Polars | 
| Artist: Textures
Label: Listenable
Category: Music
List Price: $15.98
Buy New: $11.73
You Save: $4.25 (27%)
New (6) Used (3) from $9.12
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 375083
Format: Enhanced, Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 654436055921
EAN: 0654436055921
ASIN: B0002VEY6I
Release Date: September 28, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Swandive | | • | Ostensibly Impregnable | | • | Young Man | | • | Transgression | | • | Barrier | | • | Effluent | | • | Polars | | • | Heave |
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| Customer Reviews:
An excellent debut....can't wait to hear more! December 29, 2004
I. Martz (Carlisle, PA USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Textures is a highly progressive math metal band from the Netherlands that has managed to craft an impressive debut here. The easiest way to describe is to compare them to Meshuggah's "Destroy, Erase, Improve," album, but the level of originality here sets them apart from others. The opening track "Swandive" is a good initiation to the band, although it does not properly show the scope of this band. It is only when you reach the next couple of tracks that new elements are revealed, such as the the various synth interludes and even the use of a soprano saxaphone in "Transgression". The songs are crushingly heavy, much as many of Meshuggah's are, and the atmospheric synth and mellow sections are quite impressive. The title track is a 18-minute epic that goes through all of these different facets, and is a absolutely stunning achievement. My only complaint is the addition of the 14-minute instrumental "Heave" at the end...it is certainly beautiful but a bit too long and acts as filler. Overall...fans of progressive metal, math metal, and metal in general will find this captivating....a great start for this young band!
 How fitting a name April 1, 2005
A. J. Hughes
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Crushing and progressive, mechanized metal from the Netherlands... Like a cross between Meshuggah, Devin Townsend, Cave In, and early [the] Haunted, with audible hardcore-ish vocals that just drip with fury. Atmospheric interludes stash themselves throughout technical yet accessible song-writing, and then break as crunchy guitars pound and then shred. Top-notch musicianship, jaw-dropping drumming, this album will rip your face off.
The title-track, "Polars," an 18.5 minute opus, is pure magic. Truly this song embodies everything I love in metal... Dark, brooding, beautiful, progressive, percussive, chugging... Furthermore, this is the direction I see the band going in the future. The song starts out with an awkward Meshuggah-style riff that sort of reminds me of a ball being dropped to the floor and then allowed to bounce. It totally kills. And then it transitions into this danceable, hardcore-ish mosh segment, which then leaks into a very progressive, very atmospheric segment, with chugging guitars that are choked and choked again. And then comes the speed: a searing, Haunted-esque riff... And then around the four minute mark the song fades into a brooding calm... And then pervades, and then stirs as a "steel" percussive ambience buries its roots. And then as an ominously beautiful storm encroaches, so does Textures... Atomspheric keys, crunching guitars, and the most gorgeous synthesizers "cry" admist the steel percussion. The synths almost sound like a female voice, ethereal yet stretching. And then whispers.
2004 was a great year for metal... So if this isn't the best album of 2004 (the title-track alone does it for me), it's in the top three, with Into Eternity's "Buried in Oblivion" and Riverside's "Out of Myself." Trush me, you need this.
A Young and Ambitious Textures March 5, 2009
Stephen (NC, USA)
Alright, so I'm writing this review having been a Textures fan for years now. I've read reviews from all three of their current albums and I can't believe the negative reviews on their post-Polars albums. Nevertheless, I figured I would start here with their first album.
The musicality on this album is top-notch. These guys go from aggressive staccato riffage into melodic passages with a unique brilliance. People seem to not mind the vocalist on this album, but his vocals irritate me. It's like high-pitch screaming that sounds forced from the throat and not from the gut. Not the clean vocals, though. I love the clean vocals and the vocal harmonies these guys pull off.
The comparison to Meshuggah isn't exactly a fair one, because these guys bear absolutely no resemblance to Meshuggah outside of being a metal band and writing polymetric passages within their music. Meshuggah's focal point is polymeter. Textures' focal point is based more around a style of composition that blends various styles of metal with ambient passages. Think of the BTBAM album, 'Colors'. This album is somewhat like that in style, but very different execution and this isn't a concept album.
All-in-all, the only issue I see anyone having with this band is if you're picky about vocals like I am... or perhaps if you bought this album thinking you were going to be purchasing Meshuggah's DEI or Chaosphere.
And now, onward to review, 'Drawing Circles' and 'Silhouettes'.
 WARNING: if you like MESHUGGAH, don't buy this April 11, 2005
Benji Socket (tempe, az USA)
1 out of 19 found this review helpful
WARNING: if you like MESHUGGAH, don't buy this. that's all I can say.
don't be suckered by that as a selling point -- they are no where near in the same league.
see my mnemic reviews, I had the same problems with mnemic as I did with textures.
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