May 2019 saw TesseracT’s lead vocalist and songwriter release his debut solo album Castles, his first foray into a more pop rock electronic sound.
Ruins sees Tompkins rework Castles alongside producer Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner) showcasing re-written music with more aggression and a truer, darker tone. Castles was originally created by co-producer and friend Eddie Head (Haji’s Kitchen) and whilst the lyrical and conceptual side still represents the same ideas, the new version Ruins is significantly different to Castles with the addition of Tompkins’ signature aggressive versus clean vocal style. It was felt that renaming the album and each song was appropriate and aside from the lyrics, it is essentially a completely new album.
Ruins features guest artists and additional co-creators. Paul Ortiz (Chimpspanner) rewrote the music and acted as co-producer alongside Tompkins, and Plini plays guitar on opener ‘Wounded Wings’. First single ‘The Gift’ a brand new song to accompany the album, features Trivium frontman and guitarist, Matt Heafy, a friend of Tompkins who is also a prominent streamer on Twitch. When Matt agreed to contribute to ‘The Gift’, Tompkins wrote the parts and Heafy recorded them from his home studio and live on Twitch. “It was an honour to be featured on ‘The Gift’. Having been a longtime fan of Tesseract and Dan, this was a wonderful collaboration to take part of. People are going to be floored with this release.”
A diverse vocalist, Tompkins has established himself as a highly respected artist with a dedicated worldwide fanbase garnered from his work with the global progressive metal sensations TesseracT, Skyharbor and White Moth Black Butterfly. In addition, there is a new collaboration with percussive guitarist Jon Gomm (a recently-signed Kscope label mate) on his forthcoming album The Faintest Idea. His versatility as a vocalist and musician is showcased across all of these acts and also with his more accessible solo material.
Tompkins has confirmed he will be supporting the release of Ruins with his first solo live shows in 2021, already confirmed is the UK’s Radar Festival.
Ruins will be released on CD digipak with an 8 page booklet and digitally and is available to pre-order HERE (https://DanielTompkins.lnk.to/Ruins)
RUINS tracklisting
1. Wounded Wings (Feat. Plini)[05:53]
2. Ruins[05:29]
3. Tyrant [04:56]
4. Stains of Betrayal[04:52]
5. Empty Vows 03:58]
6. Sweet The Tongue [04:30]
7. A Dark Kind of Angel[04:38]
8. The Gift (Feat. Matthew K Heafy) (03:53)
