NOTHINGFACE

Progressive metal ain't my expertise, but once and a while I'm prepared to make an exception for some bands. My brother first introduced me to Voivod and I liked their inventive and progressive metal style.

The vocals of Denis Belanger are a bit punky and it reminds me of two styles: Iron Maiden's Paul di'Anno (which I think is great) and the psychedelic sound of German Krautrocker's Can who introduced the psychedelic alternative of punky vocals. The guitar sound and style of Denis d'Amour quickly became one of my favorites in the metal-scene. His inventive use of non-conventional chords for trash/progressive metal is really good. The drums are very good as well and the bass-lines are perfect. On the album there are many passages with two guitars.

Though Voivod has frenzied expression and the suprise attack as main weapons for their brutal sound, there's still enough room for good song-writing and composition that makes sense. A lot of bands loose themselves when using to many different ideas in one song, but Voivod seems to know where it's going. I also like the spacey passages and the futuristic lyrics of the music. I really think Voivod offers a good alternative for the otherwise often meaningless or cheesy lyrics of metal. Furthermore it's good to point out there's one cover on this album; Astronomy Domine which of course was written by Pink Floyd. Voivod's version is really good, really heavy and has that same energetic feel as the original. Good work.

Now, I haven't heard other albums of Voivod, so I can't make a comparison between them. I've been told this album is more 'conventional/commercial/accesible' or whatever but I can't say this an apparent problem whilst listening to the album.

Conclusion. A good place to do my cautious step into progressive metal (as long as it's available on vinyl that is). I like the melodic, dissonant and heavy sound of Voivod and their composition is really good. The sound of the band is very original, so I can't give less then four stars for this one.

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