Another day, and another prog metal news break picked up by Heavy Blog‘s finely tuned ear to the social network ground: TesseracT bassist Amos Williams has posted bass tabs for the track “April” on his Facebook page. That news in and of itself isn’t especially noteworthy since “April” appeared on 2011′s One, but the tabs are labeled “Perspective EP,” fueling speculation that TesseracT are preparing an acoustic release.

But speculate no more: the band’s label just issued an update in which the acoustic EP was confirmed, citing the acoustic session TesseracT filmed with Metal Injection last year as inspiration to release re-worked, unplugged versions of old songs (plus a new cover). Here’s that Metal Injection Unplugged session:

Worth noting: the new EP will be the band’s first recording with new vocalist Elliot Coleman. Rumors abound that TesseracT are working on a proper new record for release in 2012 as well, so get excitebike, ’cause s’gonna be a big year for the Tess!

-VN

I’m going to put about as much as effort into this introduction as Herman Cain does to sounding sane and logical.

We begin today with Machine Head’s video for “Locust,” which, in case the giant red logo in the upper right hand corner didn’t tip you off, debuted on Metal Hammer‘s website. The video ain’t too bad. The performance footage could maybe use some more oomph and I wish the Cronerbergian portrayal of what I assume is a locust or a locust-man had more payoff. Also the final apocalyptic shot looks not-very-convincing. But otherwise the depiction of the swarm is pretty friggin’ metal, and the song certainly rocks.

Click to read more…

No longer is the MetalSucks live show slate confined to just North America; in case you missed it when we announced it a few weeks back, MetalSucks has decided to show some love towards our friends across the pond by sponsoring the Euroblast festival in Germany! Mnemic, Textures, TesseracT, Vildhjarta, Sybreed, Monuments and Chimp Spanner are just some of the awesome European bands that will play this 2-day, 2-stage festival in Cologne on the 21st and 22nd of October. If you’re anywhere within reasonable airplane or train distance of Cologne you simply can’t afford to miss out.

Watch the brand new trailer below and get excite:

Things are moving incredibly fast for TesseracT right now: rumors started to circulate that they had a new vocalist on August 22nd, and now just a little over two weeks later they’ve already released a pre-production track with said new vocalist, ex-Sky Eats Airplane singer Elliot Coleman. The track is brand new and serves as the background music for a U.K. tour trailer the band’s label, Century Media, posted on YouTube. Check it out:

The same, but different… Coleman’s voice isn’t markedly different than his predecessor Dan Tompkins’, but it’s different enough to stand out. In other words, Coleman’s addition to the band shouldn’t mean TesseracT’s music will change much, but he definitely adds his own character.

If you haven’t done so already, check out my recent interview with TesseracT bassist Amos Williams on the vocalist swap, the band’s rise to success and their future plans.

-VN

It’s true! The summer is over. Sad. We’re closing down early today to enjoy the long Labor Day weekend. That also means we won’t be here Monday. We hope everyone has a great, Axel Rudi Pell-free weekend!

While you await our return, here’s some fun stuff we did this week:

• We wrapped up our interview with Amos Williams from TesseracT, and spoke to Tom Niemeyer from The Accüsed, too.
• We checked out the latest releases from Diamond Plate and Odyssey.
• We concluded our celebration of 31 Days of Faith No More.
• We debated which band was worse, Skip the Foreplay or Design the Skyline.
• We were sad to learn that Metal Blade has also pulled out of Spotify.
• We wondered if Latinos are born to mosh.
• We declared djent to be pop.
• We watched Jack White lick the Insane Clown Posse’s ass.
• We learned to write a breakdown from a deck of cards.
• We continued to be baffled by the popularity of The Devil Wears Prada.

Okay, time to go get fucked up. See ya Tuesday!

-AR

Destiny Potato – Demo Preview by David Maxim Micic

This was not supposed to happen. Djent was not supposed to be the next annoying pop-metal trend.

