Review: Textures – Genotype
Style: Progressive metal, djent (Mixed vocals, mostly clean)
Recommended for fans of: TesseracT, Karnivool, VOLA, Ions
Country: The Netherlands
Release date: 23 January 2026
“New year, new you”, as the saying goes. The turn of the year is a time of reformation and new beginnings. With the weight of the previous months off of one’s shoulders, a bevy of opportunities emerge,1 whether they be health-related, behavior-related, or just goals to set the tone for the year. These kinds of resolutions rarely manifest musically, but for Dutch progressive metallers Textures, the timing couldn’t be better: a sudden explosion of harsh vocals and reverberating guitar chords signal the confident establishment of a reformed identity in the first moments of latest release, Genotype. Promising a metamorphosis in sound, does Genotype crawl its way into the listener’s DNA after a long-anticipated wait, or should we wait for next year’s resolutions?
Though the record shares a name with the ultimately scrapped follow-up to 2016’s legendary Phenotype, Genotype is all new material—the single-song approach was abandoned in favor of multiple parts and a heavier focus on melodics. The angular riffage and technicality of Textures past are still visible, but it’s coated in a sheen of spacey keyboards and a pronounced vocal performance. “At the Edge of Winter” is more VOLA than it is Meshuggah, featuring bouncy, kinetic djents and upper-register rambling guitar arpeggios; the grooves on “Measuring the Heavens” are conversely spacious and methodical, leaving room for vocoder work and lilting keyboards; and “A Seat for the Like-Minded” features persistent plucky synths and choppy tremolo backing riffs. This Textural evolution manifests further in the lyricism, focusing on socially conscious topics and giving voice to undersung populations. As an autistic person, I was quite excited to read in the promo that one of the songs covered ‘people living with autism’, though I have yet to figure out which track is about playing RollerCoaster Tycoon for fourteen hours straight.
Genotype shifts Textures’ compositional focus to Daniël de Jongh’s vocals, blanketing much of the runtime in gravelly cleans. De Jongh always exuded a powerful charisma, but his performance on Genotype is even more refined, lending itself well to both quieter and more intense passages. The verses of “At the Edge of Winter” are infectiously singable, beginning with silky, subdued melodies which become punctuated and projected near their end. I couldn’t tell you the semiotics of lines like “The Earth shakes / the shivering soil / BREAKING THE BOUNDARIES OF TIME!”, but you better believe I’m belting them out every time I hear them. “Vanishing Twin” incorporates rich vocal harmonies à la The Detached-era Anubis Gate, and clean vocals dance around rubber-band chugs on “A Seat for the Like-Minded” in a world-weary tone. De Jongh’s harsh vocals are underplayed in comparison to his cleans, but they are delivered with supreme confidence when they do emerge: “Closer to the Unknown” most readily indulges in harshes with skittering pre-choruses augmented by throaty shrieks.
Despite the newfound focus on vocals, the instrumentals shine in several facets, most notably in Textures’ ability to explore varied ideas within a sonic space. Genotype is cohesive without feeling stale, featuring fast-moving pieces with massive high points alongside more subdued tracks with concentrated bouts of kinetic energy. The pre-chorus of “Closer to the Unknown” has an edge that echoes Phenotype’s “Shaping a Single Grain of Sand”, where jutting, spasmodic rhythms are layered with abandon before opening up to a slick, chuggy chorus. Conversely, “Nautical Dusk” starts off slow and viscous, crushing the listener under accelerating tremolos and pummeling drum kicks in its refrains. Closer “Walls of the Soul” is comparatively ethereal, featuring floaty fusion drumming redolent of fellow Dutchmen Exivious on its way to Genotype’s biggest climax. The stuttering drums stabilize themselves in a titanic denouement with ascending guitar licks, bouncing vocal melodies, and groovy rhythms.
… except Genotype doesn’t end there. “Walls of the Soul” returns to its opening drum pattern for another two minutes, meandering around tepid keyboard atmospherics; the momentum set up by the track’s climax gets broken and the record ends on an inauspicious note. Genotype features much to praise compositionally, but “Walls of the Soul” is one of a few tracks that incorporate eyebrow-raising details that mar enjoyability and memorability. “Void” ruminates on swelling keyboards and thumping drum work to the point that it stalls Genotype’s initial momentum and leaves me a bit impatient for “At the Edge of Winter”. Then, “At the Edge of Winter” magnificently bookends itself with harsh vocals atop its introductory riff—but the track reprises the bridge non-sequitur for another minute afterwards. The coda isn’t bad, but it’s a bizarre add-on when the track already came to a perfect conclusion.
Compositional hiccups aside, Textures’ return is undoubtedly a welcome one. The Dutchmen wasted no time dusting off the cobwebs, evolving their sound on Phenotype into something a bit less chaotic, a bit less technical, but leagues more melodic and catchy. Kudos must be given in particular to Genotype’s varied yet cohesive songwriting, giving the group ample choices in terms of future direction. My only hope is that on future releases, they can end songs with more confidence and prudent timing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gym membership to go buy.
Recommended tracks: Walls of the Soul, At the Edge of Winter, A Seat for the Like-Minded
You may also like: Disperse, Intrascendence, Nospūn (Ozai), Temic
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Facebook | Instagram
Label: KScope
Textures is:
– Daniël de Jongh: vocals
– Bart Hennephof: guitars
– Joe Tal: guitars
– Remko Tielemans: bass
– Uri Dijk: keyboards
– Stef Broks: drums
With guests:
– Charlotte Wessels: vocals, track 2
- Of course, you can start something new at literally any time, and the year is mostly just a social construct to help us keep track of the seasons, but there is something compelling about beginning a project on January 1st. ↩︎
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