NOTHINGFACE

Man, I honestly don't know how I missed these guys for so long. Don't think that I've only just heard of Voivod recently. Back when I was younger and bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden were a healthy staple of my musical diet, I at least knew who Voivod was. Except at the time they were "weird" or "too different" from any metal band I'd heard, so it was difficult to pigeonhole them. Not to mention that the sci-fi concepts went a little bit over my head, and still do quite honestly.

Voivod mixes a blend of hardcore punk, thrash metal, and progressive metal to create a really unique sound. They are fairly technical without being overly technical, and draw on many themes from Cold-War era politics to science fiction. Rush and Pink Floyd are drawn upon almost as much as early hardcore punk is on this album. To many metal fans who were lucky enough to be growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, Voivod were something of a band with a massive cult following. And many of them who were into the band talk about some of the members on this album as being legends. I wish I had been around then so I could understand what those feelings were like, but I digress. What stand out most on this album for me is how Blacky manages to fill a ridiculous amount of space in the music without shoving the other band members out of the way, and Snake's vocals are quite distinct, which is partially due to the French-Canadian accent in my opinion. When I first heard this album many years ago, I dismissed it after a few listens as being way too out there. Now that I have a more expanded music ear, I'm surprised I couldn't see how original this album was. Quite honestly, I still think it's pretty original. I especially love the Pink Floyd cover of Astronomy Domine. Like UMUR, I heard this version before I heard the Pink Floyd version. And I do think I prefer this one a little more.

While Nothingface definitely isn't a masterpiece in my opinion, it is certainly light years ahead of its time. Even today it still sounds pretty original. I'll give it 4 stars, and I'm so glad I gave it another chance. I may have to upgrade it to 5 stars eventually though because it's so close to masterpiece status.