TESSERACT
The Omnific radiate energy.
VENUE PROJECT HOUSE, LEEDS
DATE 15/04/2025
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If TesseracT were brain surgeons, their patients would be in safe hands. Their live performances are clean and clinical, a polished reproduction of everything that makes the ultra-modern outfit revered. As the pristine thump of their jagged djent grooves rip through a fairly packed Project House –a former warehouse given a hipster-friendly makeover –the crowd lap them up with roars of excitement. Yet this writer is left feeling cold. Sure, they sound perfect, but there’s sadly very little to feel.
Australia’s The Omnific have their own issues tonight. Comprising two bass players and drummer/in-house party starter Jerome Lematua –he and his fabulous mullet regularly visit the front of the stage to encourage dancing and build energy from the crowd –their make-up is far from traditional. Across just five action-packed songs, they prove themselves to be full of invention and intrigue. Merlin’s Id builds over a steady 4/4 drum beat with combative basslines that are anything but. Ne Plus Ultra leaves plenty of space for Lematua’s chops to run amok and, elsewhere, Toby Peterson-Stewart impresses with some intricate tapping passages. Yet it doesn’t feel like their atypical set up is fully taken advantage of. There are tons of ground-shaking unison parts, but, until the higher-octave synth parts heard in the backing tracks of closer Double Malt Ditty, there’s little to widen their dynamic scope; it’s a little one-trick. That closer, though, is terrifically entertaining.