UK prog metal titans TesseracT begin their new era with the announcement of their new EP ARC_ONE : Obscura, and signing with new label home of Nuclear Blast Records.
ARC_ONE : Obscura will be released 5th March 2027. In recognition of the news, the band have revealed the first single, the mighty ‘Crucible’.
Watch ‘Crucible’ here: https://youtu.be/TypJLpqUNiM
Stream: https://tesseract.bfan.link/crucible
Pre-save the EP: https://tesseract.bfan.link/arc-one-obscura
Since making their earliest waves at the crest of the ‘djent’ movement, the leading lights of UK progressive metal have refined a singular approach while constantly toying with expectation. As ambitious now as they’ve ever been, TesseracT‘s new undertaking could go down as their crowning achievement.
ARC_ONE : Obscura marks TesseracT‘s first outing for heavy metal haven Nuclear Blast. The EP also follows what has been their greatest run of touring to date, playing to rapt audiences across Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia.
The three-song kick-off, Obscura, introduces what will become a multimedia spectacle for their global following.
| Vocalist Dan Tompkins explains, “We’re trying to approach this a little bit differently, in terms of not just dropping a full album. We’re trying to work with how music is consumed in general, but also trying to deliver what we think our fans really want from us: a captivating story and a good concept.” Thematically, ARC_ONE : Obscura picks up where War of Being left off, continuing the album’s exploration of identity. “War of Being was very much about ego and the masks that we wear,” Dan recalls. “The ending to that album was quite important, because it was about tearing the mask away, which is a key lyric from the album. As I, personally, made more music on the back of War of Being, I started to discover more about myself and my own being. I’ve started to really think about what direction we could take the next batch of music in, and I think, for me, it’s very much about understanding what’s left when you’ve exposed who you really are.” This introspective journey commences with the lead single and ARC_ONE : Obscura‘s opener, ‘Crucible’: a song about suppressing one’s self in order to belong. Its key lyric – ‘if I fit, I disappear’ – summarises what Dan calls “the pressure that shapes and distorts the individual: the fact that we’re being constantly measured and judged and refined until our real, authentic self is just pushed further and further inside us and buried”. It’s a refreshingly episodic piece of music, too, pulling back from the widescreen War of Being to focus on emphatic vocals as well as punchy riffing from Acle Kahney and James Monteith. Co-produced, mixed and mastered by the band together with Lewis Johns and Pete Miles at Middle Farm, ARC_ONE : Obscura is another testament to TesseracT as trailblazers. Not only is it being released innovatively; it’s home to three immense songs which reiterate why the band upended (and continue to upend) what people thought metal can do. Most exciting of all, this is just the beginning… TesseracT will be touring ARC_ONE: Obscura across North America, the UK, and Germany, including a marquee show at London’s famed Brixton Academy. Dates: North America tour (w/ Entheos and Sunborn): 01/07 New York City, NY — Irving Plaza 01/08 Boston, MA — Paradise Rock Club 01/09 Montreal, QC — Beanfield Theatre 01/10 Toronto, ON — Concert Hall 01/12 Baltimore, MD — Baltimore Soundstage 01/13 Charlotte, NC — The Underground 01/15 Atlanta, GA — Buckhead Theatre 01/16 Orlando, FL — Beacham 01/18 Houston, TX — House Of Blues 01/19 Dallas, TX — Echo 01/20 San Antonio, TX — Aztec Theatre 01/22 Phoenix, AZ — Nile Theater 01/23 Los Angeles, CA — The Belasco 01/24 San Francisco, CA — The Fillmore 01/26 Portland, OR — Roseland Theater 01/27 Seattle, WA — Neptune 01/29 Salt Lake City, UT — The Depot 01/31 Denver, CO — Summit Music Hall UK/DE tour: 11 March O2 Ritz Manchester UK 13 March O2 Academy Brixton London UK 15 March Die Kantine Köln Germany 16 March Batschkapp Frankfurt Germany 18 March Markthalle Hamburg Germany 19 March Täubchenthal Leipzig Germany Get your tickets: https://tesseract.os.fanTesseracT online:https://www.tesseractband.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/tesseractband https://www.instagram.com/tesseractband https://twitter.com/tesseractband https://open.spotify.com/artist/23ytwhG1pzX6DIVWRWvW1rTesseracT are: Daniel Tompkins (vocals) Acle Kahney (guitar) James Monteith (guitar) Amos Williams (bass) Jay Postones (drums) |
