Review by Greg on August 4, 2024.

We've all been there, at least once: a band strikes absolute gold with an album, then inevitably fails to recapture whatever made it so great, as if not even they themselves were sure how they did it in the first place. Lightning in a Bottle aims to cover those (usually debut) albums that turned out to be one-time feats for their respective bands.

Finally dedicating myself to my mini-series again and eh, I figured I couldn't go on for long before delivering my first hot take (even if saying Exmortus basically ended with In Hatred's Flame can be sort of, for someone). Don't hate me. Please?

So uh, Vektor, who doesn't know them? Their recent troubles and internal turmoil put a remarkably sized halt to their momentum, but their lethal streak of three albums was sufficient to singlehandedly catapult them into the thrash metal pantheon, with their increasing technicality, progressive tendencies and flourishes alike. Suddenly, the world was ready to finally cut the youngsters around some slack and to concede that the retro-thrash scene might have had some credibility after all, all because of the mere existence of a single band. The impact Vektor's breakthrough made on metalheads cannot be overstated, if you come to think of it. In any case, the only thing that matters is that their ascent to stardom left everybody happy and satisfied, with me, who witnessed their climb almost from their very beginnings... conflicted.

Let's take a step back. Like many others, I was immediately blown away the first time I got in contact with Black Future. I wasn't even sure of what I had heard, those shrill, unresting vocals narrating apocalyptic scenarios in space over some of the most unorthodox music I recalled at the time. It took me a while to think straight and conclude: 'yes, it's actually thrash'. But these lads had bent it and twisted it according to their will. When listened to nowadays, a whopping 13 years after its release – how time flies! – it hasn't lost a single ounce of brilliance, which is already an amazing feat per se. Already the brand-new title track and opener, despite being arguably the least ambitious episode here, is enough to familiarize with most of the album's offerings, starting from the clinically glacial and simply perfect production that really makes the ambient immersion way easier. The quick-fire verses and incredibly simple refrains soon give way to a bridge axemen David DiSanto and Erik Nelson keep building with riff after riff, before a devastating solo rounds the whole thing off, the first of nine hints that the band's collective intention was to just slam its figurative dick upon the whole scene in act of dominance.

What follows, however, treads a similar path while constantly pushing every boundary in sight. Whether it's the no-nonsense thrashing on steroids of 'Hunger for Violence' or 'Oblivion', or the broader scope explored by the incredible 'Destroying the Cosmos' and 'Asteroid', the fil rouge that runs through and permeates Black Future is the feeling of four guys trying their damned hardest to write something never heard before at every instant. While the guitars are the predictable driving force, with the instantly recognizable riffing that could only be described as 'alien' and the consistently acrobatic, intricate leadwork climaxing in what's possibly the most insane retro thrash solo ever penned in 'Hunger for Violence', the so-called 'rhythm section' is every bit as astonishing, from the busy four strings of Frank Chin that could give Coroner's Ron Royce a run for his money at any time, to the thunderous, extremely hard-hitting drumming of Blake Anderson (barely 21 at the time of recording). The slightly nerdy and unsettling, but not overly abstruse, lyrics are the proverbial icing on the cake.

Granted, with almost 70 full minutes of material, and three songs exceeding 10 minutes in length, you have to be in the right mindset to dedicate yourself to Black Future, and while I can't say that each and every suite hits the bullseye (I found 'Dark Nebula' particularly uninteresting, and you can't exactly call it a venial flaw), everything else is simply jaw-dropping, especially coming from a band's first LP. Hexen nailed this kind of long songs with what's still my favourite example of the category ('Nocturne'), but Vektor seem to have an otherworldly consistency in this regard, and later standout songs such as 'Cosmic Cortex' and 'Recharging the Void' are a mere confirmation of said fact. Here, subpar 'Dark Nebula' aside, we still find a great closer in 'Accelerating Universe', which incorporates a long ambient middle section and some vague black metal leanings which would be further elaborated in later opuses (like also 'Destroying the Cosmos', in minor part, does), all while DiSanto's voice appears determined to reach the exosphere and witness the lyrics first-hand; but it's really 'Forests of Legend' that can brag about being the album's true masterpiece. I don't know if the idea of a dark thrash metal equivalent to something like Rush's 'The Camera Eye' makes sense, but if it does, count this song in for the contest.

I feel like I haven't even touched upon my favourite song of Black Future, but that's because, well, it isn't exactly the easiest choice I can imagine. 'Hunger for Violence' is probably what my 'boneheaded thrasher' part of me (so, more or less, me almost every day) would pick, yet the compositional labyrinth of 'Forests of Legend' is nigh unmatched... even then, there are so many memorable lead sequences scattered across the album (also in the so far ignored 'Deoxyribonucleic Acid''s smooth intro and furious bridge), and, most surprisingly, a lot of the refrains still manage to strike with the immediacy and spontaneity that would be expected more from a '80s record. So much sticks in your mind that it's not even funny. Truth is, every track encapsulates different facets of the album, each one of them makes for a great, inspiring listen when taken on its own, and you'd do yourself a disservice by not giving the whole thing a full spin (then... several more afterwards).

Well, we come to the difficult part now. With no further meandering around: I strongly doubt that Vektor ever managed to top Black Future. It definitely sounds strange since they *technically* took the right steps after it – Outer Isolation, for all intents and purposes, appeared like an attempt to capitalize on this successful formula while also trimming some excessive fat here and there, while the long-awaited Terminal Redux showed a band willing to exceed whichever limit was left untouched before – but I don't think either really worked, plain and simple. Composing the sequel to a successful debut is always a tough task, and recalling what the always spot-on Tanuki said about it, the gathering of songs of various eras was somewhat of an alarm bell, implying (may I add) that some of the earlier ones were already taken into consideration and deemed not good enough to be included on Black Future. Terminal Redux, by contrast, ended up being a burdensome behemoth of an album where, unfortunately, Vektor finally gave people reasons to call them 'pretentious' more often than you'd wish. Amusingly enough, the band's ambitions here seemed to know no limits in a better, more naive way, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I know, it's true, every other album has been a huge success in terms of reception, and you will never catch me saying that they're bad, so it might just be that the level of Black Future is so high that they seem partial failures to me, by comparison. But I'd even go as far as to say that, outside of a handful of songs combined from both LPs, I rarely feel the need to play a Vektor song that isn't among the here-examined ones. Perhaps I'm the only one seeing the truth, probably it's just me being a simpleton like those of the famous Rick & Morty copypasta. Who knows?

Sadly, for all that really matters, the recent abuse allegations regarding DiSanto have rendered the band's future uncertain, seeing that no label would risk signing them at the moment. Still, we'll always have their records to play, a trifecta of albums that will be remembered by posterity, no doubt about it. I'll probably stop at this one, but what a great one it truly is.

Rating: 9.3 out of 10