Tesseract, Unprocessed & The Callous Daoboys, O2 Academy, Bristol
An evening of tech metal in Bristol's worst venue, may not be everyone's idea of heaven but it's probably going to be one of the only times I come to this venue this year so for what was going to be an epic show I can make that sacrifice. Arriving early after work, I managed to squeeze in a pint in The Hatchet before, narrowly missing James Monteith for a pint. Happily m'colleague behind the camera and our tog in arms arrived in earnest to keep me away from the Gen Z's that were crowding the bar. Through the airport level security at the venue to pick up or passes and make our way in position for the first band.
First up was the experimental, intense, musical assault of The Callous Daoboys (8), a spoonerism of The Dallas Cowboys, probably because The Fatlanta Alcons doesn't work, this Georgia based unit bring breakdown heavy, mathcore where they blend nu-metal with emo, mixing The Dillinger Escape Plan with Botch, Linkin Park with Slipknot and adding lots of lead violin and interludes of Cascada and Neil Diamond to link the songs together, singer Carson Pace encouraging the crowd to go wild under the threat of doing horrible things to their mothers. A wild and incendiary live show, these Daoboys are much more fulfilling than anything Pilsbury can make.
While the openers were kinetic, bouncing and flailing to their songs, German djentists Unprocessed (8) were more static, the foursome exercising their fingers more than their bodies, though Manuel Gardner Fernandes looks like he puts the hours in at the gym. His vocals are brilliant as are David Levy's but the massed crowd here are here for the musicianship. Something Unprocessed brings in spades, Gardner Fernandes and Christoph Schultz's playing is otherworldly, free flowing melodic cleans that clash with the crushing tech metal breakdowns, technically impressive they have a blizzard of notes but never to the detriment to the songs.
The two guitars in glorious union as the bass/synths of David Levy knits everything together with some expressive lines that are immensely technical but filled with groove. He's augmented by Leon Pfeifer behind the kit, a drummer who comes into his own when the power cut out in the last few minutes of their set, rendering their guitars silent. So a short drum solo took place before Manuel called the audible and finished with the last breakdown of the last show. The way they are able to cope with this shows a massive amount of maturity from this young band.
Then the O2 Bristol filled, and filled and filled again, pushing towards the normal levels of overselling so synonymous with this venue. Sold out hours before they opened the doors, most of the dates on this tour were, Tesseract (10) have been steadily building themselves up over the course of 20 years(!), but more realistically since 2009, they have not only been busy inventing a genre but re-inventing it with their five studio albums and four EP's.
The most recent was War Of Being which is their best record so far. It's been the album that has seen them elevate their song writing to a place where they manage to combine all of what they've done before but looking forward musically too. I gave it a glowing review and as soon as this tour in support was announced I needed to go as Tesseract have always been forward thinking, visually stunning and musically brilliant on a live stage so it was worth the trip.
With the announcement a day later they are headlining Radar Festival this year, it may also prove to be the last time they play venues of this size as their stage show is already much mightier than these venues can contain with spinning light rigs, LED's galore and lots of space for movement, it makes for a kinetic show as Dan Tompkins takes his place as master of ceremonies.
As the band took to the stage the opening blast of Natural Disaster one of five from War Of Being, the technical chug of James Monteith and Acle Kahney getting the metal flowing, switching between blissful melodies and heavy djent riffs, barefoot Amos Williams slamming his bass around to supply heavy grooves to earlier cuts such as Of Mind - Nocturne and the swelling throb to the newer offerings from War Of Being and Sonder which leant itself to four tracks.
The way the set ebbs and flows is down to the whole band but Jay Postones' drumming guides the journey we are taken on for over an hour and a half. There's glorious sing-alongs, pits, constant motion in the crowd and phone lights in the air for the balladic moments, Tompkins' vocals are incredible, he's at one with the crowd, spending a lot of the time with the front row, displaying that rapport that the band have built with their audience.
The main set closed with Juno, sending the crowd into a frenzy, which was repeated as they came back out to kick off their traditional encore of Concealing Fate Part 1 & 2, but gremlins reared their ugly heads again and Part 1: Acceptance had to restart but it didn't break the flow as these foundations of the djent genre pulsated through Bristol's O2 Academy.
A triumphant night for a band destined for arenas bigger than this, make sure to catch them headlining Radar this year, it's going to be special.