Vektor - Terminal Redux

I haven't listened to this album yet, but does it deserve all the fuss about it?

Written by BloodJuNkie on 29.05.2016 at 14:56

I haven't listened to this album yet, but does it deserve all the fuss about it?

Vektor's big, big strength is in riff writing. I know it's in debate here, but they tie the songs from one riff to another pretty well IMO, and aren't afraid to experiment. Listen to the first song and if you like it then it's worth listening to the rest.

Whatever...

Written by erikwithafro81 on 10.05.2016 at 17:43

Aaaaand I'm back. Since we released this new album, I wanted to give my thanks once again to everyone for listening. I posted this to RYM, so I hope you don't mind the repost heh.

"Hi everyone, this is Erik from Vektor. I want to thank you all so fucking much for the kind words about Terminal Redux. We took some fairly big risks (clean vocals, soul singers, etc.) and it truly means everything to me that everyone is responding so well to these things. So thank you, from the bottomless pit of my heart, for enjoying what we do in Vektor. Now spread it around the universe!"

Also, Ktulu, I'm surprised at your reaction man! Not trying to diminish your opinion or anything, but I had a feeling you'd enjoy this because it's far more of a Black Future vibe than OI was. If you have any production questions for the instruments, as I recorded all the guitars and bass myself, I'd be happy to answer. I would recommend multiple spins of course, it is a prog album, and prog albums take a few listens to really digest everything going on.

Anyhow, I just wanted to drop by and give my utmost thanks to everyone for listening. You guys are the fucking best around, and nothing's gonna ever keep ya down (pardon the bad attempt at a joke.)

-Erik

God, why you guys didn't come to Spain, in your recent european tour with Angelus Apatrida???
You guys are the band that more I feel like going to see in concert, i love absolutely your music. I hope you can come here soon in the next tour
At the moment i'm waiting for the cd i ordered some weeks ago

I thought this album was great. Then "Recharching the Void" came on and it went from great to fantastic. One of the best songs I've heard in years.

Not a fan of this. And those vocals don't help either.

A very resounding success, with this one. It may not share the highs with their two previous, but it definitely achieves a level of quality control that they had yet to reach. Outer Isolation and Black Future were incredible albums, but this maintains my interest for almost the entire run time, and that's fairly impressive. All these change-ups and genre detours really freshen up the formula, even when they don't necessarily 100% pan out.

I could go on and on about the production quality as well, but I'm satisfied with the amount of word vomit I've already committed to. Genuinely thrilled with this release.

This album just slays. It needs a few listens to get accustomed to the flow of the songs, because in the beginning it's easy to think that it's just riff after riff. I generally hate prog and long songs with passion, but this is a masterpiece! Fav songs 1, 6, 8, 9, but there is nothing there I don't like. Hands down the best thrash I've heard in a long time, it's as if Coroner, Kreator, Destruction and Death had a baby after an epic foursome.

Well, they fucking did it. I was about the biggest Vektor doubter on the planet (and author of a particularly scathing review on M-A), so when this dropped, my eyes about rolled out of my head at the collective orgasm it elicited from the metal community. Not anymore. This album to me is everything I hoped Vektor would be from the very beginning. For the first time, the tech thrash 'spirit' is truly there, not just the pretty window dressing that cloaked their past efforts. When I listen to this, I get flashbacks to when I was hearing giants like Deathrow, Coroner, Voivod, etc. for the first time: all the guys this band was supposedly the heir to, but never came close to until now.

It'd take a long time for me to dissect what makes this record superior to its predecessors in every way, so I'll keep this as short as possible. The amount of thought put into every detail is staggering; crafting multiple 7+ minute songs right out of the starting gate that flow effortlessly without being overly repetitive is an impeccable feat. Because of the challenge these tracks present, the more concise A/B/A/B compositions (a sticking point for me with this band in the past) like "Ultimate Artificer" and "Pillars of Sand" are even more powerful since they're fresh breaths of air instead of simple exercises in repetition. By the time we've had enough of this template, daring pieces like "Collapse" and "Recharging the Void" swoop back in and force you to be cognizant of everything going on when most bands would be letting up. It's the kind of veteran pacing I never thought Vektor was capable of. I still remember listening to Outer Isolation and longing for a record where every song was as good as "Tetrastructural Minds." Guess what? This is it, except the average song here is even better. Best thrash album since 199X.

tl;dr: Terminal Redux is fucking awesome, you need to hear it.

