Tesseract - Altered State (2013)

With only their second album, Tesseract have not only proved themselves as one of the giants of the djent movement, but have also made one of the best albums of the year. Dan Tompkins' harsh vocals may be gone, but new vocalist Ashe O'Hara makes them rather irrelevant and unnecessary with his incredibly fitting and beautiful vocal melodies. O'Hara's style is catchy, yet very expressive and emotional. But that's not the only way in which Tesseract have matured as a band. Musically, they gotten a bit less heavy and a bit more atmospheric. In particular, there are some rather lengthy ambient sections on this album along with groovy, technical clean parts and even some delicious saxophone playing on tracks 8 and 10. Like Periphery, this is a band that is clearly forging their own path in the djent world and coming up with highly innovative, gratifying music. If there's one negative thing I have to say about this album, it's that it can be a bit samey at times and I caught myself drifting several times. However, that's nothing that a few more listens can't remedy. For now I'll say that "Altered State" is an gorgeous, layered piece of art that prog fans shouldn't miss for the world.
9.5/10