REVIEW: Watchtower - “Concepts of Math: Book One” (EP)

By Theron Moore 

Album Type: EP
Date Released: 07/10/2016
Label: Prosthetic Records

The guitars crunch, the vocals bite, and the band chemistry shines through on each song, almost as if they know what each other’s gonna do before they do it. A near perfect record, which for Watchtower, is pretty much par for the course.

“Concepts of Math: Book One” CD//DD//LP Track Listing

1). M-Theory Overture (3:38)
2). Arguments Against Design (4:12)

3). Technology Inaction (6:20)

4). The Size Of Matter (4:51)

5). Mathematica Calculis (9:54)

The Review:

A new Watchtower record?  Well, please, don’t mind if I do!  “Concepts of Math:  Book One” combines Watchtower’s recent digital only release with a brand new song – “Mathematica Calculis.” 

There’s so much hard rock / metallic precision with songs on “Concepts…” it’s almost like watching surgery from an observational booth, or, watching engineers and architects create schematics.  This is the record Dream Theater wishes it could make, because it rides that jammin’ line of just enough rock to satisfy the metal heads and just enough noodly, technicality to satiate the prog heads.  Watchtower nail geometric rock n’ roll with a calculus bullseye, right on target.  And by god they do. Every time.

My complaint:  The record is only five songs.  Yeah, I know this is a combo release but Watchtower needs a new full length, a proper full length.  The first song, “M Theory Overture,” is an instrumental, and although I generally don’t connect with instrumentals, this one’s laser perfect.  The second song “Arguments Against Design” bring vocals into the mix and this is where it gets interesting.  Will the vocals take away from the mechanized (in a good way) machinations of how on point the band is musically?  Answer:  No.

The vocals complement the music and give it that well deserved metal bite it screams out for.  Again, this is where Dream Theater fails and Watchtower succeeds.  Watchtower isn’t afraid to bring the rock and find a way to properly inject just enough metal to not throw off the delicate balance of each song. And balance is crucial with prog. 

Go too much in one direction, or the other, and you risk either losing the audience or ruining the song.  Doesn’t happen here.  Watchtower gets it.  They understand the art as well as the science required to achieve this.  The guitars crunch, the vocals bite, and the band chemistry shines through on each song, almost as if they know what each other’s gonna do before they do it. A near perfect record, which for Watchtower, is pretty much par for the course.  You need to check this out…

“Concepts of Math: Book One” is available here

Band info: facebook

FFO: Voivod, Vektor, Spastic Ink, Blotted Science

LIVE REVIEW: Vektor @ The Star & Garter, Manchester, England. 17th August 2016

By: Phil Weller

 

With much of 2015 spent cooped up in writing sessions and locked behind studio doors, Arizona thrash troupe Vektor were always going to spread their wings in 2016, and with an army of blisteringly progressive and technical, gilt-edged songs now adorning their arsenal, it is no surprise they chose to smash through ‘Terminal Redux’ in its entirety during this mini UK tour. And what an album it is. Sprinkled with some form of pixie dust, or perhaps bolstered by main man David DiSanto bargaining away his soul in some form of Robert Johnson type deal with the devil, however they have crafted this album, it has thrust them into the heart of extreme metal’s war cabinet.

 

From shrill vocal shrieks to cannoning drum work and lusciously defined twin guitar attacks, here is a record that has a sickening amount of tricks up its sleeve. As, one by one, they give each trick– such as the sombre openings of ‘Cygnus Terminal’, which morphs into a stomping beast of a song to the dextrous, tapped guitar playing of its successor ‘LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease)’ – they always remain engaging and entertaining. While many modern thrash bands have the tendency to fall into a clichéd formulaic reiteration of the 80s classics, Vektor prove to be much more than just a thrash band and here they parade their rich, coloured plumage before a sweat box of a room.

 

The dingy old pub of The Star & Garter, which nestles just a stone’s throw away from Piccadilly Train Station’s bustling taxi rank, is the most fitting place for music as nasty and visceral as this to mark its territory tonight. As the sky – barely visible through a grubby window at the back of the stage – slowly darkens, and as the block of flats whose figure cuts a striking silhouette upon it slowly becomes illuminated, the temperature becomes increasingly stifling. You sweat, you swig your beers quicker and you cheer even louder. The bludgeoning mess that is playing out before you, even with the PA sometimes struggling to handle the sheer attack of it all, is reciprocated in a packed-together crowd; one detailed by battle jackets and bobbing heads.

