Dualism is the right album for Textures to make at this point, as another album of None-era Meshuggah mimicking wouldn’t suffice. Instead, the band’s new singer
(Daniel de Jongh) brings a drastically new flavor to the Holland-based troupe’s sound, one that at times, comes close to movingDualism out of the metal field entirely.
The metallic thrust heard on opener “Arms of the Sea” is plenty enough to get the needle pointed in the right direction, with de Jongh volleying between devilish screams and his radio rock-friendly clean
vocals. Traces of the band’s affinity for Meshuggah are still prevalent here (just check out the first riff here), but as things wear on, Textures wisely tones it down. “Reaching Home” unfurls some hummable melodies that are perhaps the album’s finest, while the more extreme and jolting “Sanguine Draws the Oath” and “Singularity” provide some of the album’s most obvious neck-snapping moments.
de Jongh is clearly the X-factor here, with a surprising onus on his clean vocals throughout this 11-song offering. Textures lays the selections out in a relatively smart fashion, giving de Jongh ample time to get his kicks with throaty screams, then meander into a predictable clean chorus section. This doesn’t always work mind you, for the otherwise storming “Minor Earth, Major Skies” is hindered by de Jongh’s melodic vocals, as is “Stoic Resignation,” where’s too much syrup being piled on.
Hardly a “djent” album (which in a few years, will be tired and old) Dualismgives Textures a wider commercial reach than ever before. Given their new union with Nuclear Blast, there are clear advantages to such a union. We just didn’t think they’d go this all-out at this point in their still-blossoming career, that’s all.
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)