Vektor - Outer Isolation review
| Band: | Vektor |
| Album: | Outer Isolation |
| Style: | Progressive thrash metal, Technical thrash metal |
| Release date: | November 22, 2011 |
| A review by: | Troy Killjoy |
01. Cosmic Cortex
02. Echoless Chamber
03. Dying World
04. Tetrastructural Minds
05. Venus Project
06. Dark Creations, Dead Creators
07. Fast Paced Society
08. Outer Isolation
Oh shit, the Killjoy is reviewing a thrash metal album. Brace yourselves.
ADD-friendly review: This is not the worst album of the revivalist thrash movement I've come across.
In spite of my pseudo-crusade against anything revivalist, I admittedly found Vektor's Outer Isolation to be a clear step above the rest. Now, I compared these guys to Toxik when I first listened to the over-hyped debut, Black Future. They immediately built success off that sound, a highly technical form of thrash metal that even drew some appreciation from the prog crowd. Yet, people kept telling me how much more they had in common with Voivod, so I took a break and caught up with those old school thrashers.
Basically, if you listened to these guys before listening to Voivod and you didn't know Voivod is to thrash what Black Sabbath is to old folk's home, you'd think Vektor were being ripped off. Then you throw in Destruction, Coroner, Watchtower... all bands clearly miles ahead of Vektor, but all awesome bands. Which makes this awesome.
A proper review should focus more on the music than this, no? Well it's hard to focus on what's being presented here because it's all been done before and so much better. Ignoring the '80s and taking this for what it is (a contemporary thrash release), it's pretty cool shit. It's aggressive/progressive balls-to-the-wall-wrecking-your-neck-punishment-for-decadence. The problem is there is absolutely no identity. Like so many revivalist bands, it just makes you want to listen to the masters that did it better more than 20 years ago.
These are undoubtedly incredibly talented musicians capable of pulling off some of the most technical thrashing you've heard in the last decade. They write their songs with direction and magnitude (oh yeah!), the lengthier tracks refusing to wander around aimlessly; the shrieking vocals are pitched to perfection, almost spine-chillingly so; and the overall power keeps the album flowing without the stripped down heavy/power influence so many thrash metal outfits seem to be falling victim to.
If you're too lazy to check out thrash metal's golden years, then Vektor will help you re-live the past. If you're the "I read the book before it was a movie" kind of person, there isn't anything special going on here.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 4 |
| Production: | 7 |
 | Written on 03.12.2011 by I'm total pro; that's what I'm here for. |
Comments page 2 / 7
Comments: 193
Visited by: 736 users
| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.12.2011 at 02:02 It's funny, even with the 7.5 rating and me clearly stating it isn't a bad album, people are upset because I don't think it's original. Which it isn't. It's like, don't be mad at me for stating the obvious. Be mad at Vektor. >>
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Rulatore Posts: 1107  |
I dont think that "If you're the "I read the book before it was a movie" kind of person, there isn't anything special going on here." applies here. You should listen to this, I'm not familiar with Voivod, but I know Destruction, Coroner and the others, the only comparison that's valid here is Watchtower and I can easily listen one band after the other without get bored or think "oh shit, I just heard this about some minutes ago, let's skip it" Also the production helps a lot to enjoy the music ( at least for me ), so even though you know the other bands and still thinks that all of them are similar in some way or the sum of them it's equal to Vektor, you should give this one a spin, the production is very good. Also this thing of movement "revivalist thrash metal" is kinda silly. Death metal bands play death metal, some better than the others, in a more creative way, there's a lot of new death metal bands and you dont see others calling it a movement "revivalist death metal" and the same with the other sub-genres of metal.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Rulatore on 04.12.2011 at 02:37 This just goes to show you don't know what you're talking about.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Bend Your Mind Posts: 36  |
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Bend Your Mind on 04.12.2011 at 02:40 No I messed up, it's supposed to be 10.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| truenoacero Posts: 63  |
Vektor's debut album is not Black Future, it is Demolition. IMO this review is good when analyzes the album's technical parts but it has a big mistake, the reviewer has analized it comparing to other albums and other bands that the reviewer consider the best and non-original, even without knowing this band. I am not going to say what thrash metal bands I know, but I think that Vektor has made a masterpiece in this album.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by truenoacero on 04.12.2011 at 02:54 Fail on my part - will fix accordingly. Thanks! 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18347  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 02:40 I literally laughed out loud with that comment tbh.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| PowerThrash Posts: 63  |
