Review by Gary Spiller for MPM
Recently announced as Saturday headliners of Bristol’s ArcTanGent Festival prog-metal leviathans TesseracT roll into Cardiff for the penultimate night of the second part of their War of Being Tour.
This Milton Keynes quintet is rightfully proud of ‘War of Being’ – their fifth studio offering, released in September 2023 – and ahead of US tours supporting Devin Townsend and Daeoric have elected to take this much-lauded album back out on the road for a further set of dates.
It’s been five weeks since the opening night in Paris and the tour has crissed and crossed Europe covering sixteen countries before landing in England for the final four shows. Although they’ve been going since formation back in 2017 it wasn’t until last year, via a social media ad, that I crossed paths with them.
It’s safe to say this gig, and the consuming immersion it offers, has come at just the right time for me. A few hundred pound lighter and somewhat soggy, the water pump on the van went south earlier this week and it’s raining felines and canines this evening thus I’m in need of some escapism.
With three totally new bands on offer the surprises strike from the off with Melbourne trio The Ominific serving up their particular divergence from the middle ground. Early doors and, inside Cardiff’s Tramshed, a decent-sized crowd has gathered. Akin to a Bloodstock assemblage in terms of demographics there’s an excitable buzz about.
The opening act announce themselves with a bass rumbling as hard as Lemmy on performance enhancing additives, the rapid double bass driven emittance of co-founders Matt Fackrell and Toby Peterson-Stewart launch an artillery barrage that doesn’t relent for the next 30 minutes. Their employment of crepuscular grooved rhythms grabs the attention swiftly.
The rat-a-tat drums of Jerome Lematua lays down a rock-solid base in ‘The Omnific = Bass’; the most apt of set-openers. “Now we’ll play some bass for you” indeed. It’s gloriously majestic and immersive, in fact their allotted stage time passes in the veritable blink of an eye. I, like many about me, find myself completely absorbed by the almost mythical, cogent low-end weavings with side orders of electronica that are on offer.
Touches of Knight Rider, for those of us of a certain vintage, interlace with the trance-like basses in ‘Merlin’s Id’. Out front the twin bassists demonstrate an unseen connection, their actions synchronised intuitively with elevated empathy. The only engagement comes from Lematua roaring “Cardiff, let’s hear yas!” in the midst. The loud Bermuda shorted drummer ‘escapes’ the confines of his kit to hit the front of the stage to ride the waves, Cardiff snorts its approval.
It all drives along at hurricane speed yet there’s a permitted delicateness akin to the gentleness of a spring shower, wondrous in its combined contrapositions. Most recent single ‘Full Circle’ gets a funky treatment that reminisces touches of Santana that dart in and out of embracing shadows. Not for the last time this evening there’s an underlying nod towards the technicals of Opeth.
The brooding pulses of ‘Ne Plus Ultra’ incites comparisons of how I’d imagine Pink Floyd to sound minus David Gilmour, lost in the moment Fackrell and Peterson-Stewart connect via a fist-bump. It’s total mastery of the low-end that, in Double Malt Ditty’ propels a kinetic that would shake the nucleus of such behemoths as Opeth and perhaps even Amon Amarth. It’s seriously enthralling, and a half hour isn’t enough. The Bass Boys leave me wanting yet more!
Blue spots enhancingly strobe the darkness ahead of middle band Novelists taking to the stage. Formed by the Durand brothers, Florestan (guitars) and Amael (drums), back in 2013 these progressive metalcore advocates have, through consistent touring this side of the Channel, garnered a noticeable following.
Through the murky haze vocalist Camille Contreras emerges cutting a shadowy figure. Calming storm swept seas her crystalline vocals in the flammability of ‘Lost Cause’ edge towards an Evanescence feel amidst a nu-metal rage. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Conteras offers before enquiring “Are you ready to have fun?” Clearly, going by the response, Cardiff is more than prepared.
Bouncing into ‘Terrorist’, like the opening track lifted from 2022’s ‘Déjà Vu’ long-player, the seismically shifting quicksands envelop us whole with an effulgent touch of Infected Rain. There are several occasions I’m drawn to comparisons to the Moldovan metallers who impressed myself mightily during encounters with them during 2024.
