If metal music is your cup of tea, then allow your soul to feed on it at a concert featuring the British progressive metal band, Tesseract, which will be touring India later this month. The band, which comprises Acle Kahney, Jay Postones, James Monteith, Amos Williams and Daniel Tompkins, has belted out five albums, with their latest one titled War of Being.
“We wanted to get Tesseract to perform in India because they are quite popular and reached out to them. They have not staged a gig in India for quite some time, and we thought that it will be fascinating for metalheads to see them performing new songs from War of Being,” says Amarjeet Singha, president of international artist bookings and IPs at SkillBox, which is an art community platform.
The band, formed in the early 2000s, created a buzz in 2022 with Regrowth, a special double a-side, to raise money for The Disasters Emergency Committee and help the Ukrainian people. On kscopemusic.bandcamp.com, Bandcamp being an online record store and music community, the band had put up two songs for purchase — Hollow and Rebirth — that were slated to be mounted on their fifth album with a message: “These songs have been in the TesseracT domain for a while. We had developed them for album five, but they just weren’t the right fit for where that album has headed. Rather than have them slowly decay on a server somewhere, we felt they could do something good, no matter how small?”
The artwork of War of Being | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The nine-track album, War of Being, was released in September last year and has amassed rave reviews. Metal Storm stated that War Of Being is a strong return for Tesseract after a five-year gap, while blabbermouth.net addressed the album’s eponymous track as the bravest and boldest record they have made to date.
The band, which first visited India in 2010 for the festival series Great Indian Rock, has performed at Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, Bengaluru festival Backdoors in 2018, and last visited the country in 2019, states The Rolling Stone Magazine. “There is a sizeable population in India that is interested in metal music. As for tickets, we have sold almost 85% in Bengaluru and 70% in Delhi and Mumbai. With 20 days left, we are expecting sell-outs in each city,” says Anmol Kukreja, founder and CEO of SkillBox.
A still from the band’s live performance | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Roydon Bangera, the platform’s chief business officer, adds that they chose Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai for a few reasons. “All three cities have thriving metal scenes with a lot of passionate fans. They also consistently show strong interest in live music events, including metal gigs. This ensures a great audience for Tesseract and creates an exciting atmosphere for the shows,” he justifies.
The band will be in Delhi’s Imperfecto Patio on April 26 (8pm), Mumbai’s Phoenix Marketcity on April 27 (7pm) and Bengaluru’s GYLT on April 28 (8pm).
Tickets for the show are priced upwards of ₹2,499; cover charges will be applicable on skillboxes.com.
A sneak peak into the country’s biggest events and festivals before they happen. So, you want to travel more? Watch this space.
