VEKTOR Outer Isolation Vinyl LP (2011)

Space is not peaceful. Anyone who's heard Vektor knows this, and Outer Isolation is the proof, a record that sounds like dying stars and collapsing civilisations rendered in technical thrash so precise and so unhinged it still makes jaws drop over a decade later.

Released in 2011, this was the Arizona five-piece's second full-length and the record that cemented them as something genuinely singular in metal, not retro, not ironic, just completely committed to a vision of progressive thrash that owed as much to Voivod's alien architecture as it did to classic Slayer velocity. David DiSanto's shrieking vocals, the labyrinthine riff structures, the way songs stretch out past seven minutes without losing tension, it's the kind of album the dark aesthetic crowd and the musicology nerds can both lose their minds over simultaneously.

Vinyl LP, limited edition pressing. Originally released 2011 on Earache Records. Progressive thrash metal. Origin: USA.

Fans of: Voivod, Death, Anacrusis, Black Fast, Coroner.