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Voivod - Voivod CD (album) cover

VOIVOD

Voivod

 

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

3.10 | 76 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

AtLossForWords
Prog Reviewer
1 stars Headline: This isn't prog.

Quite simply put this is not prog. I find absolutely nothing about this album that hints it is progressive. The music is bland and simply structured lacking melody and other musical traits related to the progressive style. I don't exactly know why Voivod is featured in the archives, but I cannot say it was a wise or even moderate decision to add them.

I will begin my review of the album by asking a question. What punk band did this guy come from. The vocals are aggressive and show no particular skill. Was Snake in the band because he was a friend or because the band actually thought he could sing. The aggressive punk vocals don't any character or sophistication to the album. In fact they keep more musical things from happening by taking up too much of the mix.

Piggy's guitar is built entirely around riffing. There isn't much melody, virtuosity, or creativity coming from this guy. At times some of the parts are quite catchy, but progressive music is something more than catchy. The guitar playing is much more of a metal vein than the vocals are, but it definately takes quite a bit of punk influence, which I thought was the opposite mentality of prog.

The bass is all groove. I don't really have any complaints of Mr. Newsted's performance, but I can't exactly say he's done anything that strikes me as creative or musical. He's basically doing the minimum job of holding down the groove for the rest of the band to show some technique. The problem is the rest of the band doesn't show technique.

The drums are basic, there is some delicate cymbal work at times, but once again like the rest of the band, Michel Langevin doesn't show any particular skills on his insturment. His playing isn't muddled, but there's nothing about it that makes me want to listen to it.

The production is alright for the release it is. With an album like this, the listener can exactly expect crystal clear tones with a variation of synths (obviously there are none). The guitars are dirty and specialize more in chorded playing. The bass has got a lot of bottom end, but never seems to be clear in any other range. The vocals are extremely dirty, which isn't a fault of the producer because the vocalist is of such a dirty style. The drums are clear, but there is nothing interesting about the tone. Many drummers have a distinct attack, but there's none of that here.

This is a one star album. It lucky to even get that because i shouldn't be reviewing a non-prog album on a prog website.

AtLossForWords | 1/5 |

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