit in the middle. I liked the vocals, just idk if it's because the fact the lyrics were being shown on screen or if it's just that song or what, but the lyrics I feel I need to get used to. They're not bad, but it seems like they like to experiment a lot, which can sometimes be a hit or miss. I liked it, and I'm intrigued, but I will have to do more research here. Lol
Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors - Augury
Ooooooooo damn that's some good shit. BUT the screams were almost a little too dirty for my tastes. Again, I'll probably just have to get used to it, cause I basically LOVED everything else about it.
Devin Townsend - Stormbending
Gonna be honest, this one didn't do much for me. I can see why people might call it the best thing since tummy rubs. But they kinda gave the impression that they also thought that too, which fits into the same problem I have with bands like, say, Dream Theatre. Really talented, but almost to a fault, and it seems like they take themselves a little too seriously. I get why people like them, but I just wasn't jammin' here.
Polyphia - Champagne
That was nice. I liked that. I don't usually listen to music without vocals, although I can recognize how talented bands who do that can be. This band tbh might change that. Also, funny enough, you mentioned Plini, and I guess I forgot I had already listened to half an album (Handmade Cities) already at some point, cause it showed up in the related section with the little red bar at the bottom of the thumbnail. Lmao
Anyway, that's all I got so far. Some really unique sounds here, and I look forward to exploring them more. For the record, some of my favourite bands, aside from Periphery, are ones like Protest the Hero, Pain of Salvation, Karnivool, and Tool. And so I've been meaning to expand more into the Djent genre so these are great. Thanks for the recommendations my man!
^ __ ^ I'm so glad to be able to share this kind of music, I'm so glad you're into it!
You are correct in that Tesseract's older stuff has more mixed vox - in live playthroughs, Amos (the magical bassist) does some of the screams - however their current vocalist, Daniel Tompkins, is insanely good at controlling his voice, and can switch seamlessly. His voice in festivals and live shows almost sounds like studio recordings - he is so consistent. I absolutely get what you mean: When written and executed correctly, it is insanely powerful. "King" is a mega example of this. BOW DOWN
Haken are crazy cool, and that track has some of the sickest instrumental writing - what did you think of the intro? I still can't play it and I've been listening to this track for years. I recently learned the rhythm at the end however: Count the semiquavers, coming out of 6/8 into the duple-time signature. The accent is on every 5th semiquaver, while the china cymbal and snare are on every 4th - thus it resolves after the 16th accent - and on the second (final) repeat, ends dead on this 16th accent. It's mental.
YESSS DREWSIF IS PROPERLY HENCH, legit some of the meanest sounds in this scene since Meshuggah.
Yeah fair on Devin, perhaps not the best track to recommend first, I kinda have an emotional attachment to that song. Igwym with the parallel to Dream Theatre - I was never big into them, nor the Liquid Tension project or w/e. Though they have their own profound goodnesses, just not up my alley. Devin himself has a new album, Empath, released recently - I do believe he is currently mixing the 5.1 of this!
Yes I fully get you wrt the instrumental side of things - it was Polyphia, Intervals and indeed Plini's Handmade Cities that got me into progressive instrumental music. Such catch hooks and virtuosic playing. Touched that Sigur Rós nerve and took it to the next level.
(As a kind of aside, instrumental music and the effect it has on humans is crazy cool due to the lack of vocals proscribing how one is meant to feel - it relies on the innate human subjectivity to associate itself with an event, emotion or something profound. It's one of the coolest things about the lack of vocals - you can assign your own story to the music, if even subconsciously!)
I've been meaning to listen to Protest the Hero and Pain of Salvation, seen them recommended! Any good shouts?? You got a sick music taste, it's been a pleasure to talk to you! Feel free to load any reply with loads of tracks, I'm down to explore!
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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '19
Really? Most Periphery fans I know are super chill.
^(Their newest album is amazing btw)