One thing I know about Tesseract is that they are apart of this progressive, low tuning, sing/scream, ambient movement. They are hit and miss with me, what I heard last year left me unamused and I didn’t pay any attention to it. So when this EP was sent to me, I was skeptical and honestly not looking forward to it. However, I turned off all previous opinions and listened to this with virgin ears. With that mind set, I enjoyed the album. Perspective is a decent album although it varies between background noise and tolerating it. It’s an album I can sit through and not complain about it but I would never actively stop what I am doing to listen to this EP. There are some songs that are catchy and likable, however I feel that the majority of the album is, alas, forgettable.

This album is rather chill, the guitars never really get cranked up and the drums never pick up the pace and start going nuts. Vocalist (well….it seems as if he as left the band already) Elliot Coleman does a pretty good job singing. Sometimes I feel as if his approach is a little weak but for the most part his harmonies and abilities are great! The bass guitar holds it down great on Perspective and the guitars are mainly there for ambiance. Very rarely do you here a riff from them unless the clean channel with some sort of effect is on. Those clean compositions are terrific though, it’s very organic….it’s natural. Musically this album is done incredibly well, the blend of everything I just mentioned is done with care and gone over with a fine toothed comb. Each and every note is necessary, either making it flow better or adding to the overall effect of being sucked into the music. You can definitely get lost into the music on Perspective. Honestly, with Elliot gone….I’d suggest they just stay an instrumental band. The vocals are distracting honestly, the real meat and potatoes of the EP is the music alone.

Oh and the last song, Eden 2.0, this is where it gets turned up a little. This is the track to get you headbanging, even if just a little bit. This track is the loud n heavy track of the album. I don’t mean it’s too terribly heavy but they finally turned off the clean channel and pulled out some riffs. The ending of this song is a strong ending for the album.

Honestly, Perspective is a good album. Even though it is over run with alright vocals, this album is fun to listen to. Like I said previously, it’s a toe tapper and I wouldn’t dive for the power button if it was played at someone’s house. I just feel like it is lacking something. I understand the need to be ambient and get all spiritual with your music but does it have to sound like that for 80% of your EP? Also, like I said Elliot’s vocals just don’t match the music being played. It honestly sounds forced and not a part of the album at all. Definitely give it a spin or two but honestly that’s all it will get from me. It’s a decent album, I just hope they build from here and create something groundbreaking with their next effort.

3 out of 5