I had high hopes for the latest from Loch Vostok. I was not familiar with them but I know about Teddy Möller and his other band Anima Morte. I am even familiar with his band from the 90s, Mayadome. So I figured Loch Vostok would be great. They are good but not great.
Part of the problem is actually Teddy. He doesn't play drums with Loch Vostok, instead he is the vocalist. His harsh vocals are pretty good but I find his clean vocals to be a bit weak. Musically the band veer from Extreme Metal to Melodic Death Metal. The over abundance of blast beats meets the extreme metal quota. The big clean vocal choruses meet the melodic death metal quota.
The material itself is rather inconsistent. For every unbelievably awesome riff like the one on "I Implode," there are plenty of riffs that don't stand out from each other. The title track and "Dead Sea Trolls" are both really good songs but then you have two clunkers in between them. "Sentiment" has potential until the clean vocal which is just not strong enough. I imagine someone like Speed from Soilwork singing it and that would fix the issue.
Loch Vostok consider themselves progressive metal as well but for me they really aren't. They are more like the aforementioned Soilwork and there's nothing wrong with that. They just aren't in the same league as Soilwork. "From These Waters" has some good moments and some very suspect ones.
