Vektor - Terminal Redux

[Caveman Ninja]

Holy motherfucking hairy shitballs. This album is blowing me away. It's something super duper special. They upped their game, how is that even possible?! Sit down, read the lyrics along with it, it's an awesome incredible journey. Hints of Cynic, Queensryche, Death and more but it's all Vektor baby. I chuffing heart this band 2 deth.

Also, hi everybody!

 

[Snyde]

Reminds me of this old gem from 5 years ago.
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/why-heavy-metal-isnt-fucked.733258/

 

[Caveman Ninja]

And it still isn't fucked! Hooray!

 

[zerostatic]

Nice to see you Caveman! I have only listened to it two or three times and it gets better every listen. Not sure I care for the backing vocals on some songs or the length of the songs. I start to lose interest around the 5 - 6 minute mark.

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Hey dude! Nice to pop back here, it's been too long.

The album gets better with every listen. When they first put up Charging the Void a few months ago I didn't get much from it for a long time. It's very, very dense. The same with Pillars of Sand, it was nice but didn't really stand out much after a few listens. But now, as part of the whole album I absolutely love both songs. Love them. I really dig the mad female backing vocals too, although even more on the final track, which is so completely epic that there just aren't sufficient words to describe it. That crazy bit with the overlapping vocals might just be the pinnacle of all music. It's fucking insane. The crescendo to the whole album.

The lyrics are also amazing. I've read through the whole thing while listening four or five times now and I can't believe how good it is. All the crazy Aquila/Epsilon/Alshain/Shahin-i-tarazu stuff is all about a star system a few light years away from us in the Milky Way where the whole story is set. I thought they'd made it all up but it's all real. Loads of swan and bird imagery as well which is all tied up with it too. So much thought. The imagery in Pillars of Sand is fantastic as well.

However, if you don't have much of an attention span for long songs then this isn't the album for you. Likewise, people who aren't prepared to put the time into the album aren't going to get much out of it. I could understand if it's too dense for casual listeners.

 

[I-TEND-TO-DIE]

I fucking hate that my copy still hasn't arrived!!!!

Waiting for more than a week now. Amazon seems to be a fucking bitch.

I was overwhelmed by the songwriting already. I just need a physical copy..lol

 

[Keenan]

^I finally got mine yesterday. It has cracks in the case, though.

I love this album. It reminds me of Cynic quite a bit in a few places (I think there's a riff they may or may not have stolen in one of the first few tracks. It sounds SO similar. I can't recall which, though), and I really like the backing vocals on the last two songs. Event though it may not be the heaviest or the fastest song on the album, I think that my favorite has to be Collapse. The crescendo in Recharging the Void is tremendous, too.

Also, I vote we rename this thread to "Welcome Back, Joe!"

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Good to see you sir!

Collapse is pretty magnificent, especially the second half. Pillars of Sand too. Some of the guitar harmonies are just beautiful, like Iron Maiden when they peaked circa 1988, before they stopped crafting things quite so beautifully. (incidentally no Iron Maiden tour talk please I'm trying to avoid spoilers until I see them in a month LALALALALALALALA)

Fuck, I think I'm going to go and listen to Terminal Redux again. See you in 73 and a half minutes

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Purple vinyl is luvverly.

 

[D.Ingram]

Gave it a listen. Very good, but it does reaffirm my opinion that Vektor are very one-dimensional - it was EXACTLY what I was expecting, which is both good and bad.Don't fix what ain't broke, but the same approach gets a little old after a while.

 

[Caveman Ninja]

I obviously do not agree with you, but I know there's no point arguing with you. I'll always be a bit grateful to you for turning me on to them in the first place many years ago, even if we ultimately have different feelings about them.

What I will say is that for those prepared to put the time and effort into this (and by that I mean listening to it right through 4 or 5 times with the lyrics in hand) this is an actual masterpiece, and I am not one to use that term lightly.

Now stop pissing on my parade and let me enjoy it

 

[D.Ingram]

Haha no, not saying it's a bad album mate! But you know what I'm like, I expect a band to show progression between releases. I just feel that TR has very little of it (ironically enough), doesn't make it bad whatsoever.

Now hurry up and give me a new Thrashist Regime album, or I'll rip and tear your nipples off

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Finished recording the rhythm guitars yesterday

 

[D.Ingram]

EEEEEEEEEEE <3

 

[Keenan]

Purple vinyl is beautiful.


Hey Joe, what did you think of The Book of Souls?

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Very disappointing. The dullest Iron Maiden album by a long way. I was well hyped for it and all the reviews were great and I went and bought it at 9AM on release day, went home and listened to it and tried to be enthusiastic. But ultimately I got very little out of it. If Eternity Should Fail s their best opener for many albums but it all goes downhill pretty quickly. The Red and the Black is so badly structured it's unreal. Some good riffs in there but it's a bloody mess. Shadows of the Valley is far too long for no good reason. I really dig Tears of a Clown and Empire of the Clouds. Sonically it's another fucking disaster, someone please take Kevin Shirley out the back and fucking shoot him; he couldn't produce a turd after 10 boxes of laxative!

 

[D.Ingram]

The Book of Trolls

 

[Keenan]

........ I thought it was really good. Then again, I listen to Dream Theater, so long ass songs don't really phase me.

 

[Caveman Ninja]

I don't mind long songs. Hell, I normally prefer long songs. I loved A Matter of Life and Death, and the longer songs on Final Frontier were the best ones. But this time I feel like the songwriting is rushed, the recording is rushed and the final product is really lacking the spark that all the other albums have. I even like the Blaze albums but this one is just... a bit boring :-( Still, they'll always be my band and I'm still going to see them at Donington, Oslo and Gothenburg next month

 

[Podgie]

I'm a little late to the party but I've only really been able to give the album the time it's deserved over the last day or two, so I've waited to comment.

Only listened to it through 3 - 4 times but I'm enjoying trying to take it all in. Like Dave said though, it's exactly what I expected from them (and I don't mean that as a negative)... very progressive, very dense, and very original if I'm honest. I definitely think they've successfully progressed their sound. The one performance that's impressing me the most with the album so far is Bake's. Not that he was anything short of excellent on the previous albums, but his drums sound fucking excellent on this. He's definitely not going to get bored playing any of this stuff, with all the crazy rolls and fills and blasts! Of course the guitar playing is fantastic too, but that's a given right?

Stand out tracks so far? For me, LCD, with that guitar part which literally sounds like it's played by some kind of alien cyborg haha. And of course, Recharging the Void. Which, as much as I hate the term, is epic. Possibly the best Vektor song to date? Who knows / cares. It's brilliant.

P.S. Nice to see you around here again Joe. I saw you at the Vektor gig at the Underworld and was going to say hi, but then didn't. It was all a bit exciting wasn't it! ...that's my excuse for being anti-social

P.P.S. Keenan, I just KNEW you'd dig Collapse when I heard it haha.