Like an alternate soundtrack to the Dead Space video game franchise, Suffolk’s own Telepathy are one of those bands that just comes out of the floodgates, setting their own score adaptation of the complicated character, engineer Isaac Clarke and his story between the Ishimura, Titan Station, and the icy planet Tau Volantis. Their music deals with exhilaration, roller-coaster ride intensity, sonic sounds, and their interpretations to see what the trouble lies ahead.
Carrying the influences between Tool, post-punk, Deftones, and synth-wave, Telepathy has their own sound. It puts you right in the middle of a terrifying dream, that’s about to unfold. The band considers three brothers from Poland; Albert on Drums, Krystian on Bass, and Piotr on guitar and synth. And of course, Richard Powley on guitar and synth.
Formed in 2011, they had toured 125 shows in support of Tempest around eight tours, including festivals such as Roadburn, ArcTanGent, and Desertfest. With three studio albums and one EP in the can, they are the band that can combine elements of the genres into a flaming fire that will never burn out. Their latest follow-up Transmissions, and being partnered with the Berlin based Pelagic Records, is one for the ages.
With spoken dialog in the background between the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, this would be a challenge for listeners to take a big crack at this if they’re new to Telepathy’s music. Filling up with someone going into the brink of psychotic breakdown or being locked up in the asylum, for a very long time, it pushes you with some capability to reflect the times you had when it was perfectly normal.
That moment of being lost in this dystopian paradise and brutal mournful sequences, captures the vibe as they channel Joy Division, The Cure, Radiohead’s Kid A, and Russian Circles with synths pounding through this militant atmosphere with the drums pounding away into the city on the brink of collapse as guitars set up the destruction that awaits it.
The Turek brothers pour their heart and soul behind the instruments they play. With so many moments between looking through the person’s mind and seeing what they might do next, you never know if they’re going to rule the prison with an iron fist, or attack the next victim that leads them into their prey. And that’s what the music does, going into the mind of an insane person and how they became vicious criminals in the first place.
This, here, and now, is the album that is as I’ve mentioned in other albums, as an alternate movie inside your head. Transmissions is like the album that could’ve been recorded in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s as the dawn of new wave was approaching during that time frame. This is the band that are really giving us the adventure that is quite challenging, but worth exploring.