When what would later be termed “djent” started brewing in the message boards frequented by guitar / home-recording nerds in 2002-2003, the genre had so much promise. Players who were passionate about their craft creating songs en masse for everyone to hear; good musicianship; the Meshuggah-revival guitar chug sound that was, at the time, novel; ambient atmospherics; interesting song structures and orchestration. Sure, the elements that caused djent to catch on like wildfire later on — namely catchy guitar hooks — were there in the genre’s infancy… but not to the degree they’re being mined, exploited  and endlessly imitated now.

This was not supposed to happen. For an interesting read, check out a guest blog TesseracT’s Acle Kahney wrote for MetalSucks about the birth of the djent movement. He was there way before you were and will be there long after.

This was not supposed to happen. It was nice knowing you while you were still fun, djent. I bid thee farewell.

-VN

Thanks: Dan Wolfson

After Tesseract bassist Amos Williams and I finished chatting about the band’s new singer Elliot Coleman, I couldn’t resist: I asked him about Spotify and his record label’s decision to leave the service. From there the conversation evolved into a friendly debate about the future of the music industry: do streaming services play a role? how do they alter the landscape? how can record companies adapt? Amos is obviously a lot more than just the bass player of a metal band; he’s a smart businessman with a good head on his shoulders, even if we don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. And he’s incredibly thoughtful and polite to boot.

The remainder of our chat after the jump.

Click to read more…

Earthquakes. Hurricanes. New records by The Devil Wears Prada. Come at us, brah! We can survive anything.

Here’s what we did while shit conspired to kill us:

• We debuted new music by East of the Wall and 400 Blows.
• We spoke to Amos Williams from TesseracT about the band’s recent vocalist swap.
• We checked out the latest release from Landmine Marathon.
• We wondered: Which is better, grindcore or doom metal?
• We also wondered: Is it better to make great albums but suck live, or to be great live but put out sucky albums?
• We also also wondered: Who are the top ten metal lyricists?
• We learned what not to do if you’re in an unknown band.
• We were bummed to learn that vocalist Travis Richter has split with The Human Abstract.
• We continued to count down 31 Days of Faith No More.
• We confirmed The Red Chord, Obscura, and Rosetta for The Metal Suckfest.

Alright, I’m gonna go set up my slip n’ slide and get ready for the rain. Come hell or high water (pun intended), I promise you we will be back on Monday. See ya then.

-AR

(TesseracT 2k11! Official photo with new vocalist Elliot Coleman.)

Yesterday the metalsphere with abuzz with the news that TesseracT had parted ways with vocalist Daniel Tompkins and had replaced him with Sky Eats Airplane / Of Legends vocalist Elliot Coleman. Instead of opting for the traditional route of announcing a band member swap with much media to-do, TesseracT just went and showed up for a gig in Milton Keynes, UK with Coleman holding the mic, didn’t say a word, and let the Internet do all the dirty work for them. Today TesseracT came out with an official announcement featuring quotes from various involved parties, but we’ve up and done you one better: an interview with bassist / main band-businessman Amos Williams.

Amos shared with us his thoughts on new vocalist Elliot Coleman, how it came to pass that Tompkins and the band parted ways, future U.S. tour plans, a new album and what the band members do when they’re not touring

Our chat after the jump. Later this week we’ll unveil Part 2 of the interview, in which we talk about… well, just wait.

Click to read more…

One of the most frequent criticisms leveled at TesseracT has to do with their (now ex-?) vocalist Dan Tompkins; he always seemed out of place on stage, a clean-cut gentlemen with a bunch of scraggly longhairs. Those who don’t like TesseracT will now seemingly have to find something else to pick on, as according to Got-Djent.com Dan Tompkins is out and Sky Eats Airplane vocalist Elliot Coleman is in.

Click to read more…

[UPDATE! BTBAM have officially announced the tour and all dates on their Facebook page. Thanks to all who emailed us and commented. Looks like it will be hitting several major markets after all; even our constantly neglected readers in Florida get lucky with three dates. -Ed.]

That rumored BTBAM, Animals as Leaders and Tesseract U.S. tour we mentioned a couple weeks go? No longer a rumor! A Facebook event page has popped up promoting a December 9th date with all three bands at the Northern Lights club in Clifton Park, NY (20 miles north of Albany) which would seem to indicate that a surrounding tour is all but certain: bands don’t just book one-offs in fucking Albany, NY. It would also seem to suggest that this tour is going to focus on secondary and tertiary markets, so if these bands always pass by your town in favor of the big city there’s a good chance they’re coming a lot closer to you this time around while us spoiled folk in NYC, L.A., Chicago, Dallas and the like watch enviously from hundreds of miles away (although ya never know.. sometimes routing needs make certain cities indispensable).

