New album coming out a few days- "Target Earth". (ugly album art though)
Anyone on auto-buy?
New album coming out a few days- "Target Earth". (ugly album art though)
Anyone on auto-buy?
What i've heard of it was good. A return to form and the sound of Dimension Hatröss which i regard as their best.
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.
this is great news. the new guitarist certainly flies the flag... he's great in that Live in Japan DVD....
..and it's on Spotify, as are all their albums. Seems the band is as futuristic as their art, and want you to hear their music.......
My vinyl copy arrived yesterday. Enjoying it a lot.
Pretty much, like, EVERY song is in or at least starts in 7/8.
Voivod are adhering to their 'Shit cover/terrific album' tradition, see also Nothingface and Angel Rat
Forgive me, I'm about to ramble and froth...
It's funny, the last Voivod album I bought was The Outer Limits, twenty years ago. I wasn't particularly moved by it. It had elements of Voivod but it sounded as if they had gone straight. I'm sure from a regular, straight, rock band like Soundgarden or Pearl Jam a record like The Outer Limits would have been their pinnacle, a jewel in their crown but Voivod was not in any way a regular straight rock band. I mean, hey, it was OK but Voivod was never about being OK.
Voivod are one of those bands that, and I'm sure we all get this from time to time, I felt no one (including the band themselves!) GOT the way I did.
Their run of albums from Killing Technology through to Angel Rat was about as exciting a development of any band I can think of. All four are absolutely remarkable. Take a song like Forgotten In Space from Killing Technology, not only is it compositionally and harmonically streets ahead of any other metal band from that time it still is to some degree now.
Voivod were led by their imagination and their technical ability followed behind, trying to keep up. In a funny way they were like The Beatles. No one member was particularly a virtuoso (although Piggy was pretty shit hot) in fact Away was and has never been an amazing drummer but that didn't matter one iota. They were about ideas. They acquired the tools to express them along the way. They all sounded brilliant at being Voivod. You wouldn't swap Away for the world because, well, he IS Voivod.
To hear that sound unfolding and refining itself was such a treat. The release of every album was a real event, for me at least. Nothingface was, and still is to these ears, a fucking revelation. In a way pure, distilled Voivod. You can sort of tell that once they may have been a metal band but by this album they are operating completely on their own terms. Not enough is made of the lyrics either which are pure cosmic, psychedelic poetry. Snake punky /metal howl had developed a beautiful, edgy timbre too.
Angel Rat was, after the initial disappointment, wonderful. Hard for me to believe how my heart sank at first ...I wanted an uber-Nothingface, more abstract more angular...WEIRDER.
This was pop...but it was Voivod doing pop. Really psychedelic. I love that album through and through and, you know, it really suited them. Without that journey no other band would have produced a song as, well, PERFECT, as Clouds In My House.
So yeah, back to The Outer Limits. A bit of a letdown but they're a band not a friend. No biggie. The trajectory they had been on would have been hard for anyone to continue. It would have made more sense for them to have made a strange electronic album or acoustic album than to go straight but that's just me, it's what I would have wanted.
In the preceding years I kept half an ear out for them. Occasionally a song would appear that had that Voivod magic (Phobos and Divine Sun spring to mind) but they we're doing their thing, trying to keep the band going. I'm sure they are proud of the Eric Forrest years, you know, keeping a band going is hard, man.
That's why Target Earth is so exciting. It's full of Voivod magic.
It doesn't actually cover any new ground that wasn't explored on Dimension Hatross, but hey, no-one does it like Voivod do.
I expect nothing from any band, nor do I take it personally if they make decisions musical or otherwise that I don't necessarily agree with. A good song is a good song, do eight of them (or one really long one) and you have a good album, it's that simple. If they do stuff you don't like, well that's the way it is. They don't owe you anything and there are always other good bands out there.
It's because of that caveat that I'm so excited to be playing and loving a new Voivod album, I remember now that Voivod are MY band.
Phew, thanks for letting me get that out...
Last edited by Kavus Torabi; 01-25-2013 at 02:54 PM.
Two songs I've listened to were very promising -the new guitarist fits excellently the old style.
That cample above sounds awesome! A must buy!
I echo Kavus' sentiments. I've been a fan of Voivod since "War and Pain” and the new album is by far their best in over 20 years -- been spinning the shit out of it since last Friday (a local store sold me a copy of the CD early). It basically sounds like a mix of "Killing Technology" through "Angel Rat," all wrapped up in one album. Btw, Black's "blower" bass is back with a vengeance. Buy or die.
So well put , your whole post. Yeah NOTHINGFACE is an absolute masterpiece, beginning to end. And the first 4 albums..stellarOriginally Posted by Kavus Torabi
I like a ton of the later stuff, there's something great on every album, Forrest's as well.....
But this new one is killer. Speaking of Soundgarden (and I like their new one), I saw that epic tour with Voivod/Soundgarden/Faith No More, a couple times, in 89? or 90, whenever it was. Amazing, and really set the stage for the early 90s...
I saw that tour as well -- believe it was '90. Also caught them on the Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross tours. Saw them a few years back with Kreator. And plan on seeing them again if they stop in Philly.
I thought I would revive this thread since I just scored a copy of Target Earth yesterday.
I have been a fan since Dimension Hatross and have pretty well followed the band but I have to admit that I wasn't very keen on the 'Jasonic' years and started to loose interest. After the passing of Piggy I thought it was pretty much over, but alas Target Earth.
Wow, wow, wow, call me elated. As Kavus brilliantly mentioned above this album does have all of the Voivod magic. The guitar duties are in perfect hands with Daniel 'Chewy' Mongrain, and it's awesome having Blacky back on bass. To me this album is a perfect follow-up to Nothingface (which is my fave).
I highly recommend this to any fan of Voivod, prog or metal in general, excellent stuff!
Ok, this thread has piqued my interest in the new album. I am relatively new to Voivod, and The Outer Limits was the album that got me interested actually ("Jack Luminous" holy-hell.) I have everything between "Killing Technology" and "The Outer Limits" and really enjoy it. I often cite Voivod as one of the most underrated bands I have been acquainted with.
American Hollow - my prog band.
This is all very interesting. I haven't bought a Voivod record since Negatron. I really missed Blacky's bass playing and tone. I thought it was vital to the band's sound. I've listened to a few clips of later releases, but to be honest... I can't really get into Snake's singing style anymore. However, after reading your guys' posts, I might have to give this one a chance!
The songs sound very interesting!!
Just listened to their "new" record, The Wake. Pretty great. They've managed to keep sounding like Voivod even though they've replaced the compositional heart after Piggy died with Chewy.
Really, I have no idea why I haven't gotten into these guys before. I guess I was turned off by their inclusion in the thrash metal category. This band is far beyond the simplistic category of thrash metal or any type of metal for that matter.
They're sort of like if Crimson and Megadeth had a child. The baby favors Crimson!
Last edited by Guitarplyrjvb; 08-27-2019 at 08:33 AM.
Yes, it's a very good one.
Absolutely. The Wake is my favourite since Angel Rat. I think it’s a phenomenal album throughout. It’s really nicely recorded too.
Piggy is a fuckin guitar god - nobody hit those tones like he did.
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