VOIVOD

"Voivod" is the eponymously titled tenth full-length studio album by Canadian metal act Voivod. The album was released through Chophouse Records in March 2003. It´s the successor to "Phobos" from August 1997 and quite few things have happened since the predecessor. Lead vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest was involved in a serious car accident in Germany in 1998 and left Voivod in 2000 after slowly recovering from his injuries. Voivod shortly disbanded in 2001 but in 2002 Michel "Away" Langevin (drums) and Denis "Piggy" D-Amour (guitars) reunited with original vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger (who had left in 1994) and brought in former Metallica/Flotsam & Jetsam bassist Jason "Jasonic" Newsted to complete the new lineup. The inclusion of the latter arguably boosted the interest and awareness of Voivod in a time where their profile needed just that. Chophouse Records is Newsted´s own label, so he could also make sure that the album was distributed.

Stylistically the return of Bélanger means a lot, as Voivod instantly sound like Voivod again with him at the microphone. It´s not that the Forrest-led Voivod albums didn´t sound like Voivod, but Bélanger is such a unique vocalist (love him or hate him type vocalist), that his voice and singing style just make Voivod stand out from almost anything else out there. I´d place the material on "Voivod" close to the hard rocking and slighly phychedelic rock/metal of "Angel Rat" (1991), because of the relatively immediate nature of the material and the vers/chorus structured songwriting approach. "Voivod" is generally a bit more energetic and less phychedelic though.

Upon release this album was met with mixed reactions. With the inclusion of Newsted and the return of Bélanger a lot of people thought that Voivod would go back to their roots and release a fast-paced, technical, and thrashy release, and others thought they would continue the progressive/phychedelic direction of "The Outer Limits" (1993), but releasing a vers/chorus structured and hard rocking album like this one probably wasn´t what most people expected...and thus Voivod did it again, and released an "expect the unexpected" type album. Voivod still deliver a bit of dissonance and some sci-fi themed lyrics, but this is the slightly more domesticated and less daring version of them.

The album features an organic, heavy, and well sounding production job. It´s a relatively stripped sound with concentrating on the power of the rhythm section, the guitar riffs, the rumbling bass, and Bélanger´s vocals, which sound like they´ve been recorded without effects (or at least with very few effects). Featuring no less than thirteen tracks and a total time of 65:38 minutes (although some of them are a hidden silence track), the album feels a little long. There´s simply not enough variation between the tracks and as all tracks are very basic vers/chorus compositions there aren´t many surprises or interesting details to hang on to. I´m not gonna use the word boring, but honestly my attention wanders from time to time when I listen to this album.

So coming from a statement like that and afterwards calling "Voivod" a decent quality release from Voivod may sound a little strange to some, but it is the type of release where I can hear the qualities and I´m able to appreciate parts of the album, but the overall package just doesn´t do enough for me to give a high rating. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

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