Band's List Progressive Metal Textures Silhouettes

Textures were a band I didn’t manage to catch when their previous album, Drawing Circles, was out. I loved the idea that they were a stylistic combination of Devin Townsend and Meshuggah, two of my favourite artists, and with the praise that that album received; I thought I would be a fan. But alas I never got round to hearing it as when it was released and they dropped off my radar. But when I heard a taster of this album, Silhouettes, I kicked myself for missing out. Now in possession of the full album (and its predecessor), it really is incredible. These Dutch technicians wield the massive elegiac moments of prime Townsend to the off-kilter thunder of Meshuggah, best noticed on third track, Awake. It is a more melodic album than previous efforts, and although the menace of Drawing Circles is still present, it has a much more, dare I say catchy, edge to it. Ok catchy is not the term, memorable is the word I wanted. Laments of an Icarus contains excellent start stop riffing, and the highlight is possibly the Devin-aping sky high crescendo of the epic One Eye for a Thousand’s beginning, an intro that could slip onto Ziltoid the Omniscient or Terria easily. In fact the whole track screams Townsend but not in a derogatory way. Few have ever managed to match the Canadian’s ability for skyscraping metal, but these boys come close in a form that appears to be almost homage than theft. But the sheer depth of the material and excellence of delivery will hopefully bring these boys out of the shadows of such luminary influences, as it proves they are a talented bunch who can effortlessly transfer between deathcore style breaks, polyrhythmic pummelling and atmospheric melodies. The album throws quirky moments at you all the way through, providing an engaging listen and at the same time never becomes so overtly technical that your brain hurts. Storm Warning sounds in parts like it should be on a Deftones album, but contains a few of my favourite passages of the album. In a world where thanks to Opeth, Mastodon and Gojira, prog metal has become revitalised, Textures have added another album to that canon that supports the strength of that particular genre. Get Silhouettes if you can, it’d be criminal to let them slip off your radar as they did once off mine.