''Altered State'' is the second studio album by British progressive metal band Tesseract, released on 27 May 2013 on

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

Background and recording

''Altered State'' is the only full release by the band with vocalist Ashe O'Hara. Amos Williams stated about the new singer: "It's amazing how much one person can change a band. Ashe is full of life and wit. It's brilliant to have such a guy around. You know, we're still Tesseract, but with a slightly more energetic and vibrant colour about us now".Interview with Amos Williams
by Grande-Rock.com retrieved on 22 November 2013. Live drums for the album could not be recorded due to financial and time restraints; drums were partially programmed by guitarist Acle Kahney and partially played by drummer Jay Postones on a digital percussion pad.

Release and promotion

The band released their first single, "Nocturne", on 12 October 2012; it was officially uploaded to the

' YouTube channel. On the same day "Nocturne" was available as a free download through the Century Media Records' SoundCloud website. On 15 March 2013 the band announced pre-order bundles as well as the official album artwork. During the months of March and April the band released four trailers leading up to the full album stream of ''Altered State'' on 12 May 2013. The album debuted at #94 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and at #4 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums.

Reception

''Altered State'' has received universal critical acclaim. On the review aggregator site Metacritic the album has received the score of 85 out of 100, based on five reviews. New Noise Magazine gave the album a five-star rating, saying: "''Altered State'' is not only a masterpiece of progressive metal, this is truly one of the greatest albums ever made, period."

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

website also gave the album a 5/5, saying: "With their sophomore album ''Altered State'', Tesseract have cemented themselves as one of the most creative, daring, and innovative bands of today", whilst The Monolith online magazine called it "probably one of the most complete examples of the genre to date."

Track listing

Personnel

* Ashe O'Hara – vocals * Acle Kahney – guitar, drum programming * James Monteith – guitar * Amos Williams – bass * Jay Postones - drums Guest musicians * Chris Barretto – saxophone in "Of Reality - Calabi-Yau" and "Of Energy - Embers" * Paul Waggoner - guitar solo in "Nocturne (instrumental)" Other * Ion Lucin - artwork

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Century Media Records albums Tesseract (band) albums