Holland’s purveyors of technical metal return with their fourth opus – Dualism.

New vocalist Daniel De Jongh has brought a shift from the technicality of their previous three albums. They have now ventured into the realms of more hook laden groove noise and are reaping the rewards. This is a positive move for a band that could have been swamped in the quagmire of repetition.

Album openers, “Arms of the Sea” and “Black Horses Stampede” tip their caps to Mastodon’s southern sludge brutality. First single “Reaching Home” is the album’s most accessible track and is sure to attract new followers to Textures’ cause. Older fans need not fear. There are still logarithmical patterns evident in songs like “Sanguine Draws the Oath “. This is progression not abandonment of their mathcore values. The instrumental “Burning the Midnight Oil” paints a soundscape of foreboding that would be at home on a mist shrouded moor.

Daniel’s clean vocals are a mix of Devin Townsend and Serj Tankian while his guttural growls combine with the chugging and sometimes staccato riffs like a gargantuan neurosis/fear factory hybrid. “Stoic Resignation” starts like a bulldozer that clears all in its path, while the chorus gives you a gentle reprieve easing you into a quality melodic section right before the pummelling finale.

The skull-crushing “Singularity” is the one track that brings echoes of last album Silhouettes and gives belief that Daniel will handle the back catalogue with ease on the live circuit. “Foreclosure” is the album’s most somber and solemn track and would have been very comfortable on The Deftones White Pony. This is anything but a foreclosure as it melds seamlessly into album closer “Sketches from a Motionless Statue”. This seals the deal as far as this album goes.

While they have moved away from Einstein’s complex equations and embraced the more simple theorems of Pythagoras, Textures are a force to be reckoned with.