There’s a storm brewing and it’s name is not Doris.
Welcome to the world of Telepathy who’s sound is self described as ‘furiously played progressive sludge, intricate soundscapes and a bucketload of riffs’. Their new album ‘Tempest’ is as heavy as your Grandad’s pit boots and blacker than the coal face he worked on, this is serious intelligent metal and your Granny better not forget it.
Formed in 2011 this Colchester, ‘almost instrumental’ Quartet comprising of, Piotr Turek, Albert Turek, Richard Powley and Teddy-James Driscoll, are loud and furious balanced with lighter passages and awash with melody, setting them apart from many contemporaries. I’ll enlighten you on the ‘almost’ later.
There is a huge variety of riffs bursting from every track of this, their sophomore concept album which is based around the harrowing journey of a person tormented with grief and facing total isolation on awaking after a great flood.
The album leads you on a journey from the awakening on First Light a delicate short piece with the peaceful sound of water lapping on the shore then the waves of emotion hitting you with force.
You rise dazed from the pounding and survey the devastation around you and see Smoke From Distant Fires, as the grimy tendrils rise in thick clouds of guitars, pushed skywards by the heavy beat of drums. You are teased by moments of light as the cacophony fades momentarily and you try to recover your thoughts and bearings, mind swirling with cloying dark thoughts like the smoke blotting out the sky.
With the realisation of what has occurred, you stumble forward, faced with Mother Nature’s Celebration Of Decay everywhere you turn, tortured walls of sound painting a grim picture as you tread a path through the desolate landscape.
The ebb and flow of the waves recedes as you clamber over broken buildings and is blotted out by the Echo Of Souls from the shattered bodies strewn like beached fish after the waters returned to Neptune on bitter sweet echoing notes. It is here where the tortured background vocals put paid to the instrumental sway.
Screams of the injured instruments and damaged limbs like an Apparition from Hell as people whimper for help, trapped beneath the rubble. People stagger toward you blood soaked and mauled from the brutal phenomena. Closing in around you their cries for aid building and you push your way through in no state to help them as you are as much a victim.
This does not make sense, how did this come to be? The grief rises in you in terrible waves and Hiareth overcomes you, as you remember your family and the dawning realisation they may too have been caught in this. Are they still alive, are they injured, is anyone helping them? Your head spins with the music of suffering and panic raises nausea in you and you drop to the ground, retching in the muddy pools.
The recent memories flood in, The Water Divides The Tides, as pieces fall into place. Wiping your mouth with the back of your hand you push yourself to your feet the oppressive weight of guilt strapped to your back and you make for the road and head homeward, to find what you will find.
What caused this? Is it punishment for our sins, could we have done more? Have I been the best Father and Husband I could be? Retribution has been brought down upon us like a huge hammer, crushing everything underneath it. What can we do, just accept the aftermath and try to make amends? Is this what is expected of us, a Metanoia, repentance, to change our hearts?
The heavy price paid, must be earned back and not gambled on as a game of reckless roulette. All must atone or all will suffer and perish.
This is an album of structured complexity, a catharsis of experimentation and one you need to immerse yourself in, pulling yourself back to the surface to breathe then dive back in to listen again so you can fully appreciate the unbridled sonic tapestry.
Not music to be taken lightly and only to be approached if you can swim with the tide and stay afloat. Not for the faint of heart but numerous listens will reward on an album of superior metal.
If this is your type of music you won’t need telepathic persuasion to buy, it’s a must.
Released 31st March 2017
Pre-order ‘Tempest’ from Golden Antenna
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