Also of note, the Facebook event page and associated show flyer dub this the Saints and Sinners Tour. The last Saints and Sinners Tour, which went out in 2009, featured Hollywood Undead and Senses Fail… so, uh, I’d say this is a big step up for the Saints and Sinners brand!

We’ll post the rest of the tour dates as soon as we have them.

-VN

Thanks: Remo Apuzzo

The commenters at the official BTBAM message board at SMNnews.com make Lambgoat posters look like friendly little teddybears; the volume and ferocity of childlike name-calling, homophobia / racism / <inserthere-ism>, trolling and pointless arguments are unrivaled on the Metalnets, even if their members do have some really entertaining animated .gifs in their sigs.

In other words, take the following rumor with a heaping, giant, overflowing bowlful of salt: BTBAM are rumored to be planning a fall/winter U.S. tour with TesseracT and Animals as Leaders. The only reason I even give this rumor any attention at all instead of dismissing it as a dreamlike BTBAM fanboy wish is that I have it from a good source that BTBAM are indeed taking TesseracT on tour in the U.S. this fall. With that in mind it certainly makes sense that they’d need one more band to fill out the tour bill, preferably as direct support, as I don’t think TesseracT are quite big enough in the U.S. yet for that role.

So, is this tour gonna happen? Can’t say for certain but it’d sure be cool if it does.

-VN

Thanks: Fuzzy Dunlop

Anyone alive and old enough to be aware of pop culture in the ’90s has a very special connection with MTV’s Unplugged series. The idea seemed revolutionary at the time — although in hindsight I’m sure it wasn’t — because there was something about stripping all the distortion away that was charming, leaving just the bare-bones music for analysis: are they good sequences of notes, or are they not?

Metal Injection is bringing Unplugged back, but for metal. At least I hope they are, because the results of their very first episode of Metal De-Injection (or whatevs) featuring TesseracT are pretty fucking great. Of course, TesseracT, whose vocals are mostly clean, are the ideal band for this kind of setup; it’s hard to imagine this working out well for Randy Blythe or any other screamer. But it’s a great concept, and it’s done right with multiple cameras and sound-board audio, all recorded in a pro studio. Watch Part 1 below then watch Part 2 and Part 3 over at Metal Injection.

-VN

MetalSucks is oh-so-very happy to be teaming up with RED Distribution to bring you, our most beloved readers, the MetalSucks Fan Pack, which will be available exclusively at all FYE stores starting this Tuesday, April 12. Not only does this limited edition box full o’ metal come with a CD featuring twenty brootal tunes by twenty brootal bands (including Kvelertak, Trap Them, Believer, Napalm Death, TesseracT, Thomas Giles, Deicide and a bunch more) but it also comes with that HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO KILLER t-shirt you see above, which was designed by our friend Rodney Githens from Vertebrae 33 (you might also recognize his work from this sexy t-shirt and this Louvre-worthy poster that he did for us).

How much would you expect to pay for this incredible package? Twenty bucks? Fifteen bucks? Try $9.99. That’s right, gang — twenty songs from twenty bands and that guaranteed-to-get-you-laid t-shirt for under ten bucks.

But wait! There’s more! If you act now and head over to the official MetalSucks Fan Pack web page, you can get a coupon for 30%, which brings the price down to a mere seven dollars. Holy crap, that’s a metsieh if ever there was one.

So go here to get a complete track list of all the bands on the comp, and to use the nifty store-finder to locate the f.y.e. nearest to you. And, oh yeah, you can also enter to win this custom guitar:

So, yeah, that’s pretty fuckin’ bad-assed.

