TEXTURES

Beloved figureheads of the 21st century's European prog metal movement, TEXTURES came to an unexpected end in 2017, not long after the release of acclaimed, fifth album, 2016's "Phenotype". From the start, the Dutch pioneers were operating on a higher level than most of their peers, which made their decision to call it quits both surprising and disappointing, particularly given that it was widely known that they had another album's worth of material ready to be recorded. But whether they simply couldn't resist a comeback or found new reasons to fire up the creativity machine again, their sixth full-length has finally arrived. Rather than revive the unreleased songs they wrote during the "Phenotype" sessions, "Genotype" has been written from scratch, abruptly curtailing that lengthy hiatus and heralding the next phase of a career that has always been full of surprises. On the strength of this new material, it would seem perverse to suggest that this is all just a momentary, transient return to action: TEXTURES are back and blazing again, with the same lineup that made "Phenotype", a new record deal with the much-respected Kscope, and the same dazzling potential that propelled them through multiple years of polyrhythmic derring-do.

In the years between 2003 debut "Polars" and their eventual disappearance nine years ago, TEXTURES demonstrated a refined understanding of what it means to be a metal band with a progressive mindset. Always evolving and defiantly resistant to placating expectations, their music changed hugely over the years, while retaining the essential, innovative spark that made the band so irresistible. By the time they reached "Phenotype", TEXTURES had successfully incorporated a more melodic approach into their scattershot complexity, while still putting intricate riffs and grooves at the heart of things. That remains the case here, on an album that, again, re-imagines their sound. Superficially, "Genotype" is the most accessible and tuneful record that TEXTURES have ever made, but the ferocious intelligence that has long been fundamental to their development continues to be their not-so-secret weapon. Aside from its predictably immaculate production, album number six is wonderfully rich with ideas and almost entirely bereft of post-djent cliché. Young prog metal bands have a tendency to be as musically complicated as possible, but "Genotype" displays great maturity. This album is designed to endure, and to score emotional resonances that go deeper than simple self-indulgence.

Opening instrumental "Void" is a case in point: not quite four minutes long and overture-like in its graceful unfolding, it steadily reveals TEXTURES' refreshed perspective, with deceptively traditional chord sequences and melodic motifs that touch the heart long before they scratch any obtuse, prog metal itch. When a more familiar, structural density reveals itself on "At the Edge of Winter", the impact is huge. Charlotte Wessels pops up to deliver enthralling vocal embellishments, but it is vocalist Daniël de Jongh who leads, with a robustness of delivery that soars across a fidgety, riff-driven arrangement like a shimmering, soulful shroud. When the two icons sing together, it is simply magical. Meanwhile, Joe Tal and Bart Hennephof's guitar work is flawless and Stef Broks's drum parts are, to nobody's surprise, as effortlessly fluid and forthright as ever.

Another sublime collision between artful intricacy and big, bold melody, "Nautical Dusk" is an embarrassment of riff riches and divine hooks that explode like fireworks over muscular surges of heavy guitars and fizzing, ethereal ambience. In a less stupid world, it would be an international super-smash. Knottier, more willful territory is explored on "Vanishing Twin", which pairs de Jongh's impassioned proselytizing with upgraded prog tropes and an infectious, underlying drum figure that is both urgent and unusual. "Closer to the Unknown" (the first of the three singles released from "Genotype") is similarly propulsive. The song edges towards the brutality that sometimes surfaced on earlier albums, while sticking stoically to the arena-filling hugeness that the best prog metal often aspires to, as evinced by a bright, shiny, roof-removing chorus.

Everything that TEXTURES attempt here pays off. "Measuring the Heavens" is an avowedly epic exercise in cross-pollinated melody and crushing, adrenalized outpourings of power and finesse. "A Seat for the Like-Minded" is an emotionally intense rollercoaster ride through fluid tempos, gently eccentric about-turns, and big, dirty riffs that punctuate like precision hammer blows. And the closing "Walls of the Soul" is a dramatic, convoluted sprawl that brings the curtain down on this devastating comeback, with TEXTURES going heavier and deeper than ever before. It is, much to our relief, like they have never been away.