Reviews list for Vektor - Outer Isolation (2011)

The immediacy I enjoyed with Vektor's debut is not as prevalent on their follow up.  Not to say that the release overall suffers as a result of this.   The clever stuff is still there, the widdly and noodley lead work, the polyrhythmic drums and the time changes to leave you catching your breath are all still presnt and accounted for.  You just have to spend some time with the album and peel back a couple of layers to see them lying beneath.

For all the technical nuances present here there's a surprising level of memorability here once you have given it enough spins.  Both the opening and closing (title) tracks nicely bridge what comes in between, framing the cosmic-themed, technical thrash perfectly and still somehow leaving you wanting more.  The structures on this album remain a mixture of vast soundscapes (Cosmic Cortex and the title track) and short bursts of chaotic sounding yet well planned thrash with enough variety to leave you dizzy (Echoless Chamber, Dying World and Dark Creations, Dead Creators).

The skilled musicianship shows throughout but it never feels like wankery or showmanship.  It feels cosmic, and ethereal at times and you end up with melodies ringing around in your head for days after listening to it.

It doesn't really flow that well as a record which keeps me from rating it as high as the debut and things do feel a bit samey on more than one occasion making me feel the album could have been a couple of tracks shorter in the end.