BEST OF BRITISH: PRAVITAS / TELEPATHY / TIBERIUS

(Andy Synn presents three more varied examples of shining British steel)

So here’s the thing… I almost didn’t manage to get this column written and published this week.

Not, I need to state, due to any issues with my motivation or time management, but because a particular album that I’d eagerly been looking forward to turned out to be incredibly mediocre and overhyped (here’s a tip: if you’re going to try and sell something as a progressive piece of cross-genre pollination it’s probably a good idea to not just deliver a bunch of interchangeable Nu-Metalcore tracks that quickly go in one ear and out the other) leaving me with a gaping whole in my usual three album format.

Thankfully it turned out Leeds-based Tech-Death types Pravitas also just put out their debut album, and so have ended up slotting into this article quite nicely, not only saving the day but also giving me another promising new band to talk about.

Speaking of which…

PRAVITAS – THE PARASITIC DIVINE

Now, let’s get one thing straight… while Pravitas‘s debut doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel – nor, do I think, does it set out to – I haven’t had this much fun with an album from the Tech Death/Deathcore/Djent end of the spectrum for quite a while, and a lot of that has to do with the band’s focus on hooks (even if some of them are a little familiar) over excessive technicality.

Of course, the group’s talents are obvious from the moment that opener “A Closed Circuit” kicks into gear, with the fleet-fingered fretwork (with special praise reserved for the lashings of melodic leads and soaring solos) and punchy riff patterns of tracks like “Delusions of Morality” and “Spear In The Chest” recalling the similarly gifted guitar lines of bands like Gorod and The Zenith Passage, while their use of twitchy, elasticated rhythms and shimmering, synthesised ambience during more djentrified cuts like “Exile” and “Once There Was Only Dark” owes more to the likes of Born of Osiris and Periphery.

And while it occasionally crosses the line into outright imitation – the deathly pneumatic grooves of “Breakneck” are pure Soreption worship – there’s a few signs, particularly in the back half of the album, that Pravitas at least have the potential to develop a more distinctive style of their own, with the rough-hewn, semi-clean vocals during the chorus of tightly-wound mid-album highlight “Defragment” adding a bit more raw emotion to the proceedings, and the distinctly darker hue of “Hightower” (and, to a lesser extent, the brooding Tech-Deathcore hybrid that is “Eye of the World”) shifting the vibe of the album towards something more serious and grounded.

It’s closer “Monolith”, however, which leaves one of the strongest impressions, doubling down on the moody ambience hinted at previously on the album while also allowing the band’s darker, more Deathcore-ish impulses to take centre-stage at key points (without sacrificing the technical precision of the guitar work) and then bringing back the dirty, pseudo-melodic singing of frontman Chris Sellers to great effect.

So if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned above, and want to see whether Pravitas are really capable of following in their footsteps, then make sure to keep an eye on them… you never know what might happen!

TELEPATHY – TRANSMISSIONS

It’s been a long… wow, eight years… since we (and by “we” I mean “I”) last wrote about Essex instrumentalists (or should that be instru-metalists?) Telepathy.

But good things, as we all know, are worth waiting for, and their latest opus – seven tracks of scintillating, cinematic Post-Rock/Metal soundscapes rich in dynamic depth and lush melody – does not disappoint.

From the restrained power and riveting atmosphere of “Oath” – part Nordic Giants, part Isis, all Telepathy – through to the introspective finale of majestic, proggy closer “Home”, Transmissions continually works and reworks its musical magic, blending weighty guitars (whose brighter, sharper sound stands in contrast to the darker, sludgier tone of 2017’s Tempest) and gleaming melodic lead lines with poignant passages of moody minimalism and an ever-present undercurrent of glimmering ambience.

And while it would be all too easy to fall prey to cliché by calling the band’s new album an instrumental “odyssey” or saying that it “takes you on a journey”, it wouldn’t necessarily be inaccurate either, such is the obvious care and consideration which has gone into making sure that each track – and, by extension, the album as a whole – tells a coherent story designed to capture and captivate the audience’s attention from beginning to end.

As a result these seven sublime soundscapes – whose highlights include the moody melodic mesmerism of “Augury” (a personal favourite of mine, especially when it reaches its stunning climax) and the brooding, electro-ambient pulse of “Knife Edge Effect” – each serve as a distinct, yet complementary, chapter in the overarching structure of the album.

But if you really want to get a sense of the true scope of the band’s sound, and the scale of their ambition, you’ll need to turn your attentions to “Tears in the Fibre” and “End Transmission”, both of which push the band’s sound to its maximum – more light, more shade, more contrast and shadow – and help highlight just how much bigger, better, and bolder the group’s songwriting skills have become.

After all, it’s hard enough to keep the listener’s attention for fifteen minutes for any band, let alone one who doesn’t have a vocalist, but somehow Telepathy manage it not once but twice on Transmissions, which is easily the best thing they’ve put out yet!

TIBERIUS – SINGING FOR COMPANY

Tiberius‘s first full-length, A Peaceful Annihilation, was a good album (I even said so myself at the time), but their follow-up, Singing for Company, is a great one.

It’s not so much that they’ve drastically changed their sound or direction – though overall they definitely lean more towards Evergrey than Protest the Hero this time around – as it is that they showcase a newfound confidence, a willingness to push themselves that little bit harder/further when necessary but also a sense of when and where to pull back and let things breathe a little more, so that each song is now made up of fewer, but better (and more fully fleshed out) ideas.

As you’ll quickly notice once “New Revelation” kicks things off, the symphonic elements have been given a major boost this time around, but not at the expense of the guitars – in fact I’d say that the way these two elements lock in and complement one another over the course of the record is one of the album’s biggest strengths – which, I’d argue, are just that little bit tighter and heavier as well.

And yet Tiberius largely avoid the temptation of “more is more”, instead finding a way to balance the punchy, proggy intricacy of the guitar and bass work (the latter of which really helps fill out the likes of “Soul Saviour” and “Juggernaut” with its twanging, muscular tone) and the bombastic, synthy symphonics to allow room for more restrained moments such as the occasional splash of scintillating Spanish guitar or delicate, poignant piano.

Of course, no review of Singing for Company would be complete without giving vocalist Grant Barclay – whose vivacious voice combines many of the best bits of Tom Englund and Rody Walker, while also possessing its own distinct nuances and eccentricities – his flowers, as if there’s one member of the band who truly shows off how much more confident and capable they’ve become in the intervening years since A Peaceful Annihilation it’s him, especially during outstandingly anthemic numbers like “Tip of the Spear” and the phenomenal title-track.

Make no mistake about it, this is a huge step up from a band who have been on the rise for a while now, and I fully expect it to make even more waves as even more people discover it over the rest of the year!