It's thrash - a genre that has been around for 30 years. Originality is something almost impossible to come by. Why? Not because "all revivalist thrash bands rip off the ORIGINAL bands of the 80s", but because pretty much anything new released is going to be comparable to one of the ORIGINAL bands. These revivalist bands can't go back in time to record an original thrash album. Review it for what it is, a NEW thrash album, not a rehash of an 80s band. The originality argument is pointless really, it is a given that a thrash record is going to sound like thrash, that's what it is meant to do - you know, thrash. Not everything is going to be groundbreaking and different. I DISAGREE! 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 02:40 You're absolutely right here. Cause if there ever was/is a genre which is called "revivalist" it's the death metal one. And to be honest I think it's the greatest happening at the moment the "revivalist death metal" thing.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18347 |
Written by PowerThrash on 04.12.2011 at 03:14 While some of the stuff you wrote it's true it's still no excuse for not giving a 4 in the originality factor, regardless if you like it or not.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 02:55 Nope you were right he is wrong Demolition is a demo not a debut full length album. And apparently there was a demo before it and after Demolition.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.12.2011 at 03:36 That's what I thought.  Fixed AGAIN.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Frank Sinistra Posts: 30  |
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| truenoacero Posts: 63 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.12.2011 at 03:36 My mistake. The demo before Demolition is Nucleus.
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9110  |
There are a lot of big words in this discussion  listened to it, like it i give it an 8.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.12.2011 at 05:43 I liked it too. You wouldn't think based on the comments here that I actually thought this was a good album and it received a 7.5 rating from me, but ya... it's a good album.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Grody2themax Posts: 240  |
Some of the clean parts in this song are pretty sick as well as some of the dissonant apreggios to the heavier riffs. It has a nice production that isn't over produced nor purposefully bad. I'm really enjoying listening to this on youtube right now. I think it could be a little bit more original than you claim it to be, especially for a thrash band thats emerged within the past 5 yrs
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| Dark Blood The Avenger Posts: 1435  |
I don't know what was more pleasant to read, the review or the discussions in the comments. Vektor is a pretty nice and respectful band, I enjoyed 'Black Future' a lot and 'Outer Isolation''s not far from its quality. But let's face it how many bands have done something like this? And I'm not just talking about the big ones... So I think it's a fair review in all honesty and the reviewer has a point. It's a good album and it got a good score but as it was written, it's something that has been done in full glory 20 year ago. I perfectly understand Troy's point of view. Now the only thing I didn't like that much about the review, was at beginning the comparison with other bands like Voivod and all. Just thought it was pointless. And, it's nothing personal, but there's something about the word "I" that I don't like to see in reviews, dunno why. Other than that, you got my approval on the review. 
---- It is humanity who must pay homage to the greatness of the Universe... not the Universe to the human narcissism. 
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Dark Blood on 04.12.2011 at 06:33 First of all thanks for disagreeing in a way that makes me excited to offer a response. To be honest the purpose of mentioning so many bands at the beginning of the review was to indicate just how much this album made me think of what's already been done. Listening to Vektor just made me think, why aren't I listening to these other bands? The fact that you think it's pointless makes it that much more purposeful. I wanted to create a sort of "boring" feel to the review, something completely unoriginal like name-dropping, to reflect the unoriginality of this album. As for the "I" statements, I normally try to avoid them. But the history with this kind of album is something more personal and I wanted it to be reflected as such. Normally I try to maintain a certain degree of objectivity regardless of whether it's a high- or low-scoring review, but this included my personal stance on revivalist music and I wanted to make sure I wasn't trying to pass of my personal taste as fact.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Dark Blood The Avenger Posts: 1435 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 07:40 You're welcome. Well, reading that particular sentence made me look at it in a different way. Now I understand what you did there. The unoriginality of the album shown through the review. Very clever.  1 more score from me. Keep it up!