They're masters in creating riffs, which shows eccentricity of flow of music within its' structure. I sealed 7 at best on the basis of terrific structure, production and new elements they brought in(Pteropticon, Pillars Of Sand and Recharging The Void).

Only flaw i'd see here is too much riffs compartmentalizing flow of the record.

Compared to Between The Buried And Me. What makes this even better is the sole basis of riffing, the craziness is definitely there. Without random parts, leaving the songs on a nice note each time, especially on the last song. No overplaying, just a simple ending riff! The tight hyper trash metal combined with progressiveness, a higher tuning up to F also makes it interesting in terms of playing. I have never listened to their previous records, but this might end up as my favourite trash metal album In a long long time, and I don't usually listen to trash metal but I find this highly and very enjoyable!

Written by erikwithafro81 on 20.05.2016 at 21:46

God Buster's statement got under my skin. Made it seem like I shouldn't be here just because I play in the band.

I try not to let this shit bother me, it's just hard when we put years of effort into creating this album. And I absolutely appreciate criticism, I'm not trying to squash opinions. I'm just gonna back off, hopefully more new listener enjoy what we're doing. Thank you so much to everyone who is currently listening and appreciating our tunes.

You don't need to defend your great work! You did an awesome job on Terminal Redux and I saw so much positive reviews and it too proves a lot. Terminal Redux is a move forward to the new spheres of music and music here sounds awesome! I love every new thing on that album - clean vocals (especially in my favourite "Collapse"!), soul singers (it blows in "Rechraging The Void"!). So stay on course cause I want to feel like I'm somewhere far from visible universe.

Greetings from Czech Republic!

Written by erikwithafro81 on 20.05.2016 at 17:37

[...]

Such a long convo. I actually feel it's a great opportunity to have a chance to talk with any band's creative force directly, you being on this site personally is just that. Reading your comments I absolutely admire that through 3 records you guys are still trying to keep an open mind to criticism and deliberately ask for feedback, not many (including God Buster's favourite bands) can say so. I sincerely hope there won't be many useless and empty negative feedback to break the camel's back, cause I personally feel that if you guys stop writing music the world would be robbed of something precious. Those who can't clearly voice what they think should be better off silent. It's though ironic that these are the ones that hurt the most.

Yes, it's true, except for the high shrieks (which I love and gives me goosebumps) the vocals are straight from Chuck Schuldiner - oh wait, they are not, cause he never used cleans. You guys started that on Terminal Redux (or I just did not notice them before?). What you're doing is probably never going to be ALL original, but I think that's completely fine with the most of us. You seem to be slowly distancing your music from the all your influences with adding new elements carefully. The gospel/soul parts are fuckin' glorious, the cleans on "Collapse" could've been better but it's an OK start (reminded me of Dave Mustaine for some reason...), the way you guys hold onto your concept is probably the strongest of all bands on Earth, which clearly reflects on your songwriting.

The thing is with "Cygnus Terminal", I don't see a real climax to any of the buildups, which is why it fails to be memorable. When you have songs this great after each other you have to make them memorable in some greater way. It is a great song, but when compared to the rest of the album they feel just weak. Maybe it's the song structure itself, I can't point it out yet. For me the same thing happened with "Liquid Crystal Disease".

To me a buildup is basically weaving melodies together with the intention of slowly increasing the intensity of the music and reaching a high note, with all instruments included. If the melodies add to the intensity and fit very well together that's flow. It grabs your attention wherever you are wandering. "Collapse" was an absolute highlight in this for me, ended up very close to my personal favourite "Is It Really Happening" from Transatlantic. "Recharding the Void" also comes close. However sometimes both the flows and the buildups gets broken during the songs, and that can kill them for good. However seeing the progress you guys are making I'm confident that the next record will give us many surprises and less of these issues!

Man, to be honest, I find all the criticism of "Cygnus Terminal" utterly dumbfounding and bizarre. To me it's the ultimate highlight of a record full of them. The way the riffs build on one another and explode into the titular 'chorus', the "Iso Subject 5" bridge, the way it all somehow ends up right back where it started... I find it just as cohesive and memorable as the more concise songs (like "Pillars of Sand") whose sole purpose is to be overtly catchy. I even get the lyrics stuck in my head from time to time, irrespective of the already kickass music. I mean, differences of opinion and perception are what make analyzing art so fascinating in the first place, so I don't mind dissenting views, but the mediocre consensus of that one track has been frustrating me ever since this dropped.

