Textures

Hailing from Tilburg, Holland, Textures operate as an inventive melodic metalcore sextet whose approach broadens, and in part humanizes, the oppressive progressive death metal template associated with Meshuggah through the addition of dark melodies and keyboard-led atmospheric passages within off-kilter rhythmic patterns and near-hardcore aggression. The lineup features Eric Kalsbeek on vocals, Jochem Jacobs handling guitar and vocals, Bart Hennephof on guitar, Richard Rietdijk on keyboards, Dennis Aarts on bass, and Stef Broks on drums. The group came together in 2001, devoting the bulk of the subsequent two years to refining and rehearsing this distinctive sonic hybrid for the songs that comprise their 2004 self-released debut Polars, which Listenable Records soon acquired and reissued. Two years afterward, Textures delivered the follow-up Drawing Circles, marking the first appearance of vocalist Eric Kalsbeek. Bassist Remko Tielemans made his debut on the 2008 release Silhouettes, the band’s initial album to register on the Dutch charts. Further personnel shifts occurred in 2010 as keyboardist Rietdijk gave way to Uri Dijk and vocalist Kalsbeek departed, with Daniël de Jongh, formerly of Cilice, stepping in as the new frontman. The next year brought the Nuclear Blast-issued fourth studio album Dualism. In 2016 the ensemble unveiled Phenotype as the opening chapter of a planned two-part conceptual work, with the second installment, Genotype, slated for 2017.