Cardiff seethes in ‘Do You Really Wanna Know?’, guitarists Durand and Pierre Danal face-off exchanging vehement rock-melting riffage blending the alt-metal of League of Distortion into the brutal surges of the aforementioned Infected Rain. “Let’s go!” implores Conteras as the beanie-wearing Durand lays down a coruscant solo in ‘Prisoner’.
Lights go up in the crowd for the ambient intro of instrumental ‘Colas’. Leading directly into ‘Mourning The Down’ and its ground shaking beauty I muse upon how a less than conducive sound mix isn’t helping this excellent outfit. Perhaps it’s where I’m stood but the overriding bass is masking the more fine-grained moments. A metaphorical light does, however, shine upon a fine bluesy-leaning solo despatched by Danal.
Powerhouse ‘Coda’ rampages with ebullient energies. Its intricacies dance as the fireflies ahead of the incoming storm. A more than healthy percentage of heads nod in congeniality with the volcanic output that doffs a cap towards Skarlett Riot. Most recent video release ‘All For Nothing’ takes a shrouded ethereal grace on an angst-fuelled lift-off. Its towering dynamics redolent of an alloy of Within Temptation and Infected Rain.
Escaping the confinements of the basement the subterranean quaker ‘Turn It Up (Keyboard Warriors Social Club)’, untethered, ‘feralises’ the Welsh capital with no mercy offered. It’s rightfully well received by the massed ranks, serving as the perfect prelude to this evening’s headliners.
Bang on half nine the Tramshed lights darken for one last time, a loud cheer erupts from the virtually full venue as the headliner’s intro shimmers and roars in the lightlessness. The beast that is TesseracT has awoken, smoke billows and lights fan outwards. Bassist Amos Williams, a cowled silhouette centre-stage, is the first into the fray.
With a pounding resonance cognated with that of the underworld there’s a parallel to South coast metallers Architects running herein. Williams stalks the front of stage as frontman Daniel Tompkins, standing statuesque a chiselled figure, surveys the scene as all hell is let loose as ‘Natural Disaster’ breaks loose. Each component of the five-piece hammers every last note in the audio equivalent of the dimensionally transcendental nature of the TARDIS.
It’s a collective onslaught that impresses and effortlessly raises the levels amongst the crowd. An ebb and flow from torrent to ambient meandering harness the wailing of the undead. As the Tramshed caroms so Tompkins hits the barrier in the intensity of ‘Echoes’, the connectivity is never in doubt. Demons take to flight in ‘Of Mind : Nocturne’, unfurling scaly leathery wings. Rocketing inter-dimensionally the epic presence channels the surge of the gods.
Sadly, the atmospheric edge is diminished in the anthemic ‘Tender’ by a sub-par sound mix not that this distracts from the overall enjoyment as we’re swept along in the flow. We bear witness to the changing of the seasons in lofty surrounds of ‘Sacrifice’. Tompkins exudes a quiet confidence afront but his presence neither overshadows nor is overshadowed by his colleagues; there’s a rarely seen balance between each element at work within.
A lone raven swoops across a charred battlescape as 100% reverence is paid during the pugilistic waves of ‘King’ sweep with maelstromic obfuscous potencies in a heavied up proggy Opeth-infused broth. Appeasing a tormented soul the theatrical entity of Tompkins offers “You are an animal” in the progressive nu-metal of ‘Smile’. With a flourish so reminiscent of early 80’s Fish this is a vocalist at the top of his game.
Segueing seamlessly into ‘Legion’ it’s worth noting that it’s great that the UK has its own answer to Denmark’s Vola. ‘War of Being’ follows to loud cheers to its first notes. Fireballs rain down from the heavens, TesseracT an unstoppable energy. ‘Juno’ elicits a raucous reception, a nailed-on crowd favourite it pumps up the boisterous energies even further within the hot climes of the Tramshed. Roaring regally, it’s a befitting finale to the main body of the set.
Cardiff isn’t fully satiated quite yet and clamours for more, the almost funerial shimmerings of ‘Concealing Fate, Part 1 : Acceptance’ is the ideal concluding number. Every ounce of available effort has been expended as Tesseract pour a coruscant rainbow onto seething waters. Fever pitch successfully attained, surely TesseracT are destined for higher plains.
Photography by Kelly Spiller for MPM
