The British band TESSERACT released their latest full-length album, “War Of Being,” on September 15th through Kscope. Swiftly after the release, they embarked on a world tour starting in the USA, continuing with the European and UK legs from January 20th to the end of February. For this part of the tour, they were supported by US-based mathcore outfit THE CALLOUS DAOBOYS and the German progressive metal act UNPROCESSED. While our team in Finland, had the opportunity to attend TESSERACT‘s War of Being tour a few weeks ago at Tavastia in Helsinki, we had the opportunity to visit the German leg of the tour on February 17th, 2024, at Carlswerk Victoria in Cologne.
The evening began with the US-based THE CALLOUS DAOBOYS, who warmed up the audience with an energetic performance. Their approach to mathcore is multifaceted, as evidenced by the number of members in the band, which allows them to incorporate interesting elements into their music, such as a violin. However, throughout the concert, it became somewhat difficult to distinguish between songs and transitions between them.
While each musician in the band individually makes a great impression and demonstrates mastery of their craft, the compositions feel as though they could benefit from more cohesion between tracks. Perhaps this lack of cohesion is intentional, aimed at eliciting a specific reaction from the audience, which unfortunately we may have missed during their set that evening.
Nevertheless, the band’s high energy was palpable throughout their performance, along with their evident joy and enthusiasm.
The Germans from UNPROCESSED were next, whose latest album, “…And Everything In Between,” was released on December 1st, 2023, just in time for the tour. We were truly looking forward to this performance because it became somewhat challenging for some of us to fully understand the band’s music after the first few listens at home.
The German quartet opened their set with “Hell” from their latest album, and it honestly didn’t take long to recognize what a grand experience we were having. Admittedly, some of us still believe that UNPROCESSED‘s music is best experienced live, and there is nothing wrong with that. The initial listening sessions at home reminded us of work from bands like POLYPHIA, and the link between the two is no secret, especially with collaborations in songs like “Real” and “Die on the Cross of the Martyr.” Perhaps it’s due to the instrumental techniques that it became difficult not to draw parallels; the brain tends to generalize. However, UNPROCESSED stands out in many ways, such as through the electronic elements and the flawless vocal performance of guitarist and singer Manuel Gardner-Fernandes. His vocal style not only adds emotional nuance to their compositions but also, through the great rhythmic arrangements and phrasing of his singing in accordance with those, brings a level of energy to the listener that makes one want to move and sing along. Superhits like “Thrash” and “Glass” are perfect examples of this.
All-in-all, UNPROCESSED have found a special way of fusing the complexities of progressive metal with its occasional counterpart pop, resulting in an exceptional live experience, which the crowd made sure to celebrate loudly.
The attendees grew impatient as the time for TESSERACT to hit the stage was surpassed due to a minor delay in the schedule. This also gave the hall the chance to fill up, to the point where it became nearly impossible to walk back to the bar to get something to drink without squeezing through people, risking angering them. Carlswerk Victoria can host up to 1600 guests, and to our estimate, the venue came very close to a sold-out show.
Given the complexity of TESSERACT‘s newest album, we came into the concert wondering exactly how some of the elements of the newest album would work live, for example, the record’s vocal arrangements. The answer came very early in the set as the band finally entered the stage to greet a roaring crowd and opened the concert with “Natural Disaster” directly followed by “Echoes,” maintaining the album’s track order. The former built tension with its somewhat more aggressive nature, while the latter felt more like the rational conclusion after a burst of the previous one. It seems, though, as if musically they would portray the process of looking for resolution, and it is exactly that resolution that carries an unimaginable cathartic power, created by the live experience of the phenomenon that is TESSERACT.
Hits like “King,” “Dystopia,” and “Smile” also made it to the setlist, and at some point frontman Daniel Tompkins animated the crowd to move, which ended up creating the equivalent of a maelstrom on earth, with humans running around each other seemingly to the rhythm of the music.
Finally, our biggest highlight of the evening was “Legion,” a track that portrays human vulnerability in a unique way, expressed by what is one of the best live vocal performances that the progressive metal scene has seen in a while. The landscape is painted by an eerie instrumentalization that aggressively accentuates the rawer vocal parts for which the crowd made themselves loudly noticeable by cheering on incessantly, and even trying to match the frontman’s otherworldly vocal skills.
We are looking forward to how the band will mature the new material’s live performance, and we certainly hope it doesn’t take them very long to return to this corner of the world!
Text and Photos by Michelle R.
