Review Summary: Voivod's Defining Album
Music is a dynamic entity that is constantly moving forward and reinventing itself. That forward movement keeps the music pure as it continuously cannibalizes the weaker bands and forces them back into obscurity, but sometimes bands that are simply ahead of their time get forced into obscurity as well. Voivod is the perfect example of a band that was well ahead of their time and has languished in obscurity for it. If you ask the average person into metal about Voivod their knowledge will generally extend as far as vaguely remembering that their guitarist was another victim of the metal/cancer connection, and nothing else. Even worse is that Voivod now suffers the same stigma as Flotsam and Jetsam
in that the average person’s only knowledge of the band is due to Jason Newstead playing with them. Voivod deserve more then the relative obscurity that they’ve been forced to endure as albums such as Dimension Hatross
found the band perfecting the thrash/prog combination of previous albums as well as finally giving the band their own unique sound. There are many reasons that someone could site for the band’s distinctiveness. You could point to the nasally, almost spoken-word vocal style of “Snake” as a reason. One could also point to the weird aliens-in-space direction of the lyrics as another reason, but you still wouldn’t have found the main source of their individuality. If you were to focus on the chaotic, ever-changing nature of songs such as opener, “Experiment”, with its angular riffs, thrash outbursts and jarring musical changes then you’d at least be in the ballpark because the majority of that distinctive sound comes from the riffs and arrangements of guitarist “Piggy”.
For someone who knows how to play guitar or knows music theory it might be easy to describe the style and creation of the riffs on this album, but for the average listener it’s damn near impossible. The riffs are frenzied and dissonant and are often higher-pitched then what you might expect from a metal band, but they never come off as atonal or noisy. Songs such as “Tribal Convictions” or “Macrosoultions to Megaproblems” are great examples of that unique sound and the multifaceted way in which he uses it. After a slow build up, “Tribal Convictions” comes in with a slow, groovy riff that still manages to use his weird dissonant riff style, but after a few minutes the song erupts into thrash speeds. It’s at those high speeds that the riffs really become raucous and tense, coming off like some sort of alien air raid siren. If it was just the sound of the riffs that set the band apart it would be enough, but it’s not just the sound of those riffs but also their arrangement.
Every song on this album has multiple movements that are combined in such a way as to constantly build a sense of tension. A song such as “Chaosmongers” begins slowly, but quickly builds in intensity before erupting in a whirlwind of siren-like riffs that constantly change speed and rhythm, accentuated by some very capable percussion and double-bass from the drummer. In fact, just about every song begins in a more subdued manner and slowly builds into a very edgy and chaotic collection of dissonant riffs and jarring rhythms. These weird riffs combined with the chaotic arrangements may have been too much for the average fan, but apparently it was just perfect for other musicians. Despite the lack of acknowledgement from the average metal fan many bands around today site Voivod as a huge influence on them, from Meshuggah
and System of a Down
(listen to “Grand Declaration of War” and tell me this album’s influence isn’t all over it).
As groups such as Cynic
have proved, a band that is ahead of its time and spends its career in obscurity can still manage to force their way out once times have caught up to them. I only hope that Voivod’s chance to show fans what they were missing years ago comes to pass. If that day does come it will probably be because of this album with its unique riffs, strange vocals and perfect blend of prog and thrash. Anyone into challenging and unique music owes it to themselves to seek this out, because this album was so ahead of its time that only the production gives away the fact that this wasn’t released some time in the last few years.