Review by Vladimir on January 6, 2024.

It is ironic that over the years I never actually delved into the metal scene in the Baltic states, even when people recommended to me so many bands from Estonia that I still haven’t listened to. Of course, all would change when I came across the Estonian band Tankist from Võru. As the main topic of this review, I’ll be reviewing their independent second album Forced Equal, released on June 28th, 2023. 

On this album, Tankist evolved from a progressive thrash metal towards a more progressive thrash metal with black and death metal elements, ranging in styles from one song to another. The thrash metal elements consist of traditional traits from the heavy downpicking riffs to the drumming and shouting vocals, whereas the black and death metal elements mostly rely on the more extreme riffing, drumming and growling vocals. There are some interesting and spectacular inclusions that really expand the sound and enrichen the songs, like the operatic choir vocals on the third track 'The More Equal' that amps up the atmosphere of the song or even the dual guitar melodies on the mid-section of the seventh track 'Cold Crawler' that is later followed up by some balls to the wall heavy thrash metal riffing backed up with synthesizers. Others track in particular, like 'Purity Spiral' which features Lembetu of Loits as a guest vocalist, as well as the instrumental 'One Crippling Thought', contains some riff ideas which reminded me a lot of Watain, particularly in the "Lawless Darkness" era, which could have easily been one of the main influences on their songwriting. 

As for the songwriting, it is very progressive and complex, with a plethora of ideas that are altogether excellently combined and expressed in such a way that it constantly holds your attention from start to finish. No matter how complex their ideas are, they still don’t shy away from bringing out the heavy, aggressive and even atmospheric side of their music, all of which truly stand out as one of the key aspects of this album that take it to the next level. Another biggest strength of this album is that the tracks have their own characteristics rather than use one musical formula and paste it on the next song. Sure, there is stylistic consistency to all of the songs, but no song feels just the same as the previous one, and that is what I truly appreciated about this album. There are two versions of this album, the digital version which includes a total of 10 tracks and the digipak CD version which has three bonus tracks: 'The Dictator' (Magnus cover), 'Xenos' and '1949 Overture'. Regardless of which version of the album you are listening to, you will still be able to follow up on all the songs, even with the three added tracks that only prolong this entire experience. Honestly, I don’t know why these three bonus tracks were left out of the digital release, because in my opinion they only manage to compliment the album more with the purpose of conveying a sense of progression from one song to another, while also ending on a very high note. The album has an excellent sound production, which did a fantastic job with the superb guitar tone, heavy distorted bass, powerful drums and stellar vocal mix. 

I have to say that this album turned out to be a very interesting listening experience that left me a bit perplexed yet quite satisfied. In recent years, I don’t exactly recall coming across any band that utilizes this kind of progressive and well-thought-out songwriting with combined elements of three extreme metal subgenres, giving us a very hybrid release that is unlike any other. Considering that Tankist managed to come out with this kind of album, it got me curious to think as to where they’ll be heading from now on with the kind of style they incorporated here. If you haven’t checked this one out yet, I highly recommend that you do. 

Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Review by Greg on January 6, 2024.

Six full years after their debut Unhuman was released to moderately positive reception, Estonia's premium thrash outfit Tankist returned this summer with a long-awaited sophomore, Forced Equal.

Now, from an artwork of this kind one would usually expect some oppressive, bleak work more than anything, and the same can be said about the underlying concept about unsettling stories from the Soviet Union times tying all the tracks together. But while Tankist never were a 'typical' retro-thrash band, the long period in the making has given us back a significantly different facet of these very young guys. Forced Equal is far from being a mere thrash LP, incorporating numerous black and death metal tropes, as well as occasionally nonlinear songwriting that could even justify attaching a 'prog/avant-garde' tag to it. Kevin Marks' eclectic vocals reflect all these choices, starting from a foundation of coarse, yet not very guttural, roar, sometimes heading towards a blackier rasp, other times adopting a half-clean gritty style that sounds like a weird hybrid of Lȧȧz Rockit's Michael Coons and Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman, in some instances ('The More Equal', 'Commandant's Orders') even accompanied by solemn-sounding clean choirs that are also mixed approximately ten times louder than anything else. Sounds like a weird beast overall, doesn't it?

Indeed, Forced Equal is no ordinary album. I'm not joking when I say that every composition attempts something different from the others, and the fact that the second half is the strongest and more interesting overall really gives sense to the whole experience. Teasing you with the incredibly old-school thrash stomp of 'Six In One', Tankist then delve into almost melodeath/symphonic passages ('Cold Crawler'), full-on black metal with the help of Lembetu from Loits on vocals ('Purity Spiral'), and '90s anthemic death metal ('Of Bitter Freedom'), succeeding at all of them. The instrumental 'One Crippling Thought' is an ulterior evidence of the members' newfound confidence, as well as technique. Talk about keeping the listener's attention high. By consequence, this also means that, apart from killer 'The More Equal', the preceding tracks mostly fail to leave a trace in the long-lasting memory, but are worth hearing at least once. Taking into account also the deliciously raw production, I don't think many people would guess this is an album recorded in the current year, if diving into it without any prior knowledge.

With the due premise that I'm not sure I really understood Forced Equal in its entirety, its constant experimentation prevented any form of staleness from taking shape, despite the odd puzzling choice or two (the rather unfocused opening couple, also the coughing in 'Purity Spiral'?), and made it an extremely enjoyable and refreshing experience. Hitting the bullseye at every move with such an approach would be impossible, but the vision is interesting, and the performances commendable, especially Simo Atso's polyvalent drumming (trivia: he is the son of obscure death/thrash act Aggressor's drummer). The risk of becoming 'just another neo-thrash metal band' is more than tangible, and so Tankist nimbly avoided it by subverting their genre of choice with one of the sharpest turns I've seen in recent times. Ambition is an asset and these four Estonian youngsters make sure you don't forget it.

One last thought: if Forced Equal actually ends up being a transitional album, one might wonder how strong their third effort will be...

Rating: 7.8 out of 10