Fresh from the Netherlands come yet another band being hyped as the future of metal. To their credit, Textures are pretty damn good when they choose to be. They generally play a progressive form of the modern thrash that seems to be everywhere nowadays. But Textures is much more than a Haunted clone. On the surface, they hack their way through songs in a fashion similar to Darkane and Hatesphere, but then they play rhythm games that reveal an admiration for Meshuggah. Then, in the strangest twist of all, they revel in atmospherics, both in well-placed electronics within the heavier songs, but also in a pair of tracks that are nothing more than ambient noise. This is where they tend to lose me. The first five tracks are solid metal, all in the 3-5 minute range, then there’s a short atmospheric track. Then it gets strange, an 18-minute long title track, which is a rollercoaster ride in itself (including some parts akin to Devin Townsend’s solo work), precedes the final track, the 14-minute long, pure ambient track “Heave”. A crisp, chunky production is laid on top of the finished work, accentuating their sound.

Upon the start of the first track (“Swandive”) you are greeted with a riff that sounds pulled from the last Haunted album. The vocals are a little higher-pitched than the average screamer, sounding a bit hardcore-ish. Things don’t really change until three or so minutes into the song when things lighten up, and Swano-like keys arise. “Young Man” sounds like the kind of song that Soilwork should be writing. The other heavy tracks can certainly stand up on their own, but I can’t help but feel a little cheated by Polars. I mean, there are 5 real songs of normal length, a long, ambitious, winding track, and 17 more minutes of pure ambiance. This is an EP deceptively wrapped in a full-length package.

Textures is a young band that could certainly make some waves if they stay on the path they’ve embarked upon. They aren’t the first band to mix Swedish-styled thrash with keys and electronica, and I’d like to hear a few more songs from them, especially if they are determined to include all the ambient “music”, but beyond those minor complaints, they’ve got it together.