Vektor is an American progressive Thrash Metal band formed in 2003 under the name Locrian, but changed their name to Vektor by the next year. Between 2008 and 2016, they have consisted of David DiSanto (vocals, guitar), Erik Nelson (guitar), Blake Anderson (drums) and Frank Chin (bass), though the latter three all left at the end of 2016, citing unnamed issues that had reached a breaking point. DiSanto clarified that the band was not over and that he would be finding a new lineup with him at the helm.
Vektor's music, in contrast to many of the other bands from the mid-late 2000s old-school thrash revival, focuses on a more technical sound heavily inspired by Voivod, with quite a bit of Epic Rocking, subtle-but-noticeable Black Metal elements and the incorporation of science-fiction themes in their lyrics and artwork. This has ultimately made them one of the movement's most acclaimed bands, as they are willing to go in directions not even the original thrash movement went in.
Vektor has released three albums, Black Future (2009) Outer Isolation (2011), and Terminal Redux (2016).
Vektor provides examples of the following tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Or something like that as far as Dave's helium shrieks are concerned. He legitimately has no idea how he pulls them off, though he has started to lay off them because his technique is apparently very harsh on his throat.
- Actual Pacifist: This appears to be DiSanto's philosophy in real life.
- After the End: "Hunger For Violence"
- Album Title Drop: Terminal Redux's title is dropped on "Recharging the Void".
- And I Must Scream: Iso Subject 5, drifting in space for 13 years."All the years trapped in silence
All there was to confide in
Was my waning sense of worth" - Black Metal: In addition to progressive thrash, their sound borrows quite a bit from black metal; David DiSanto's vocals definitely have a shriek to them, an they are known to incorporate a number of blast beats into their music (something not seen terribly often in "regular" thrash). Their guitar tone is also quite trebly, which is more associated with black metal than with thrash (as a case study, compare Metallica's Master of Puppets to Ulver's Nattens madrigal).
- Book Ends: On Terminal Redux's last song, "Recharging the Void", the choirs from the album opener, "Charging the Void" reappear, singing almost identical lines as before:"Relic Alshain
O Shahin-i-tarazu,
Now my flesh is born anew"
...
"Relic Alshain
O Shahin-i-tarazu,
I return my flesh to you" - Careful with That Axe: Especially prominent in their earlier material thanks to Di Santo's "helium shrieks".
- Concept Album: Terminal Redux tells a full on Space Opera story about Isolation Subject 5, a prisoner sent on a suicide mission into space who makes contact with strange particles in a nebula and becomes immortal. Upon returning to civilization, he becomes an Evil Overlord who conquers the galaxy and establishes a totalitarian government. Eventually though, he has a Heel Realization and returns to the nebula to finally die and lets his empire crumble away, hoping that humanity can build a better world from the ashes.
- Crapsaccharine World: "Psychotropia" on Terminal Redux, in which the protagonist builds a new society on the ashes of the previous galactic empire with the goal of creating a perfect, everlasting regime. Everyone is immortal, but aren't allowed to procreate, with the protagonist instead creating Designer Babies and personally selecting people's genes in the womb so that no one can ever overthrow him."Psychotropia
An ageless utopia
Psychotropia
A shrouded dystopia" - Deliberately Monochrome: The cover art for Black Future, and largely the scheme followed for the Earache rerelease of Outer Isolation.
- Averted big-time for the original Outer Isolation art, as well as on the cover for Terminal Redux.
- Epic Rocking: One of the things that makes them stand out, and something they do very well. Some examples: "Destroying the Cosmos" (6:47), "Forests of Legend" (10:17), "Asteroid" (6:49), "Dark Nebula" (10:29), and "Accelerating Universe" (13:31) from Black Future. "Cosmic Cortex" (10:23), "Venus Project" (6:47), "Fast Paced Society" (6:46), and "Outer Isolation" (8:28) from Outer Isolation. Terminal Redux includes "Charging the Void" (9:11), "Cygnus Terminal" (8:15), "LCD (Liquid Crystal Disease)" (7:33), "Psychotropia" (7:39), "Collapse" (9:22), and finally "Recharging the Void" (13:36)
- Gaia's Lament: "Dying World"
- Genre Mashup: Progressive Metal meets Thrash Metal with some elements of Black Metal and Technical Death Metal all rolled into one.
- Harsh Vocals: Dave DiSanto has an extremely distinctive style of these that is sort of like a croaky, hoarse rasp, except much higher and more nasally.
- Heel Realization: "Collapse", the penultimate track on Terminal Redux.
- I Am the Band: Dave as of now.
- Mercy Kill: The end of the song "Outer Isolation": "Break the pressure seal and release me from this hell"
- Metal Scream: Dave DiSanto is a Type 3, sporting a hoarse, nasally rasp with occasional extremely distinctive Type 4 highs (which he uses less of now due to the extremely physically taxing nature of his technique).
- Power Ballad: "Collapse" from Terminal Redux.
- Progressive Metal: Definitely elements of it. Vektor may be one of the most technical thrash bands to have released an album.
- The Purge: "Pteropticon", in which Iso Subject 5 wipes out all opposition to his reign of terror.
- Redemption Equals Death: The end of Terminal Redux.
- Religion Rant Song: "Dark Creations, Dead Creators" could qualify as a type 2.
- Signature Style: Are you listening to a thrash song with lots of tempo changes, riffs that go from blackened tremolo passages to strange, dissonant chords, extended quiet passages, neoclassical leadwork, and vocals that sound like a more nasally Schmier from Destruction? If so, it's definitely Vektor, as no one else sounds quite like them.
- Technical Death Metal: Some elements of this. This could at least partially be owed to Blake, whose style was heavily influenced by Flo Mounier.
- Title Track: Present on the first two.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The protagonist's motivation in Terminal Redux.
- Villain Protagonist: Iso Subject 5 on Terminal Redux.
- Vocal Evolution: Dave appears to be sticking to his mid-range vocals on Terminal Redux and is largely avoiding his "helium shrieks". This can largely be attributed to the extreme strain that they place on his vocal chords (he doesn't even know how he pulls them off and has said numerous times that a full set often kills his throat).
