Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Techno-thrash has not died, it never existed.

There's this new band Vektor. They're good. They have a new album out soon. This short post isn't about that however, it is about how people are describing their music online. From a download blog:

Have you ever wondered how would a thrash metal band would sound if they structured their songs in such complex ways as in a tech death band?


This is really hilarious in how backwards it is. Is it really such a stress of the imagination to think that even when thrash metal were new and trendy twenty-so years ago there would be ambitious people that would push it in terms compositional and technical? Do we really need to compare a retro-thrash record that is more involved than say, Exodus to technical-death metal to get the point across? Did Watchtower never put out records? Mekong Delta? What about Voivod?

Here on the press release concerning Vektor's new album, he find the following quote:

VEKTOR’s arrival sent shockwaves throughout the metal world that were felt in all corners of the globe. Having established themselves as pioneers in a genre thought by many to be exhausted of new ideas


Is the exhausted genre in question thrash metal? Is it retro-thrash? Because it certainly isn't techno-thrash, where much more was left to be said and wasn't as bands rushed through to become progressive metal bands in proper. Whatever is left to do in techno-thrash is not pioneered by Vektor, though their contribution is worthwhile.

Do a good deed today, play a great techno-thrash record, and let someone you know that the genre existed for a pocket of time in the late '80s / early '90s before it becomes all-new and all-shiny again in our infinite regurgitative regress.

5 comments:

  1. Ouch, the ignorance hurts my brains :I I'll play Flaming Anger or Believer and write about it on a punk forum!

    By the way, have you ever heard Sider from Bulgaria?

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  2. I listened to them through Zero's blog, but I can't say my mind exploded. Should I persevere?

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  3. Well I'm very new to the band myself and my mind haven't exploded either but after reading this I decided to give it some time at least.

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  4. In general I am wary whenever someone says anything about innovation. For some reason, people seem to think Radiohead puts out new and unusual music. Huh? When were ambient sound effects and electronic noises new and unusual? Sometime in the early nineteenth century?

    That's not to say that nothing new and unusual ever happens, but in my experience, it's usually not what's in the headlines.

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  5. Hah that write-up is influenced by my own writing on the subject. It's a weird feeling, I hope I'm not leading that guy wrong. But then again, even if I am, something interesting will come of it.

    The problem with Sider for me is that it's a bit clumsily played and recorded - for now. When I get over it I'll be able to assess what they're doing aesthetically and compositionally. Kind of weird keyboards too.

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