Tesseract at The Constellation Room - 4.12.14

There's something about that unholy marriage of two of the seemingly most disparate genres, progressive rock and heavy metal, that engenders the some of the most fervent fans. This was certainly the case when British prog metal band Tesseract stopped by The Constellation Room this past Saturday night and brought the metal to a sold out Orange County crowd with a visceral set that saw an entire room of headbangers thrashing their necks in unison to the searing vocals and intense sound emanating from the stage.

When I looked around the room to get an idea of the average Tesseract fan, I saw a couple Rush shirts scattered about amidst the mostly Mastodon, Motorhead and Tesseract tees and I think that's a fair indicator of the prog to metal ratio found within Tesseract's music. For the more cerebral, Tesseract's set had plenty of intricate licks and time changes but what left the biggest impression was the raw power and undeniable feeling that was at the core of the band's show. Make no mistake: a Tesseract concert is a powerful experience that left me spent and the audience begging for more.

This is not to say Tesseract is not made up of clearly accomplished musicians. At times I could swear I was listening to a CD (and I mean that as an absolute compliment). The members of Tesseract are among the most proficient and passionate players I've encountered in a long time.

Tesseract is currently in the middle of a tour throughout North America, joined by Intronaut and Cloudkicker. For more information on dates be sure to check out their website: http://tesseractband.co.uk/

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