PHOBOS

I'm a big Voivod fan, but listening to this album, which was named after a moon of Mars, is one of the most difficult freetime activity. Second album with Eric Forrest and it's heavier than its predecessor, but not as straight (and unimagitive) album as "Negatron". The structures of the songs somehow reminds me the early "Killing Technology" era: heavy, crazed, dissonant, cold. Lost in a mysterious space without any hope of return. This album makes me feel like I'm lost in a dark cold sci-fi alien world. When I bought this album, I simply couldn't listen to it in its entirety, the dark atmosphere combined with noisy thrash midtempo riffs over one hour was too much for me. Only a couple of years later realised its genius. For this album the band also covered the King Crimson song '21st Century Schizoid Man'.

Highlights: Phobos, Bacteria, Temps Mort, Tower and the intro/outro of Neutrino.

If you are a Voivod newbie, do not start with this, it's definitely not everyone's music. For the brave inquisitive progheads I recommend the 'holy trinity': "Nothingface", "Angel Rat" and "The Outer Limits". "Phobos" is only for the 'chosen ones'.

6.5-7/10