Varathron - The Crimson Temple (2023)

I haven't been enamored with everything Varathron has ever put out (Crowsreign, I'm looking at you), but they've always struck me as the Greek black metal band which took what it was doing most seriously, and the result is usually a work of depth that keeps me coming back for years, whether we're discussing the earlier albums or the underrated modern epics like Untrodden Corridors of Hades and their last one Patriarchs of Evil. So I know immediately without even hearing a note of The Crimson Temple that I can trust what Stefan and company will manifest into the world, and this time it might be an album that many could consider a consummate Hellenic black metal work, one that can withstand almost all scrutiny and hopefully match the timelessness of its lofty forebears.

Note, I'm not saying it's the best, or my favorite for that scene, but if you had someone who wasn't in the know inquiring about the distinction of this niche, The Crimson Temple does it all and then some. Not a 'starter kit', mind you, but an album which is probably accessible to those new to the sound. You have the incorporation of glorious metal melodies into the hammering black substrate, with rhythmic patterns that wouldn't be foreign to their fellows like Rotting Christ. Necroabyssious has just one of those iconic rasped vocals, one of the best in the medium, capable of some sneer and sustain but usually just barking along to the beats and guitars with the utmost occult class. The drumming is great, tribal and ritualistic and definitely helps enhance the more folksy moments of this album, whether they be nestled into the harder tracks like "Crypts in the Mist" or the amazingly festive intro "Ascension". Choirs and other native style instruments are non-intrusive and tastefully implemented only to the elevation of the material.

Most importantly, this is super consistent material, and while it all feels coherent in style, they can throw you for a few loops like the slightly doomier, awesomeness "To the Gods of Yore", the charging force of "Immortalis Regnum Diaboli", or the aforementioned tribal bits which take you back to the ancient times which weigh heavy on Varathron's imagination. All this with a glorious, bombastic production which does justice to all of the instrumentation without being overwrought. Are these always the catchiest guitar riffs in their catalog? Not necessarily, and I'd also add that this is hardly the darkest of their works, I feel like Untrodden Corridors of Hades takes that crown, but this is just so brazen, exotic, and magnificent busting out of my speakers that I couldn't care less. Hellenic black metal royalty retained.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://varathron.com/

Vektor/Cryptosis - Transmissions of Chaos (2021)

 Transmissions of Chaos is the first Vektor release since the band's troubles and dissolution in 2016, and they've chosen to share it with the comparable Dutch act Cryptosis, who were poised to release a pretty good debut in Bionic Swarm that same year. The pairing is a good one, both bands having a fusion of technical thrash and death elements, without sounding quite the same, but complementary to the other, which is more than I can say for a lot of bands that decide to share wax (or tape) like this. The futurist/sci-fi/cyborg thematic elements also jive pretty well in unison, and if there were any hope for a New Wave of Science Fiction Death/Thrash, these would certainly be two of the flag carriers launching their vessels out in the cosmos.

The Arizonans had been doing it for years, after all, and their contribution here pretty much picks up from where they left off on the great Terminal Redux. Kinetic riffing passages powered by David's nasty vocals, flurries of clinical melodies that give it that cosmic or otherworldly feel, hearkening back to Voivod although Vektor doesn't quite play with the same guitar language that Piggy created for the Canadians; instead it's more of a cutting edge progressive metal style with a bit more consonance to it, lots of lines reminiscent of Florida's Cynic and other bands of that ilk. The tunes here are not their catchiest, and a little chaotic in how there is the flux between the cleaner guitars and the space-shark-like frenzy in "Activate", or the cleaner vocal sections of "Dead by Dawn", a more elaborate track on which they're trying something new. Interesting material, and the bass playing of Stephen Coon is a standout, along with the estimable duo of DiSanto and Nelson, but probably better to have been committed to this limited release rather than a proper new full album.

I think it is Cryptosis who have penned the more cohesive material for this, and I was really feeling the hyper-riffing and ravenous barks of "Decypher" that break out into some catchy, Middle Eastern sounding melodies. The drumming is sick here, the production explosive and it just feels more impressive as a song than anything on 'Side A'. "Prospect of Immortality" is another strong piece, slower but longer and more involved (the second side is set up quite like Vektor's). I also loved the leads, the bass tone, honestly these are two of the band's better tracks...but that's also where Transmissions loses a bit of value. Both of these would appear on Bionic Swarm, and though they do match well enough with Vektor, they match a lot better with themselves, and are thus better experienced on that full-length. Assuming DiSanto and company might remix or re-record or include them with a future release, either as part of the core track list or bonus content, this split might become completely irrelevant. So bear that in mind, but if you're a big fan of the Arizonans, and this is the only place it's ever available, it might just be worth it.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/VektorOfficial

https://cryptosis.net/

Vektor - Terminal Redux (2016)

By the time Terminal Redux dropped, Vektor was already on a trajectory towards the stars, and I don't just mean the ones out in space that they so love to sing about, but the popularity contest that is American brutal or technical death metal, deathcore, and such. Though they already had two fantastic records under their belts, it seemed like it was this one where suddenly everyone started chattering about them everywhere, placing them on their year's end lists and starting to take it all very seriously. It's not hard to understand why, because the musicianship was formidable, there's a lot of weaponry DiSanto and company could attack with, and they were just plain ambitious when the idea of a technical death/thrash band seemed like an idea that was restrained to Florida and certain parts of Europe in the later 80s and early 90s.

There just weren't a lot of bands channeling Voivod, Cynic, Atheist, Deathrow, old Pestilence, and the like, and these are all components you might hear in Vektor's sound, though to their great credit, they are a copy of none of these. These cats have their own ideas, and Terminal Redux is quite a progressive offering, from the constantly shifting tone and riffing styles, to the ideas like the ethereal backing vocals on a couple of the tracks. This record is an adventure, one in which you don't know where all the turns are coming until you've experienced the entirely a few times over, and that's one of its strengths. Although Dave DiSanto's raspy vocals unify the whole, there's a huge plethora of rhythmic dynamics here, riffing sequences that feel like they took quite some effort to put together with all the instruments, and a penchant for longer tunes that don't ever really grow too tiresome or boring. Is there a bit of self-indulgence and excess? Perhaps, but nothing that terribly surpasses or even rivals many other technical death metal acts or shredders of the past, and it all comes together into a varied assault that largely sticks the landing.

The lyrics are nerdy, excellent excursions into science and science fictional concepts, which can transport the listener to the extra-terrestrial realms the band wants to inhabit, I wasn't paying attention enough to tell if this was a coherent story, but each of the tracks has so much going for it that it wouldn't be necessary. It must be pretty hard to memorize this stuff, so to pull it off in the studio without sounding too artificial is a feat unto itself, and the production is a great complement, crystal clear but honest and never too drowned out in effects or atmosphere that you can't get to the meat of the instrumentation. Terminal Redux does live up to its heights, but it lacked the surprise for me that Black Future achieved, and to a fractionally lesser extent its follow-up Outer Isolation. So this one remains in third place with me, but it certainly feels the most complex and progressive and I can totally understand why others might feel otherwise. Of course, Vektor would hit a wall after this one with the sketchy personal behavior, ensuing breakup and social media shitstorm, so it's a wonder if the band would ever be able to get even crazier than this...certainly the two tracks on the split with Cryptosis do not compare to this material, so we'll have to see if the writing is on the starship walls, or if they can outdo themselves once again with even more labyrinthine song structures.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/VektorOfficial