 

Though, as boisterous as this music is, it is always tactful in its chaotic expulsion. The whiplash pace of ‘Ultimate Artificer’, one of the more out-and-out thrash numbers, is well received alongside ‘Pillars of Sand’, a more epic sprawling song mercilessly pocked with musical plot-twists and side stories. Extreme their music may be, but thoughtless it is not.

 

Tonight the band seems in complete sync with each other. As they bombard their instruments they do so smiling, performing with a harmonious pleasure which truly crowns their set. They make the 73 minutes of the album’s lifespan seem much less – though dense with character and awe-inspiring moments – and that is testament to both their song writing and performing abilities.



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Vektor - "Terminal Redux" (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 6/5/2016
Label: Earache Records

It’s dazzling; an absolute marvel of an album from a technical performance standpoint, not to mention unique and fascinating in its style. It’s also absurdly long and dense to the point where the ratio of “total number of riffs” to “riffs I remember an hour after I’ve listened to it” is pretty low.  On that basis, I’ll likely come to enjoy this album a lot more when I’m able to enjoy it in different doses at different times, as opposed to listening to the album all the way through and evaluating it as a singular whole experience.  For me, there’s just too much to be enjoyed in a single sitting and in the case of this record, too much of a good thing is perhaps bordering on excessive, even if what they are doing is great

‘Terminal Redux’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. Charging The Void 9:12

2. Cygnus Terminal 8:15

3. LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease) 7:33

4. Mountains Above The Sun 1:22

5. Ultimate Artificer 5:04

6. Pteropticon 6:00

7. Psychotropia 7:39

8. Pillars Of Sand 5:19

9. Collapse 9:22

10. Recharging The Void 13:37

Vektor is:

David DiSanto | Guitar, Vocals

Erik Nelson | Guitar

Blake Anderson | Drums

Frank Chin | Bass

The Review:

I’ll apologize to you now for how weird this review is going to be. The truth of the matter is that even after a month since the release of ‘Terminal Redux’, I still can’t fully commit to how I feel about it. It’s dazzling; an absolute marvel of an album from a technical performance standpoint, not to mention unique and fascinating in its style. It’s also absurdly long and dense to the point where the ratio of “total number of riffs” to “riffs I remember an hour after I’ve listened to it” is pretty low. There’s just so much going on, and for sheer quantity you could probably get three very good to great albums out of the sheer quantity of riffs available on this album. But while things often pass in a blur on this album, it’s a beautiful, exceptional blur.

Attempting to distil an album like this one down, is damn near impossible, because there’s just too much to account for. The foundation is thrash, obviously with some connection to Voivod. But there’s also shades of black metal thrown in for added melodicism. Then there’s David DiSanto’s Chuck Schuldiner-esque vocal approach, and stylistic nods to the progressive side of Death’s sound, more ‘Human’ and later, rather than their earlier albums, but still, by and large, Vektor’s base is frantic, hyper thrash with ultra intense and technical rhythm guitar work at virtually all times. The musicianship on display is as captivating as it is thrilling.

But, as time goes on, that effect tends to wear off. ‘Terminal Redux’ is a fatiguing listen at 73 minutes. In fact, there’s only one song on the album under five minutes, and it’s an instrumental interlude that lasts all of 1:22. The remaining songs are often anywhere between 7 to 13(!) minutes, which is excessive for the frenetic pace the album maintains throughout. The crazy thing is it’s not like the album necessarily dips in quality as it goes on either. It’s just simply too much of it in one sitting.

Of course my view is entirely subjective here. There are likely plenty of people reading this with the endurance to last the whole album through and want to go back and re-listen immediately. I’m just not that person. My favorite band could put out a record on par with my favorites, but if it’s this long, I’m going to consciously pick and choose songs and come back to others the next time and maybe that’s the route to go here. I’ll likely come to enjoy this album a lot more when I’m able to enjoy it in different doses at different times, as opposed to listening to the album all the way through and evaluating it as a singular whole experience. For me, there’s just too much to be enjoyed in a single sitting and in the case of this record, too much of a good thing is perhaps a little excessive, even if what they are doing is great

You can pick up a digital copy here and a CD/LP copy here.

Band info: Facebook