Live Review : Daniel Tompkins + Novena @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester on January 27th 2022

Modern Metal is full of distinctive voices and this cracker of a tour celebrates two of them. Whilst TesseracT frontman Daniel Tompkins might be the main draw here, he has actually achieved quite a scoop in bringing along Ross Jennings of Haken’s side project Novena along for the ride. Jennings always seems a lot more relaxed with Novena than he ever does with Haken. This feels like his playground, where he can experiment and push his vocal cords in directions that the confides of his day job don’t allow.

Opener ‘Sun Dance’ sees his voice perform aural acrobatic, soaring high into the ceiling to join the Deaf Institute’s massive disco ball. However ‘Disconnected’ finds him taking a much more refined stance in a track that is minimalist and almost acapella. Then with ‘Indestructible’ he is growling like is auditioning to replace Barney in Napalm Death. It is quite extraordinary to witness one man’s voice have so many facets and layers. But this is not a sole project and Novena is as much about the musicality of his band mates as it is about the big-name rock star out-front. In fact, Ross makes a proactive decision to exit the stage when he is not crooning (or screaming, he does both) in order to let the others bath in the spotlight. Most of the crowd are TesseracT devotes, here to see Daniel up close and personal, but you can tell that Novena are a revelation to many gathered in this tiny room (going well beyond the many whispered exclaims of “That’s the geezer from Haken isn’t it?”). Varied, Emotional, passionate and just really rather wonderful.

What makes Tesseract such a powerful proposition is the juxtaposition between the emotive warmth of Daniel Tompkins’s voice and the clinical, almost cold technical proficiency of the band. It’s akin to George Michael fronting Meshuggah and it works amazingly. His voice is soulful and (whisper it) almost “pop”, so it was a surprise to many that his 2019 solo album stuck as close to the TesseracT’s tech metal sandbox as it did (though with added electronica). His lockdown induced 2020 release saw him reinvent “Castles” and turn it into a darker, starker and more inventive beast that was radically different to TesseracT, but not in the way that we expected. Tonight, he plays “Ruins” in full, in order and more or less faithfully to how it sounds on record. He makes reference early on to how different and even difficult he finds it singing and playing guitar at the same time (something he says he hasn’t done since he was seventeen) and uses that as an excuse for minimal interaction as he wades through “Ruins” eight tracks. 

But as engaging as Daniel is in-between songs, we are not gathered here for a spoken word recital, we are here to witness the wonders of his pipes (oh eh misses) and boy does he deliver. His voice is simply magical, it goes from frail and fragile to booming and expansive in a heartbeat. It sails around the room filling every nook and cranny (and probably taking a quick detour outside to the kebab store across the road). “Ruins” (as he has stated numerous times) is a deeply personnel album and tonight feels like some form of soul-wrenching confessional, with him displaying with pathos and vulnerability all his inner turmoils. It is also over far far too soon, “Ruins” is short (38 minutes) and it feels like he has only just emerged on stage when he and his band crash into album closer ‘The Gift’. Short but utterly magical, tonight was an immersive and utterly exhilarating experience and a rare chance to see not one but two of the greatest voices currently out there, in close quarters.