Textures return from a long hiatus to a project that was known by a different name and sound. They do justice to their name, but this is a bookmark to the future of the band.
The year is 2018. My friend tells me Textures are on their farewell tour. Farewell? Why would that band ever want to disband? I couldn’t afford the tickets at the time, so I never went. Having heard track after track on some rabbit hole of a shuffle, I knew that there was no one discovering prog metal’s outline like they did. The Dutch band was wrapping up, and I’d never get to see them live. Let those dreams back out, young music fan. Textures return with their latest album, Genotype.
Post-hiatus Textures
Like many metal fans who haven’t been wrapped into the genre for long, Dualism and Phenotype were my discovery pass to the band. The variations that they concocted and the range that they went to used every instrument, piece of tech and compositional skill to their advantage. You could show this music to a non-metal fan, and they’d be able to hear something far beyond what they assumed this genre was. Opening with Void, it is a fitting track to release the album with. This is what they had left for us to fill with other releases, bands that sounded similar yet never had the gracious complexity of Textures. It is symphonic, like a film score opening, yet keeps you prepared for what is to come. It is that rich context of symphonic metal and time signatures coming to bamboozle you.
At the Edge of Winter comes, with Charlotte Wessels adding a finesse to the track with her vocal performance. Vocalist Daniël de Jongh has sharpened his edge better than ever, crafting the theme with his powerful, raspy voice. The instrumental section you hear in the middle is the band at its peak. Whether you take a decade of the genres or work they have done, it is to hear this state of flow that you even listen to their music. Perhaps you can borrow some within that time.
The journey of the album
Let’s talk about Genotype. As a concept, it was supposed to be released 9 years back, in 2017. Material had already been recorded, but the band dissolved, announcing that the album would never be released. If you were to pair it with Phenotype, Genotype was supposed to be its counteracting double album. The Yin to the Yang, but the original idea was scrapped. They have been hard at work for the past 2 years, making this album represent what the band members learnt during their hiatus.
So when Measuring the Heavens comes in next, with dreamy vocals and an intense guitar riff playing with the palette. This is the splotch of colours that shapes itself in order to be the surgical, astronomically precise group they are. Textures swell with the spectrum of their earlier music while exploring future frequencies. You’ll feel goosebumps rise the moment the scale changes in the middle of the song. This is what sets apart their composition style from other contemporaries and their inspirations.
The spatial depth of Nautical Dusk is extremely interesting. There is a background that charges the instrumental parts, while Daniël strains with emotion in the vocal delivery. Calculated riff elements are intense, for they wrap around unique time signatures and accented parts. Vanishing Twin opens with a harmony vocal section – almost like a metal lover’s Bohemian. Textures have an essence that they have been able to carry from their beginning. Whether the line-ups have alternated or changed, there is something about their sound that cuts through the mediocre metalcore patterns that have become so popular. Closer to the Unknown and A Seat For the Like-Mind create the kind of infusion that becomes different in mood.
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Compass to the band’s new direction
Through this album, the band has represented the theme and sound with sincerity. Phenotype might have been a much more intense journey than expected, but the thrill remains in seeing what has happened in the time elapsed. Walls of the Soul represents this the best, a 7-minute excursion in sound. Perhaps these more ambient bites are what Textures are receding into, with opportunities to give us crushing metal strength. Their performance remains as breathtaking as ever, the band always in cohesive sync. From a very promising act to their live shows being as beautiful and intense as they can be, the Dutch band are now making strides to a sound that comes from deep reflection.
Maybe this is what the inside of the mind sounds like. The different wavelengths we operate in, and this expressive metal sound trying to explain to us what it might feel like. Genotype is a refreshing return full of hope and a sound that promises a great future. We just hope we can hear a whole lot more from them in coming years. 9 years might make you forget how much you missed a band. I’m not ready to miss them all over again now:
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