---- It is humanity who must pay homage to the greatness of the Universe... not the Universe to the human narcissism.
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675  |
I did predict this (in general) reaction to an even slightly negative review of this album, and so it has been proved. Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.12.2011 at 03:33 For some reason, I'm not quite sure why, I find myself enjoying and being impressed by far more newer death metal bands, then newer thrash bands...
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 04.12.2011 at 08:41 Well you were right and wrong. The review is actually positive. For some reason people don't seem to understand that simply because I point out their lack of originality. I actually said a lot of good things about them though. So you were right about the response, but you didn't predict they'd be unhappy with even a positive review. I guess I should have said it's a 10/10 masterpiece and the most original thrash metal album of all time. Then only sane people would disagree with me.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 08:56 Nope, I was right. I said even a SLIGHTLY negative review. Your review wasn't 100% positive, and giving the album unwavering praise, so I was right as it did contain a small amount of negativity in it. So my point was proved. It wasn't a wholly positive review, which I knew any review of this album would have to be in order to stop certain people being hostile towards it, so my prediction came true. I have long said that these types of reactions are not the sole realm of mainstream metal fanboys, and I see it proven time and time again... the world is just full of fools I guess.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 04.12.2011 at 09:03 Huh. Reading back, ya, you were actually 100% accurate. Good call. (Unfortunately.)
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
If there's one thing threads like this prove, is whether it's a mainstream band or not, some people just can't handle even the slightest criticsm directed at an album/band they love. It's as if they see it as some sort of personal affront, which is quite sad really...
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 04.12.2011 at 09:12 Ironically, I actually received more positive comments over the course of my negative review series (Norther, The Haunted, etc.) than on this album alone. And this scored like 3 points higher than all of those albums. And I said nice things. >> Oh well, it's not like I'm gonna lose sleep over it. Not like the people who get their panties in a wad because I stated my opinion.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 04.12.2011 at 09:16 I know you were expecting a torrent of criticsm before your "Unseen" review was published, and I think you likely weren't expecting the level of negativity directed at this review. Yet it proved to be the other way around, despite the fact you were way more critical on The Haunted's latest, than you were on this. In fact the positive things you did say about this album makes me want to check it out more than I did previously. Yep, all you can do is state your honest opinion. If some people can't handle that... well that's their problem not yours.
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| Mikyz Posts: 711  |
I'm surprised you gave it as much as you did, I just don't see why you claim that it doesn't have an identity. It's clear that it's much different from the rest of the thrash revivalist movement, their vocals is enough to distinct them from any other album, so I don't think you can deny them an identity they're not drowning into the "old" masters as much as you think they are. Anyway my personal rating isn't far off 8/10, so I agree with most of your review, good job.
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Mikyz on 04.12.2011 at 09:41 If I'm comparing them to the rest of the revivalist scene, I'd give them a much higher mark for originality since the rest of the bands seem content with paying homage to Metallica and the likes, whereas Vektor are one of the few (only?) bands reviving the likes of Toxik/Voivod/Watchtower/etc. I still don't think they have their own identity as too many of their songs can be traced back to a particular band on a particular album. I'm all for "this has some hints of band x here and there" but not "wow, are you sure this isn't a previously unreleased track from band y" kind of unoriginality. Apparently it's just me, because the lot of users who have told me otherwise seem to think Vektor have some kind of niche in the market. I just can't seem to figure out what about their sound is in any way individualistic. Maybe it's because they rip off several bands instead of just one?
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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