NEGATRON

In my review of Voivod's The Outer Limits I equated the big sell on the packaging to seeing an ex and running off to the sack for a romping revisit to the glory days that ultimately was a little different, but satisfying. Well, as it turns out, I was drunk, and went to bed with The Outer Limits, but then I woke up with Negatron. Now, before I get beat up too much for my metaphorical objectification, be aware that I am self-delegating an appropriate punishment. Yes, I am actually getting drunk and climbing back into bed with Negatron, again. This time I am looking her in the eye. And you know what? This was a terrible idea.

First off, lets do just that, look Negatron right in the eye. By the eye, I mean the cover. See that robo-ant. Even the ant has no idea what's going on. That robo-ant (it occurs to me, that robo-ant *is* Negatron) with its shizzlebytes of memory and espialagogahertz of processing power is still oblivious. Seriously, look closely at the attached picture of the cover. He is absolutely doing this guy:

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And what is more metal than an "I-dunno-shrug robo-ant"?...oooooh, wait! I just got it! I dunno=Negative response=Negatron.

Well, its entirely possible Negatron the robo-ant doesn't know what is going on because he is receiving his verbal instructions from new Bassist/Vocalist Eric Forrest. Now here is a guy with some big shoes to fill. Both Denis "Snake" Belanger and Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault replaced by a single robo-ant confusion specialist. With his two screaming volumes of "on" and "more on", he is impossible to understand at times, and impossible to not understand the rest of the time. Mostly, he's just impossible.
The sci-fi approach so familiar to our favorite Canadian cyber-punk-punk-metallers is obviously there. Negatron the I- dunno-shrug robo-ant is not just sexy, he's sci-fi, and he is metal. That much we can re-assure him of. Its how he's drawn.What we can't reassure him of is that anything about the music conveys the sci-fi theme. It is 90% straight forward metal. There are moments of Denis d'Amour's sinister dissonance, but it misses the mark on pushing the sci-fi agenda. Any lyrics from emo, to black metal, to gangsta rap to country and western-tear-in-the-beerisms could be thrown in, it would make just as much sense. Other confusion ensues with the drum recording. Through much of the album it sounds like the drum track was lifted straight from the master tapes of Metallica's ...And Justice For All. Bass drums are not supposed to go "click-a-click-a-clickity-click". Oh outrageous fortune! Is this the harbinger of the band's eventual attempt of fixing everything by adding Jason Newstead 5 years later?

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It is hard to understand how things went so wrong, so quickly. The session bass player on The Outer Limits was proficient and didn't degrade the presentation at all. Its unfathomable that Denis "Snake" Belanger was such an important force in the character of the band, but it is the only variable outside of the producers and studio. Whatever the case, what occurred on Negatron applies some perspective on Angel Rat, another of my least favorite Voivod albums. There was at least an understandable logical progression to that point. Negatron is like a Star Trek transporter accident. The matter is just randomly scattered on arrival. It earns the coveted 1 star. And I've earned 600mg of ibuprofen.