Dr. Fisting

Illogicist – The Unconsciousness of Living Review

Illogicist – The Unconsciousness of Living Review

By Dr. Fisting on January 11, 2012 in 2.5, 2012, Avante Garde, Death Metal, Hammerheart Records, Italian Metal, Reviews, Willowtip, Death Metal, 3 comments

I first became acquainted with Illogicist back in 2007, at the height of the tech-death explosion, via a record called The Insight Eye. What intrigued me about these Italian virtuosos at the time was that, unlike most of the scene they were lumped in with, they leaned less towards “tech” and way more towards “death.” The band was clearly influenced by early 90s progressive death metal like Atheist and late-era Death, a.k.a. shit that I really like. And yet, despite all the potential, the album seemed to be missing something.

Things You Might Have Missed in 2011: Vektor – Outer Isolation

Things You Might Have Missed in 2011: Vektor – Outer Isolation

By Dr. Fisting on January 5, 2012 in 2011, American Metal, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2011, Thrash Metal, 25 comments

As I mentioned in a previous review, I like to think I value originality in music. I have little patience for bands that are merely retreads or knockoffs of other groups. So you can imagine my reaction when, a couple years ago, I stumbled on Black Future, the debut album from Arizona thrashers Vektor. The cover of that album looked like this. For those of you unaware, there is a band called Voivod. They have a logo that looks like this. “What in unholy fuck was going on here,” I thought? Is this some sort of joke? Is Vektor to Voivod what Municipal Waste is to D.R.I.? What possible motivation could a band have to do that? And more importantly, is it any good? Two years later, curiosity finally got the better of me, and I decided to check out Vektor’s newly-released follow up, Outer Isolation.