ULTRAMAN

Following the release of the amazing Synchro Anarchy earlier this year, Canadian metal madmen Voivod return with an EP celebrating the Japanese tokusatsu franchise Ultraman. For the many of you who are probably unaware, tokusatsu is a genre of Japanese media that makes heavy usage of special and practical effects, with the most famous examples being Godzilla and Super Sentai (adapted as Power Rangers in the West). Voivod being into Ultraman is not too surprising, as science fiction has been a notable lyrical influence on quartet ever since their inception.

On this EP, they cover the opening, victory theme, and closing of the original Ultraman TV show along with two live tracks taken from their performance at Festival Jonquière en Musique in 2018. The vinyl release also includes several different versions of the Ultraman tunes sung in the original Japanese, French, and English, as well as instrumental versions of the opening and closing themes. Voivod translates these Ultraman tracks quite faithfully while keeping their distinct style of jazzy thrash intact, with guitarist Chewy throwing in spicy chords, fret slides, and other sound effects into the background. Bassist Rocky's unique staccato picking accentuates the bass lines throughout as well, particularly in the victory theme, where he really gets his time to shine. The live tracks, "Overreaction" and "Voivod", are performed extremely well, with the quartet playing with explosive vigor and can clearly still put on a killer show, quite impressive considering that they have been doing this for 40 years at this point.

Although I'm extremely happy about the quality of this release, the fact that there is no CD release as of yet is quite disappointing, as the only way to get a physical copy is to purchase the limited edition vinyl. Most people will most likely consume this EP through digital platforms, the issue is that there is simply less content available to listen to via these means, a concept of which I have never been thrilled with. This decision may be rectified in the future, although of this EP being somewhat a novelty in its nature, I sincerely doubt that will happen.

If you're a newcomer to Voivod, I can't really recommend this EP as a good starting point, but if you are a diehard fan of this band already, especially if you are interested in Japanese culture as I am, I would definitely encourage giving this release a spin.