Dave's Underground Laboratory: November 21, 2011

Astronomy, physics, sci-fi geekery, and progressive thrash metal collide in the form Outer Isolation, Vektor's second full-length album. Are you kidding me? How can I possibly resist?! To put it simply, Outer Isolation is not just the album for physics geeks like me, but is also for those of you that thought that Revocation lost their way with Chaos Of Forms.

Outer Isolation almost, but not quite, has it all. Well-written songs with a degree of complexity almost unheard of in the whole retro-thrash metal revival, simply excellent musicianship, and themes and motifs that I'm certainly going to go nuts over occur in spades. Even more impressive is how Vektor are able to maintain that degree of complexity without devolving into over the top, overproduced saccharine nonsense such as that which immediately turned me off of Chaos Of Forms.

You'll notice that I said "almost," though. The reason for that caveat is the rather pedestrian, mediocre vocals from guitarist David DiSanto. DiSanto does employ a raspy voice rather than using a melodic, over the top operatic vocal style, but he just doesn't deliver the goods with a great deal of power and depth. Instead, his delivery is very quickly overwhelmed by the excellent musicianship going on around his voice. In this area Vektor can improve and would, consequently, become more than a force to be reckoned with. Even so, Outer Isolation is a great album, standing at the head of the class.

Dave's Grade: A-

Funerus, the project of bassist/vocalist Jill McEntee, returns with a new full-length album, Reduced To Sludge, their first album since 2003. Funerus is a different animal than Incantation, a major force in death metal fronted by Jill's husband John McEntee, who is also the guitarist for Funerus, and Funerus distinguish themselves quite well from Incantation.

Although laced with dark tones like Incantation, Funerus is all about the thick crunch. Huge, thick, down tuned riffs backed by a gigantic bass and a bottom heavy production, Funerus deliver slow to mid-paced gallops that periodically head into proto-blastbeat territory along with gruff vocals from Jill. This typifies the assault from Funerus, a band that appears to be heavily influenced by Death's first few albums more than anything else.

Reduced To Sludge is a good, solid slab of straightforward American OSDM delivered with gusto and enthusiasm. Can't go wrong!

Dave's Grade: B+

U.K.'s The Rotted have now fully shed their gore metal label of yesteryear when the band was known as Gorerotted, and continue to steamroll ahead with Ad Nauseam, their second full-length album under their new moniker. Playing a hybrid of different styles, yet still firmly rooted in death metal, it's easily The Rotted's most mature and slick effort to date.

Ad Nauseam is very slick with a full production, yet still retains a definite organic quality. It's polished, yet unpolished, if you know what I mean. Songs barrel over you with a generally fast pace with plenty of blasts, although The Rotted downshift quite often into a rolling sort of death n' roll vibe, almost as if Motörhead and mid-period Sodom have collided with Carcass (yes, the traces of gore are still there with higher pitched, grating screams; albeit, without the rather silly subject matter).

Ad Nauseam is a catchy blend of death n' roll (mostly) and death metal with good musicianship and songwriting.

Dave's Grade: B

Homer, Alaska seems about as far off the melodic death metal radar as you can get, but that's where Thousand Year War hails from. A duo with a session drummer from Sweden, Thousand Year War play pretty well done melodic death metal in the vein of bands such as Amon Amarth on their debut full-length album Tyrants And Men.

Tyrants And Men is a well done, catchy album with good songwriting, musicianship, and solid production. Songs have just the right amount of variation, straddle the line between melody and brutality quite nicely, and have enough of both elements to satisfy even casual fans of melodic death metal such as myself. What's most impressive about Thousand Year War is that they sound quite mature on an album that's just their first. Perhaps with the proper backing from Abyss Records, Thousand Year War can become the next big thing in melodic death metal.

Dave's Grade: B+

Chicago's very own Surachai are treading that ne'er do well region of U.S. black metal that flirts with the avant garde/post metal subgenres. While that description is going to turn off most purists of black metal, those of you with a taste for this sort of thing are going to want to take notice, especially if you were a bit disappointed by the latest offering from Krallice a few months back.

While not as harsh as the monumental Dimensional Bleedthrough from Krallice, To No Avail from Surachai maintains a raw sounding black metal base while playing a bit with post metal soundscapes, a flirtation that Krallice did not do so well with Diotima. Although clean sounding to some extent, To No Avail has a much bleaker vibe and a certain sense of nihilism that's been lacking with Krallice and other bands in this subgenre.

The two songs on To No Avail steer post/black metal back in the right direction; if bands in this niche subgenre can still be labeled as black metal. You decide. You can download the EP at Handshake, Inc.'s Bandcamp page, and the EP will be available as a limited edition vinyl release early next year.

Dave's Grade: B+

The Czech Republic's Root date all the way back to the tail end of black metal's first wave, following in the footsteps of Venom, Celtic Frost and the like. Heritage Of Satan is my first look at Root, though; a band that has previously escaped my notice.

Releasing a number of full-length albums over the years, Root have altered their sound over time and now play a very clean, almost jaunty, style of metal that's firmly rooted in a Satanic approach. Although there are some speedier moments, most of the pacing on Heritage Of Satan consists of a mid-paced gallop with riff structures drawn from the traditional style of metal more than anything else. Songs are generally short, bombastic, and delivered with overly loud, in your face vocals from front man Big Boss, a sort of semi-legend in Satanic circles. Although the comparison is probably not warranted, I can't help but think of Gwar while listening to Root, although the theatrics are absent, with maybe a dash of Acheron tossed in for good measure.

Although Root are very well regarded by the serious, Satanic black metal community (numerous luminaries have guest roles on this album), most fans of black metal in the post-Norwegian second wave sense of the genre will probably be a bit put off by Root's approach, which seems to these ears to be a bit whimsical. However, perhaps in deference to modern style, Root go all out a few times on Heritage Of Satan, unleashing a few blastbeats and tremolo picks up and down the fret board. A bit of a quirky release, Heritage Of Satan is going to appeal to fans that don't mind something a bit different.

Dave's Grade: B