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Technical thrash—that is to say, thrash by musicians positioning their own instrumental skills as a musical focus—feels like a contradiction in terms. Of every extreme metal subgenre, thrash is most closely related to punk, therefore rock and—far enough back—dancehall music. Thrash is dance music: like swing, tango and salsa (music from before electronic disco beats turned all dancing into mindless bump ‘n’ grind), comes with a roster of traditional song structures and staple beats that correspond with certain dances—circle pit, push pit, skank, beat-down and wall-o-death. Thrash, the word itself, is a verb, one we enact with our bodies—thrash metal is music to be embodied.
Most technical metal only embodies a musician’s fingers, eschews easy-to-follow beats (or easily discerned beats at all) and familiar song structures. Those techniques are suited to a death metal context, where disorientation is a suitable goal. Many great death metal bands pull listeners from their bodies, usually bands with high amounts of technical acumen—Immolation and more recently Ulcerate.
Enter Vektor; everything about them sounds wrong for a thrash band. Their labyrinthine songs jump from mellow to angry with little warning. Their odd chord choices and speculative fiction (as opposed to the sci fi of, say, Anthrax’s “I Am the Law”) aesthetic sound cerebral, not physical, on paper. Thrashing comes from fighting gravity and inertia—it is impossible to thrash in zero gravity, right?
Of course, thrash has its technical legends, Coroner, Voivod, etc—bands which obviously inspired the core idea of Arizona’s Vektor. The difference between Vektor and their peers is that their peers were tempered with a love of rock music—observe Coroner’s string of cover songs, and Voivod’s Nothingface and Angel Rat days. Vektor have none of that.
What they have is a clear vision, distinct from their peers. Listening to Vektor is like being the protagonist in one of the space exploration pulp-fictions that obviously inspire the band. Outer Isolation feels so dissimilar from what I’m used to that when I hear it I feel as if I’m taking the first steps in a new territory. For the time being it’s virgin land—more “Fantastic Planet” with its Technicolor fantasia than “Twilight Zone” monochrome. I implore you to listen to Vektor now, while it’s still unique, lest a horde of imitators sap Vektor of its vitality the same way most of Heavy Artillery’s other bands sucked the blood out of Municipal Waste.
On his Earache blog, Digby Pearson defended the neo-thrash revival as a way to start history anew with the end of the ‘80s as a starting point. Vektor show this possibility first—the only band to do so that I’ve heard. Their take on the genre rests on a razor’s edge: the heady elements balance perfectly against the inherent primal rage of thrash (See the skank-beat section in “Tetrastructural Minds” for an easy example).
The balancing act explains why Outer Isolation plays similar to their 2009 breakthrough Black Future, itself a quantum leap away from their Demolition demo. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, as the old adage goes; Vektor might add, if it’s already light-years ahead don’t accelerate.
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HEAR OUTER ISOLATION
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Vektor – “Dark Creations, Dead Creators”
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Vektor – “Tetrastructural Minds”
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BUY OUTER ISOLATION
Bandcamp (digital download)
Heavy Artillery Records (CD)
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Thanks for the thoughtful and well-written article on the only thrash revival act thus far to grab my fancy. I grew up listening to the 80s usual suspects–Coroner, Voivod, Toxik–and this is the only band I’ve heard that evokes the timeless energy of the era while also refining the surgical steel precision and complexity. I hear it as a highly refined “Killing Technology” meets Deathrow’s “Deception Ignored” and Destruction’s “Release from Agony,” plus some early to middle period Coroner (minus the reverb.) The Schmier-like vocal mannerisms I find overdone, but I always found those “Curse the GODs” yelps gimmicky anyway. On the other hand, overall, the vocal style of screeches and pinch-harmonic screams nestles in well with the gleaming crunch of the guitars. The guitar arrangements of riffs and leads, rhythm section fluidity, the overarching aesthetic and themes–it all adds up to an appealing mix of retro mastery and forward-thinking experimentation. I haven’t been this psyched about a thrash band in 20 years.
Same thing here. I just heard this band for the first time a few weeks ago – checked them out for the logo, figuring a Voivod rip-off is still a Voivod something. Not a ripoff, though you can hear the influences. Also not a collection of randomly tossed off “80s” thrash riffs. Excellent band that seems to be getting better with each release, rather than rapidly decaying after a solid demo or two.
Shit, this flat out rules. I kept putting off listening since modern thrash usually bums me out (for many reasons). The only other thrash this year (last year?) that was worth repeat spins were the new records from Exmortus and Crucified Mortals: both awesome, both from very different ends of the spectrum. Vektor might shape up to be even better.
I got problems with the “thrash related to punk” statement. It’s much more related to NWOBHM than punk. Technicality isn’t antithetical to punk, nor is simplicity antithetical to thrash. I’d like to see more bands with VoiVod/Coroner influences. Better than 3 Inches Of Blood and their shitty ilk. At least you can’t accuse Vektor of being totally derivative.
@wash jones: Ex Mortus ain’t thrash, but goddamn if Crucified Mortals sounds just like early Slayer. Perhaps we’re on to the next wave, which is bands sounding like primitive thrash circa 1983-85?
Genre fight! Metal Archives lists them as “Technical Melodic Thrash / Death Metal”. To me they fall somewhere in between those signifiers, but the air-raid vocals push it closer to thrash in my mind.
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Exmortus/23401
Whatever, they’re a good band either way.
Vektor is great. Cosmo introduced me to _Black Future_ after I mentioned how much I was enjoying the Coroner demo he posted here some time ago. And _Outer Isolation_ is even better. Like other commenters in this thread, I’m lukewarm on a lot of modern thrash. I bought the last Havok LP after reading good things about it, and while it’s a fun record, I haven’t given it too many spins. _Outer Isolation_, on the other hand, really rewards repeated listens.
this record is so fun it’s ridiculous. apparently they’re moving to the East Coast, too, which I hope means finally seeing them live.
Sounds like Sadus covering Voivod.
Shit, these guys are playing LA in February! 2/19 at the Echo w/ Witchaven and Exmortus!
http://www.attheecho.com/2012/02/19/?ec3_listing=events
This is the third mention of Vektor I’ve run across this week. I’m downloading this album as I type this comment!