Written by strade on 13.06.2016 at 00:34

I mean, differences of opinion and perception are what make analyzing art so fascinating in the first place, so I don't mind dissenting views, but the mediocre consensus of that one track has been frustrating me ever since this dropped.

Really well said. I'm equally confused and frustrated by the criticism of that track.

That last fucking song is so awesome, don't know why it took me so long to listen to it !

Voivod on steroids!

I was listening to this at night while supercell storm was raging outside. Hundreds of lightnings illuminating layers of dense clouds, outlines of which took shape of impossible creatures coming from the outer space, and relentless barrage of thunders perfectly complemented this crazy scifi metal record. Once in a lifetime experience...

Written by Kirg on 28.06.2016 at 20:32

outlines of which took shape of impossible creatures coming from the outer space,...

Where you hiding them now??

As a ~75 minutes album it just beats Nightwish and Epica. To me Outer Isolation is way superior and "Fast Paced Society" remains as strongest Vektor track. The last two songs here are brilliant though.

Surprised nobody mentioned the shitty vocals. They sound like Chuck Schuldiner from the Donald Duck era. Bad bad bad.

Written by Maco on 18.07.2016 at 09:26

Surprised nobody mentioned the shitty vocals. They sound like Chuck Schuldiner from the Donald Duck era. Bad bad bad.

Well, you mentioned the "shitty vocals" in a comment before. That seems to be your primary criticism on this website.

David DiSanto's vocals are generally well received, and he's obviously not a Chuck clone nor is there anything suggestive of Donald Duck in his style. He has a way of annunciating his words that is very distinctive and sets him apart from his contemporaries within the thrash genre. He obviously has a strong range as well. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion, but it shouldn't really be a surprise that the vocals have been relatively uncriticized to this point.

Written by Diverge on 19.07.2016 at 01:43

Well, you mentioned the "shitty vocals" in a comment before. That seems to be your primary criticism on this website.

Yeah, when they're truly bad, they can spoil me a whole album. That's why it's my primary criticism.

Written by Maco on 19.07.2016 at 02:09

Written by Diverge on 19.07.2016 at 01:43

Well, you mentioned the "shitty vocals" in a comment before. That seems to be your primary criticism on this website.

Yeah, when they're truly bad, they can spoil me a whole album. That's why it's my primary criticism.

Then it is a relief to you, you will not have to listen more music from their next albums in the future.

I havent listened to this yet, but I hope that this time they improved the vocals. The music of theirs is ok, though nothing too special.

Written by [user id=160508] on 20.07.2016 at 21:40

I havent listened to this yet, but I hope that this time they improved the vocals. The music of theirs is ok, though nothing too special.

The vocals is exactly the same, i don't think he can change his vocal so much in the future, believe me he is not James Hetfield.

Written by [user id=160508] on 21.07.2016 at 13:28

Written by Vikcen on 21.07.2016 at 13:19

Written by [user id=160508] on 20.07.2016 at 21:40

I havent listened to this yet, but I hope that this time they improved the vocals. The music of theirs is ok, though nothing too special.

The vocals is exactly the same, i don't think he can change his vocal so much in the future, believe me he is not James Hetfield.

Well thats a shame then, because I seriously find the vocals to be cringeworthy at times. But if the music at least kicks ass then I'm happy.

Think like if he was an alien In my opinion he is very good, with quite vocal registers.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 28.06.2016 at 21:23

Written by Kirg on 28.06.2016 at 20:32

outlines of which took shape of impossible creatures coming from the outer space,...

Where you hiding them now??

Pick your favourite H.P. Lovercraft story

I wholeheartedly recommend listening to this album during storm...preferably supercell storm, the stronger the better

-too many riffs, xzibit would say "hey my man I put riffs in your riffs" <-- funny
-voivod ripoff
-bad vocals, so weird and bad (too many riffs overtop vocals also)
-[vague negative criticism]
-musicians too passionate, too much talent/too many riffs

overall.. this album is pretty decent but way too many riffs and no zest or dynamic integers in the songs, 3.2/10

Written by Mattybu on 25.07.2016 at 19:18

-too many riffs, xzibit would say "hey my man I put riffs in your riffs" <-- funny
-voivod ripoff
-bad vocals, so weird and bad (too many riffs overtop vocals also)
-[vague negative criticism]
-musicians too passionate, too much talent/too many riffs

overall.. this album is pretty decent but way too many riffs and no zest or dynamic integers in the songs, 3.2/10

Too many awesome riffs yes,