VEKTOR – Black Future

We were invaded!! – again. If you miss the wrath of old school Technical Thrash Metal of the late 80s, you might raise your head and look out for the incoming on your skull. The rather young band, Vektor, from the US, has taken the reigns of the old school Thrash Metal since their formation in the late stages of 2004. Their similarity to older classic acts such as Voivod (check out the ultra-comparable logo to Vektor’s), Atheist, Artillery, Destruction and Watchtower is something that will only bring warmth to a Thrasher’s heart. Black Future is the band’s second album after their Demolition debut in 2006 and their first album under their new label, Heavy Artillery Records. Overall, this label made a well-done decision by signing those guys as they are, and will be, one of the major bricks of the future of Thrash Metal, on its other supplements.

Black Future, the space themed like Metal occurrence, is what one will call a never a dull minute. Actually, there are not even seconds of rest, even on the rather quiet and atmospheric moments. Moreover, Black Future is all about attacking speed filled with a countless number of amazing and technical riffs of fury followed by total dissonance and robust experience made by an excellent young crew of talented members of Thrash. This crew made their break with exceptional writing style while taking their influences from non-trendy areas to aid them on a tenacious and unconditional strike in the name of the old times. With such diversity and amazing technical skill, one will find many indications of diversity. Sub-genres as Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Blackened Metal and even some reminders of Jazz music. Those made Black Future, besides as a wild presentation of skill, as a maker to the future of old school Thrash Metal. If this is what we are expected to have, it seems that a total mosh party will be right under our feet in the coming years of this band’s career.

As for the band and its material, this group holds two brilliant guitarists, especially the lead shredder maniac, Erik Nelson, which is and will be the wizard of shred guitarists maybe even worldwide – this guy is crazy, seriously. The singer/guitarist and founder of Vektor, David Disanto, has the craze of Snake of Voivod and raspy, forceful high pitching gargling voice of Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer. Wow! That is a wonderful voice indeed, even if sometimes it is a bit backed down by the music but that is something for the production crew to settle. With those two fanatics, there are the two new members, drums and bass, Blake Anderson and Frank Chin. By joining the former mentioned dudes, they established themselves as powerful players. Generally, you are looking at a very artistic and diverse band that has a hard time placing itself within the world of Metal subgenres. Its suggestion is that you don’t have to bother, its closer to Thrash, so it’s essentially Thrash.

It is hard to mention bad moments around Black Future because everything sits where it is supposed to be. Each track on this one, long or short, seems to be in the right place, playing the right time (there are tracks that are more than 10 minutes). There are a few parts, especially the sort of moody “space invaders” kind of jiffy that were better off this once because a listener will surely want more music out of these guys instead of hearing creepy voices, but if it gets you going, it’s up to you to decide whether to move forward or stay behind.

Highlights: you can really take them all down as highlights because those tracks are so diverse and fun that you can actually dance through them until you drop. When a band holds the entire old school world in its grasp, added with tons of talent, they will surely be a rough, yet, pleasant ride to a full-blown overdrive – everything drives in fast forward on the high speed lanes.