LOCH VOSTOK – Destruction Time Again

Dark Logic, the debut album by this Swedish Thrash/Prog outfit, was a great piece of music and one of 2004’s very best releases. Unfortunately, the undisputable quality of the album didn’t lead to the big fuzz the band had hoped for and certainly deserved, and it was not until this year’s tour with King Diamond that the band got to strut their stuff to a bigger audience. Destruction Time Again is another quality effort by this very competent band – no doubt about it – even though this new album doesn’t match the debut’s quality, there’s still lots of great stuff going on in this release. The band has (once again) changed keyboard players, and the new member, Fredrik Klingwall, pulls off several very cool licks. The solo in “Xerox Nation” is a good example. The band performs on a very high level throughout, Teddy Möller’s vocals work well, and drummer Alvaro Svanerö’s technical and groovy playing is just as entertaining as last time around.

The band has taken the progressive elements even further this time, and except for the opener “Humanitix,” which clearly shows off the band’s Soilwork influences, the album is quite difficult to fully digest. This is not a bad thing, though, and when the intricate song structures are complemented by killer melodies like in “Rebound,” “Symbiosis,” “Falself,” and the title track, Destruction Time Again is a joy to listen to. Unfortunately, some of the songs lack that final touch to take them all the way over the edge – the final touch that was indeed present on Dark Logic – and it’s hard to ignore the thought that, although indeed extremely talented, the band to a certain extent failed in realizing it’s full potential this time. This may also be seen as a compliment, though, as the album is nowhere near being a poor effort. It’s just that Loch Vostok has the potential to reach far… very far, and should be able to come up with stuff that’s even better than this. Still, Destruction Time Again should be checked out by every fan of Technical, Melodic, and dark Heavy Metal – despite the seemingly negative points in this review, it’s still far better than most of what’s released these days.