Style: Progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Symphony X, Nevermore, Soilwork, Iced Earth
Country: Sweden
Release date: April 19, 2024
When I was a kid going to fast food places, I used to go up to soda machines and put a little bit of everything into the same cup. People called this a “suicide” because it was apparently unpleasant, but my sugar-loving taste buds thought it was awesome. The thicker, darker flavors of Coke and Dr. Pepper balanced out the lightweight citrus notes of Sprite and lemonade to create a drink that was the median of all sodas: every drink yet none of them, the indistinct platonic form of sweet bubbly goodness. Swedish stalwarts Loch Vostok, whose promo sheet calls them “the unholy child of Emperor and Tears for Fears, the bastard cousin of King Diamond and King’s X“, take an analogous approach to prog metal, putting in influences from many distinct corners to craft a style that averages out to the genre’s midpoint. But after my previous review took me to some odd places, I’m in the mood for something a bit more straightforward. Can the band’s latest concoction ring as sweet as the drinks of my youth, or is this particular “suicide” appropriately named?
As the promo indicates, Loch Vostok are a band of contrasts. They’re proggy, but they’re direct. They’re cheesy, but they’re aggressive. They’re synthy, but they’re chuggy. But what it all comes down to is that this album ends up being more than just fine, ambiguous though its subgenre may be. A big part of this is its excellent opener- “Distant Assistance” wastes zero time before unleashing a kickass, punchy odd-meter riff before a surprisingly seamless shift into synth lines that glitter over quick power metal-esque drumming. Frontman Jonas Radehorn takes charge from there, and it’s clear that he, too, is all-in on the suicide drink approach, covering an impressively wide stylistic range. While his primary vocal style takes influence from singers like Russell Allen in its balance between tough-guy grit and smooth, melodic crooning, he also throws in a dose of Warrel Dane-esque wails and a pinch of Howard Jones-style vibrato, as well as a few growled passages and a guttural scream just to round things out a bit. Still, none of it feels too out of place, and he delivers the song’s belt-along earworm of a chorus with power and conviction. The band, too, put in their A-game in making everything feel seamless even as they shift from rapid-fire solo passages to pounding midtempo riffs and chuggy breakdowns. This album’s off to a great start, and if it can keep this level of quality up, it may even be in contention for end-of-year list status.
And indeed, there’s a lot to like about the rest of the album. The melodies and choruses are, in general, quite well written, with “Children of Science” and “Drastic Measures” boasting especially memorable and ultra-hooky refrains that will no doubt be playing intermittently in the back of my mind for the next couple weeks or so. Radehorn’s vocals expand ever upward in their range, leaning further into those impressive high wails while keeping up his stylistic variety so that things never feel stale. Bandleader Teddy Möller, alongside fellow guitarist Niklas Kupper, deliver plenty of wonderfully crunchy riffs in tunes like “Rebel Command” and the melodeath-edged “Lords of the Inanimate”. Bassist Patrik Orwald and brand-new drummer William Parkstam are a great rhythm section to back them up– I particularly appreciate how thick and weighty Orwald’s bass sounds here, especially in parts of “The Great Wide Open” and “Drastic Measures”. There’s also the keyboards– uncredited but presumably played by Möller– that play a more prominent role in the soundscape than your usual “atmospheric” synth-beds while still generally staying in a support role, favoring simple, twinkling melodies and arpeggios over weedly solos. It’s a great addition to their sound, forming the backbone of more somber, emotional moments like late-album ballad “Just Like That”.
All of these strengths come together in album centerpiece “Senses”, which, in places, is the most aggressive Loch Vostok get on the entire album, with Radehorn giving a performance of a lifetime, shifting between growls, snarls, and clean wails on a dime as the band pummels out powerhouse thrash riffs beneath him. The music slows to half-tempo for yet another widescreen, anthemic chorus, and then… it just stops. In an arrestingly lovely moment, a vintage NES-esque synthesizer takes over, seemingly inviting the audience to catch their breath as the vocals become soft, melancholic, and vocoded. The rest of the band crashes back in, building the motif’s intensity until it can transition back into the heaviness of the verses, and the dynamic shift is impeccable– my favorite song on the album easily.
Still, even executed as well as it is overall, it would be nigh-impossible for an album this purposefully scattershot to get away without a few bits flying well off the mark. Lyrically, though the band have reined in most of their more egregiously awkward “political” lines from the previous album, there are still a couple of moments that make me raise an eyebrow. The worst of them is the bit in “Children of Science” where Radehorn shouts “They’re all just measuring their COCKS!” in a hilariously overdramatic fashion, and it takes me out of an otherwise-good song every time. Speaking of Radehorn, though he sounds great 95% of the time, his tone in his lower range can get a bit wooden and yawn-y at times, notably in some of the verses on “Cult Status”. So far as the music goes, I’d like to see these guys be more ambitious– “Senses” shows that they know how to execute more complex song structures, and the solos in songs like “Distant Assistance” and “Rebel Command” are great but leave me wanting more. If these guys embraced their inner Dream Theater a little bit, showed off some more virtuosity, and let more of their songs sprawl and wander, I’d be interested in seeing what they could do.
Opus Ferox II manages, somehow, to make a compelling brew out of its several component ingredients. The root beer of its soaring power metal choruses, the Coke of its crunchy, chuggy riffs and snarls, the, uh… Mountain Dew of its ’80s-influenced synths– it all comes together to make something sweet and satisfying. It may not be the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted, and there may be a few slightly sour notes that keep it from landing 100%, but it’s a fun and oddly refreshing listen that, by being a bit of a lot of things I’ve heard before, is somehow entirely unique. Maybe 8-year-old me had a point way back then… if only metaphorically.
Recommended tracks: Distant Assistance, Senses, Drastic Measures
You may also like: Witherfall, Communic, Manticora
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Loch Vostok is:
– Jonas Radehorn (lead vocals)
– Teddy Möller (guitars, backing vocals)
– Niklas Kupper (guitars)
– Patrik Orwald (bass)
– William Parkstam (drums)
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