-Axl & Vince

It’s always refreshing when bands are as good live as they are on record — it’s a silly thing to have to say, but it’s a necessary thing to point out in these ProTools happy times — and this especially holds true for vocalists. Growlers are a dime a dozen, and even in the live setting their voices are often beefed up with instant ball-enlargeing effects to make them seem like the manly men they aren’t. So it’s the real vocalists, the dudes that, ya know, sing, and have a real genuine talent (not that growling doesn’t take effort to learn too, but c’mon) that really impress me live when they nail the shit they do on record.

Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker is about as unique and talented of a vocalist as you’ll find in all of metal today. This live PtH footage filmed last week in Ottawa proves that the dude isn’t just propped up by studio chicanery; first note, BAM, perfect, and with that patented vibrato neatly centered on-pitch. Much respect, Mr. Walker. Side note: Walker is quickly working his way up the list of sour metal lead singers that hilariously antagonize the audience. Watch out, Guy Kozywyk and Frank Mullen!

More footage from the Ottawa show filmed by reader Matt M., along with remaining PtH / TesseracT / Maylene tour dates, after the jump. Stoked for this tour to hit NYC in May.

Click to read more…

That headline doesn’t even make sense. So what? Seven of the Top 10 Hard Music albums on this week’s Soundscam charts are actually new(ish) releases! And only one is a greatest hits! Hallelujah!

Rise Against continued to dominate, while new releases by Soundgarden (sorta), Protest the Hero, Born of Osiris and Tesseract sold well. A bunch of other records came out, too (uhhh… Saliva, uhh…. CKY, uhhh… Straight Line Stitch) and some solid sellers from weeks past remained on the charts. Numbers after the break.

Click to read more…

New records by Born of Osiris, Tesseract, Protest the Hero, The Haunted and Agnostic Front oughtta peak buyers’ eyes at their favorite e-tailer today, while a handful of other releases are hitting the cloud as well. Check out Vic Vaughn’s preview of each after the jump.

Click to read more…

Vince wondered about the fate of poor TesseracT last week, pondering their place in a scene that might mistake them for followers of a trend that they actually helped start.

Well, as someone who believes that it is actually still important to have a cool music video as part of your promotional cycle, I hope that a lot of people see TesseracT’s new Tim Fox-directed video, for the song “Nascent.” It doesn’t prove that TesseracT aren’t really Johnny Come Latelys, but in a perfect world, its quality would make the issue moot (or, as they say on St. Charles, would mooten the issue). I’m not stoned right now so I’m not gonna posit a theory as to what the what is going on in this thing, but I will say that it’s memorable, it looks good, and the fact that it will require a couple of viewings to “get” it will hopefully work in the band’s favor.

“Nascent” comes off of TesseracT’s One, which comes out this Tuesday on Century Media.

-AR

I like doing MetalSucks, in part, because I really do learn something new each and every week. You know what I learned this week, for example?

FUCK VAMPIRES.

Here are some other things we learned this week:

• The dudes in Lazarus A.D. like MetalSucks.
• Swamp Thing and Indian have awesome new music coming out.
• The Human Abstract’s A.J. Minette and Travis Richter know a lot about music theory, Mr. Big’s Eric Martin knows a lot about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and Vicious Rumors’ Geoff Thorpe knows a lot about line-up changes.
• The new Rotten Sound album is choice.
• Earache Records is a good label.
• Kittie are bad at making music videos.
• TesseracT are tardy to the djent party.
• Joey Belladonna still can’t sing.
• Rites of Darkness III is gonna be a great festival for bands no one has ever heard of.
• Losing someone you admire still sucks.

I’ll be flying solo for much of next week as Vince and Kip head down to Austin for SXSW and I stay behind to ensure you are as irritated as possible. Won’t you come back and learn some more with me?

-AR

So… what do you guys think of TesseracT?

I ask because I’m conflicted about what I think. TesseracT have been a band for many years, and were sporadically releasing songs on the Internet to widespread acclaim in underground circles way before the multitudes of so-called “djent” bands they inspired even existed. But it’s taken all this time — until March 22nd of this year — for them to release a proper full-length album, One (the Concealing Fate EP containing six songs from One was released last year). This puts them in sort of a weird spot; it feels like they’re late to the game, and to the unknowledgeable observer it would certainly appear that way, even though they helped to create that game to begin with.

Click to read more…