Textures –Phenotype

Dutch metalcore band, Textures, has been delivering complex and experimental music since 2001. Melding progressive, melodic, and metalcore, Textures is at last spewing forth Phenotype, their fifth album and part one of their musical diptych, with the second half, Genotype, releasing in 2017.

Phenotype detonates into life with a heavy roar that opens the massive collision of sounds that make up “Oceans Collide”. Everything that one would want from Textures is featured within this initial showcase of aggression and power. It explodes through a backdrop of driving sounds that provide – true to their name –  textures for Daniel’s vocals to ooze across, both harsh and clean. “Oceans Collide” provides multiple key changes, along with waves of tempo changes that ebb and flow with euphoric synths, cascading through the bombastic sounds of this song.

“New Horizons” unfolds in a softer, more delicate, fashion that continues to build into an unleashing of a deep and dark throaty rampage. Opposite and parallel versions of the original theme walk hand in hand, back and forth, bringing forward mesmerizing kickassery that builds and builds, feeding into both clean and harsh, metal and rock, guilty pleasures without losing passion or vigor.

TEXTURES – New Horizons (OFFICIAL TRACK & LYRICS)

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Industrial in nature, bouncy guitar crunches and hellaciously voracious screaming vocals permeate “Shaping of a Single Grain of Sand”. The initial intensity bleeds into a clean vocal that gives us a brief glimpse of hope from within the musical storm. Dripping with metal, this is the harshest song Phenotype offers; Daniel is brutal, Stef is a beast behind the kit, and Joe, Bart, and Remko slice through each and every note, impaling listeners with the forces emanated from their respective weapons.

With an ethereal intro torn into by Daniel’s aggressive vocal onslaught, “Illuminate The Train” swirls and snarls straight into clean singing that dances between tempos and styles, allowing the definitive multi-texture nature of this band reign. We move into a heavenly descent into luscious abandon, guided by whispers and drums, laced by guitars, further falling into full musical decadence.

Stef poured more than his soul into this drum solo of “Meander”. It is literally Stef transformed into pure beat and rhythm, metamorphosed as he cascades across the soundscape. You can feel his presence through your ears and perceive his touch in the chasm between the synapses firing in your mind and the flowing music that he has become.

Charging and foreboding, Daniel’s vocal onslaught is aggressive, taking “Erosion” into a place where crunchy rhythms rest against a mournful chant. We slide into a forceful and hopeful chorus that dives right back into a dangerous and soaring guitar solo. It ends, pouring itself into the last drop of syrupy guitar strumming.

“The Fourth Prime” opens first into a classic 80’s ballad-esque style that quickly is whisked away and replaced by a thrashy, groove-laden harsh vocal with perilous guitar intricacy. With a quilted patchwork of texture, “Prime” stays true to metal, with ascorbic screams and powerful bellows that are followed by clean vocals, swapping tempos, and styles deftly. The guitar solo soars into a heartbeat rhythm that lilts into a hypnotic position of musical depth. As the solo, free from vocal re-direction, we flow through the song straight into the original pit of screams and resolve with clean refrains.

“ZMan” is Uri, deliciously synthing and giving us a gift of disorienting beauty, showing us what magic can be unleashed by his hands across the keys. Uri caresses our senses as his fingers enable a sweet and twinkling melody that ultimate the bursts into “Timeless” the album closer. “Timeless” transcends from the churning rhythm and clean vocals and chorus, departing from excessive harsh vocals. Beautiful and softer in comparison to the rest of Phenotype offerings, the nature of this song is as true as its name. The twinkling guitar strumming paired with the keyboard grant otherworldly sensations from musical and emotional vantage-points, bringing Phenotype to a close, satiating the listener on many levels.

Short, gorgeous in the right places, metal in others, Phenotype is an album that coalesces your love for all rock genres into one collection of audial art. There are many wins on Phenotype. There are also many things that feel safe. Few risks were taken with Phenotype, and in turn, few moments of “holy shit” ever occurred. Regardless of whether or not Textures decided to not make waves, five years after Dualism, Phenotype is a solid album that is a definite must listen to.

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