TesseracT - "War of Being"

Sometimes, artists lose themselves in their ambitions

TesseracT are a British Prog Metal band and, as I understand, one of the standard-bearers in the Djenty section of the genre. The band is about twenty years old, but didn’t release their first album until 2011. War of Being is their fifth full-length effort.

Many other outlets are hailing War of Being as one of the group’s best albums to date (and some have called it the best), implying a general consensus¹ that their last effort, 2018’s Sonder, was a disappointment. They also hail the album’s sci-fi concept (more on that in a moment).

Allow me to begin with a broad discussion of the album’s sound – those who love Djent will definitely find something to enjoy here. However, something I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else is how the band has blended another Prog Metal genre into their Djent stylings – the dynamic romanticism of Metalcore. It isn’t super strong, but it’s there, and it gives the album a bit of needed personality in the stagnating Djent subgenre.² TesseracT drives hard, then wanes soft, then kicks hard again over the one-hour runtime of War of Being. And the whole thing is a show of technical mastery; however, you have to keep in mind that in modern Prog (especially in the djenty sector of modern Prog), highly technical playing is the low bar for a “decent” album.

Vocals on the album also move from light, floating clean vocals to harsh, to aggressive clean – basically all over the spectrum, and are well-executed throughout. There are no bad tracks, though some, like “The Grey”, “Tender”, and “Burden” stand out a bit. 

Overall, musically, the album is a competent entry in its genric space. The major issue here is that nothing really sticks. There aren’t any good hooks; there’s nothing on the album that really lunges forward and grabs at your ear. I enjoyed each track, but it isn’t going to be any sort of travesty if I never hear any of the tracks again after three listens.

And in today’s music landscape at-large (and even in just the Metal scene), that’s a huge problem to have. Comparatively, I have gone weeks at a time without listening to Sleep Token, but several tracks from Take Me Back to Eden will spontaneously appear in my head; every album with a Blue+ rating this year has had tracks just pop into my head in the days following my multiple listens.

Then, there’s the lyricism. Here, too, I have mixed feelings. Upon discovering that the album had some grand concept, I read through the lyrics for all nine tracks, and there are some gorgeous lines on the album:

From eleven-minute title track “War of Being”:

“To dream of flowing locks untwisted and stormy
And auburn eyes glistening as you weep”

From “Echoes”:

“Will you draw your fatal lines
Up to the sky and cut through the clouds?
And you call this a celebration
As the lies flow from your mouth”

From “The Grey”:

“I've been living life in monochrome
I'm the grey upon the sea
So entangled up in the brevity
And the constant tragedy”

There are strong, poetic elements in the lyrics throughout the album. The writing isn’t as strong as a Taylor Swift or Breaking Benjamin, but it’s not weak.

It is, however, overbalanced. There is a need for clarity in concept albums for those to be enjoyed fully by as many people as possible – especially if there’s any sort of story being told. Last year’s sci-fi epic from Dragonland, for example, or the efforts from younger bands this year like Scorched Moon and Ice Giant.³ All are excellent examples of groups who leaned away from poetic lyricism and wrote more straightforward lines. So even when their lyrics leave a lot to be desired in terms of poetry, at least the concept and the story are understandable and enjoyable.

And it’s a shame, because the band have, reportedly, gone all out on this concept. They’ve developed a game to accompany the album (available on Steam for $5) and expand upon the worldbuilding that they did for it. That’s right:

W O R L D B U I L D I N G!!

That’s incredibly exciting for me, personally, as a writer who really gets into that stage of the process.

But none of it comes through in the music, itself. And I’ve been able to find very little discussing any of the concept in any depth. So, in the end, I cannot enjoy the album for what it attempts to be, and find only that it is good for what it is and no more.

Rating: Green

1. Which has been called out and challenged in some comment sections.

2. For those who are unaware of what “djent” is, here are some quick explainers on YouTube – 2 min technical explainer; 6 min broader overview (with much sarcasm).

3. Without a doubt, though, the best overall balance this year (so far) can be found on Hozier’s Unreal Unearth. Definitely poetic, but you can also grasp the key meanings and events easily.