THE BEST OF VOIVOD

"The Best of Voivod" is a compilation album by Canadian thrash/progressive metal act Voivod. The compilation was released through Noise Records in 1992. It marks the end of the original lineup of vocalist Snake (Denis Bélanger), bassist Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault), drummer Away (Michel Langevin), and guitarist Piggy (Denis D'Amour), who appeared on all six studio albums where the tracks featured on this compilation are culled from. So other than "Cockroaches", which is CD bonus track on "Killing Technology (1987)" and therefore doesn´t appear on the original vinyl version of that album, "The Best of Voivod" is not a rarities compilation but an actual "best off" release as the title also suggests.

The compilation features 12 tracks. There´s only one track featured from "War and Pain (1984)", and three tracks featured from "Killing Technology (1987)" (including "Cockroaches"), but the other four albums are represented by two tracks each. There will always be discussions on wether this or that track should have been included or if some essential track was left off when it comes to compilation albums, but in my opinion the material on "The Best of Voivod" does a great job at telling the story of Voivod and the development of their unique sound.

From the early heavy/speed/thrash metal of the first two albums, to the progressive dissonant thrash of "Killing Technology (1987)" and "Dimension Hatröss (1988)", to the progressive/experimental/psychadelic rock/metal weirdness of "Nothingface (1989)" (including the cover of "Astronomy Domine" by Pink Floyd), to the heavy progressive rock/metal of "Angel Rat (1991)". All drenched in sci-fi atmospheres, adventurous musicianship, and Snake´s raw punked vocals in front. No matter which album you chose from Voivod always stood out from the pack as a truly unique and innovative act.

As far as compilations go, "The Best of Voivod" does what a "best of" should do. It provides the listener with a relatively shallow though reasonably representantive idea of what the artist has been up to in the given period that it covers. In this case Voivod from 1984 to 1991. Few will probably argue that a compilation is prefered over the regular studio albums that it represents, but a compilation can sometimes be a good way to be introduced to an artist at a reasonably low price. Judged by the material alone a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

'The Best Of Voivod' - Voivod (Compilation)

Voivod are not only one of the most important Canadian metal bands, but I would say they are one of the most important thrash acts of all time. Besides personally being one of the bands that got me back into metal and showed me that thrash was not all about speed and 'sick solos', Voivod is a band that will always hold a place in my heart. This is a best-of compilation for the band, a release which seems almost like a necessary custom by now for any band who releases over five albums. Although I think this album would have been much better if they had put off the release until after one of their best albums 'The Outer Limits' was released (I have a feeling the tracklisting here would have turned out a little differently if they had waited), this is a fairly good representation of the stylistic development Voivod made from their first to sixth album.

The earlier part of this compilation revolves around their speedy brand of thrash, but as 'The Best Of Voivod' goes on, you can tell that Voivod were quickly throwing in new quirks into their sound as they matured. All the same, there doesn't seem to be any attempt to make a complimentary flow on this album, and I feel that listening to the songs like this really doesn't do the music justice. Voivod were a very album-based band relative to other thrash acts, and seeing the songs piled into a best-of obviously cannot give the same effect as any of the albums from which these songs were taken. For the sake of a best-of compilation however, the songs picked are well chosen, and the equal representation of all albums from Voivod's career to that point in their career makes this a working survey of their early to mid career.