“Stand your ground and mean it.”
To say that the past six months have been big for TesseracT would be an understatement. Following the release of the stellar fifth studio album, War of Being, last September – their first in over half a decade – the UK prog titans embarked on a world tour in support of the record, with an all-star cast of supporting artists behind them. On the current leg of the tour, spanning the Europe and the UK, with our night landing at O2 Forum Kentish Town, the group enlisted the help of tenured German tech-metal group Unprocessed; alongside relative newcomers The Callous Daoboys, a mathcore unit that feels like the most apt successor to The Dillinger Escape Plan yet. It’s an admittedly grand line-up, complete with equally grand spectacle to boot. There is something within either the stage presence, production, or both with each of these acts that stands as noteworthy, and as a result came one of my favourite nights in music for quite some time.
Words by Maximo David, photos by Dobbin T.
The Callous Daoboys
Kicking off the night was the most chaotic of the three in The Callous Daoboys. Having made their UK debut last summer at both Radar and ArcTanGent shortly before the release of their latest EP, God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys, the US noise merchants’ first full run across the UK and Europe will be sure to have turned some heads based on their performance here. Whilst I think much of the crowd spent a significant portion of their set trying to wrap their heads around exactly what their ears were experiencing, there was an undeniable electric energy in the room between the mosh-hearty listeners and the undeniable presence of all six band members on stage at once.
“Pushing The Pink Envelope” stood as the biggest highlight of the set for me, as the song displays and dances around the highly contrasting, juxtapositional and all-encompassing reach of their sound in the most dense package they have on offer. It’s a four minute onslaught of a track that dropped my jaw both in studio and live, and the kind of song that made me wish that the band’s set-ending “we have 38 more songs!” bit was actually true. Also, they have a violinist, how fucking sick is that?
Unprocessed
While it’s almost inherent that Daoboys would be a tough act to follow, Germany’s Unprocessed made it look nigh-on effortless. Their tech-heavy set, which predominantly consisted of songs from their 2023 masterclass, …and everything in between, as well as some well-picked hits, was an unwavering display of technical prowess and energy. Tracks like “Hell” and “Thrash” brought the ballistic tech-metal vibes that has made their latest material so enthralling, whilst more subdued tracks like “Deadrose” provide a gorgeous juxtaposition, giving the audience and the band some breathing room between certified ass-beaters.
What was most astounding about Unprocessed, however, was just how tight they were for how intricate the music they’re playing is. Prior to the show, I wondered how lead guitarist/vocalist Manuel Gardner Fernandes would handle the minutiae and finer details in their wristy, fiddly guitar playing whilst juggling lead vocals, but he did so without missing a beat. It was quite the spectacle, and the way in which it felt every musician on that stage had this natural, unspoken synergy was something to behold.
TesseracT
However, the true spectacle was yet to come. As TesseracT take stage, their light show (complete with pyro and sound-sensitive light poles) provide a cinematic, dynamic and awe-inspiring visual accompaniment to their unbelievably tight sound. Some tech issues in the first leg led to some staggered starts to songs, but once the issues were ironed out and the group got into the groove of things, it was magic. I was particularly impressed by vocalist Dan Tompkins, who, despite having been on the road, playing perhaps the most vocally-intensive set of TesseracT’s career, for the better part of the last five months, absolutely nailed so many of the toughest vocal flourishes throughout the set.
Newer additions to the band’s set like “War of Being”, “Natural Disaster” and “Legion” took the audience on musical and narrative journeys alike, whilst classics such as “Nocturne” and, of course, “Concealing Fate” ushered in a classic groove that was felt all the way across the room. The band’s cinematic interludes also proved an interesting addition, as Tompkins set the scene for many of the cornerstone tracks in their set with spoken word passages set to a heavy voice filter. This, combined with their otherworldly stage production, truly made you feel like you were in a world that was truly TesseracT’s own for their almost 90-minute set.
An evening defined by three groups of some of the most talented and forward-thinking musicians on the planet, TesseracT’s War of Being tour is a resounding success. Containing a diverse, yet relatively appropriate spread of acts that spanned the very best of the worlds of tech, prog and math, this was a night I will not soon forget.
Check out our reviews of the latest records by Tesseract, Unprocessed, and The Callous Daoboys at Boolin Tunes.