Review Summary: Most metal is just more metal as opposed to anything new or interesting. This album is both, and more. It’s groundbreaking.
Thrash Metal has a negative connotation these days. A lot of people say it’s too simple with too many recycled riffs and the same old lyrics that can never be taken as much more than a joke. It’s for this reason that more well known thrash bands today have added something to their style to counter the same old expectations.
The first such band that comes to mind is Skeletonwitch. They chose to add black metal styled vocals, which for them, have worked wonders. Even though all of their albums are relatively simple and formulaic, people love them (myself included) because not only are their riffs great, their vocals and overall delivery have the weight and punch that a lot of other bands (Evile, Toxic Holocaust,and oldies like Overkill) just can’t muster up.
That’s all fine and good, but at the end of the day, even a band as great as Skeletonwitch (and they really are great - get their last album Serpents Unleashed, its a solid 9) are a simple thrash band making 2 to 3 minute songs about war fantasy. Thrash bands tend to stay in this realm. Riff. Verse. Chorus. Verse. Chorus. Solo. Chorus. Riff. End. They like to keep it simple and straightforward.
Not Vektor.
This album is the one you throw on the table when the person sitting on the other side starts spewing complaints about thrash and all its problems. If you look at the track lengths, you’ll notice that this is an album of 68 minutes, but just 9 tracks. I’ll do the math for you - it works out to 7:33 per track average. That’s a touch higher than And Justice For All, which isn’t exactly the world’s shortest album. It’s similar to that album in another significant way too. In a word - progressive.
Yes, the lyrics are a bit fantastical, but there are sections where they become genuinely interesting, like on the track Deoxyribonucleic Acid and Accelerating Universe (the track that’ll drop your jaw the furthest). Three of the tracks here exceed 10 minutes, but none of them strain to get there. They’re all fully fleshed out, and more than earn their lengths. They’re epic, in the truest sense of the word.
Vektor might be the tightest band I’ve ever come across. Riffs for days is as big an understatement as you could make. These are riffs that’ll send you from an Anselmo pout to a full on Newsted head spin in about 30 seconds. A particular section I’m thinking of is the break in DNA around 3:20. The drums, unfortunately, have to compete for the listener’s attention with the amazing guitars. That means a lot of people will not fully appreciate the myriad of fantastic fills and more than solid double bass action. Unlike most thrash (even just metal in general), the bass guitar is audible and makes a difference. It has something to say, which is always appreciated.
The vocals here could prove to be a point of contention for many, but to put it plainly, you have to get over them. Once you do, you’ll very quickly realize any regular or other vocal style simply would not be able to stand alongside the music it has to complement.
Most metal is just more metal as opposed to anything new or interesting. This album is both, and more. It’s groundbreaking.
As of this review, Black Future is 5 years old. How it doesn’t have more hype or coverage, I will never know.
