Textures – Genotype
Release Date: 23rd January 2026
Label: Kscope
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal
FFO: VOLA, Leprous, TesseracT.
Review By: Magnus Rotås
After nearly a decade away following their 2016 release Phenotype, Dutch progressive titans Textures return with Genotype — an ambitious rebirth of sorts that is supposed to be a conceptual counterpart to their last album.
The album starts off with the very cinematic, Void, which serves as a mood setter for the album and instantly lets you know that this album is gonna be huge, as it lulls you in with spacey synths before the guitars kicks in (combined with a scream, I think?) which literally sounds like a star exploding, it sounds absolutely massive and explodes your ears in just the best way.
If you have any prior knowledge of Textures previous albums, then you might know that they are known to play a really extreme and gritty style of progressive metal almost akin to Ihsahn etc. Their previous album Phenotype starts off with Oceans Collide, one of their heaviest tracks they have ever made… Well, the next song on Genotype is At the Edge of Winter, and if you, like me, thought Genotype would be a sort of continuation of the style they had on Phenotype based on their similar names then this song makes you adjust your expectations quite a bit. At the Edge of Winter is still massive sounding, but has removed most of the grit, screamed vocals and extreme metal tendencies of the band and instead have embraced a very clean and spacey production. This song is a bit of a cheeseball, and as such, is by far my least favorite track on the album. I honestly find the verse and chorus to sound like a Eurovision metal duet, complete with cheesy lyrics. It’s a black stain on the album and a certified skip for me.
Thankfully the album starts to improve with the next three songs Measuring the Heavens, Nautical Dusk and Vanishing Twin being a much better sell for the “new Textures”, managing to be very infectious and much more progressive. All three of these tracks really explode towards the end, and that’s when Genotype is at its very best.
Closer to the Unknown is perhaps the track that jumps out at me as being one of the highlights of the album. Yes, it’s very pop-prog, yes it’s a bit cheesy with the ghostly synths and lightning strike sound effects and all that, but I can mostly forgive all of that because the track is a lot of fun! If anything, the cheesiness kinda just adds to the fun of it. It’s a bit like if Michael Jackson’s Thriller was a prog-metal anthem. The band is also known to have great guitar solos and this song also has a really sweet one that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
A Seat for the Like-Minded is a slow and building song that builds up to a massive release towards the end, but when it finally comes it feels like a bite without any teeth. It’s a very forgettable track, even if the build up is quite nice, it feels like there is no release.
Closing the album is Walls of the Soul, the longest track on the album. Definitely the most epic track with a lot of change ups and different riffs. The track struggles to keep me interested at times, but then suddenly comes a little hook that draws me back in for a moment, before losing me a bit again. Not a bad track, but sadly not the monumental closing track it sets out to be.
Textures have changed a bit (genetically modified, perhaps?) They are older, better as musicians, and a bit out of touch with the times (for better and worse). I don’t know why so many extreme metal bands end up softening and going for a more “commercial” sound. I don’t necessarily think Textures are trying to sell out, but it feels like a genuine shift in direction, and once I managed to adjust myself to their new direction I had a better time with this album. Aside from the horrible At the Edge of Winter, the band sounds like a billion dollars, the sound is so cinematic, rich and full. That being said, Genotype is a bumpy ride overall, and I don’t imagine I’ll return all that much to it, but there is enough good stuff here to make it worth a spin – at least once, despite being a bit of a let-down all in all.
(3 / 5)
