Telepathy are a four piece band that includes three brothers from Poland and a guitarist from England. The band was formed in 2011, and have been steadily releasing music since 2014. Their new album Transmissions is seven tracks long, with some being as long as 15 minutes due to their use of instrumental storytelling and the fact that they incorporate samples from radio transmissions - hence the name of the album - to move that story along.
The album opens with a nine minute arrangement ‘Oath’, the perfect soundtrack that drags you into the world they've created. Shredding guitar riffs and a mixture of psychedelic synths and crashing symbols bringing the tempo up and down giving the listener a real sense of journey through the song. The track sets the tone for this album, using samples from radio transmissions in Poland the band bring in their history and culture to add more layers to the music. It's difficult to believe they were able to conjure this in just one day!
Next is ‘Augury’, which in its name refers to a sign of what the future will hold. It holds more structure than the last track, staying pretty unvaried in its riffs and beats, but it does however lead right off of the first track with a satisfying transition that the listener may not even realise. The third track ‘Knife Edge Effect’ is more on the synth heavy side, creating an apocalyptic mood bringing in those samples of radio transmissions to build on top of that. The second half becomes very drum-centric, yet still keep a good hold of the melancholy vibe, changing the end product yet still sticking mostly to the original recipe of the song.
‘Tears in Fibre’ is the second longest track on the album with a 14 minute run time. It starts off slow and a light and mesmerizing guitar riff, joined by layered synths and eventually a crashing drum beat. Five minutes in, the song comes to a slow, using a sample of a phone call the listener could discern a desolate world with the music bringing such strong emotion. The kind of track that could perfectly theme a world overridden with chaos to then turn uninhabited and mournful.
A break in the album is bought on by ‘A Silent Bridge’ which brings a sample of a radio transmission and emotive synths to back it. It centres around the sample, yet again bringing the album back to its core and continuing with the message to practice the art of living.
The next track is the longest, at 15 minutes long, yet ‘End Transmission’ seems to pass in the blink of an eye. The number starts much heavier compared to its neighbouring tracks on the album with thick earthy guitar riffs, and not even halfway through the song transforms introducing shredding riffs and a heavy groove, the kind perfect for headbanging. Booming drums then build as synths wash into the background and guitars play a repetitive and haunting melody bringing that approaching final boss fight energy, with minor chords being added at the end of the riffs later on truly keeping the listener on their toes. The end of the song leads to the heaviest section so far, before leading to a sample of a speech that brings a message of hope and living life to the fullest, again circling back to the message of the album.
The last track ‘Home’ brings a more uncertain feeling than the rest, bridging on an almost nostalgic sound. In the second half of the song it picks up again, bringing in more metal sounds while withholding that slight hint of hope in its chords. The end of the song sounds much like the fifth track, and explores the use of synths to back up these radio transmission samples.
Transmissions tells a full story of losing hope and helplessness, before finding that hope again in the shape of a new world to explore and make your own, and listening back to front this is so audibly apparent. On paper, this album may be labelled as instrumental metal, but it reaches far beyond that - each section of each song brings a new sound, and the clever use of samples and sounds throughout is both engaging and unrestrained to any one genre.
Score: 9/10
Transmissions was released on March 30th 2025.
Words: Amy Smyth
Photos: Telepathy
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