Voivod: Brain Scan

Alright, I leave you with a weighty chunk of outer space deep freeze freak out music. Once again from Voivod's "Dimension Hatross" album. "Brain Scan" rivals even Helios Creed's weirdest recordings. Some fucked up space music indeed. On that note I bid you good night. Sorry not too much on the blog this week. New stuff will be coming, so stay tuned.

VOIVOD: INFINI

"Inifini" is Voivod's newest and final album. It was recorded using guitarist Piggy's guitar tracks exactly as he recorded them on his laptop before his death. Due to the nature of this album and the fact that it was recorded after Piggy's death, I was a bit hesitant about how "Infini" would turn out. After all, Piggy was the driving musical force behind the band. I was worried that "Infini" would sound rather patched together. After hearing this album, I was surprisingly mistaken.

"Infini" comes very close to being the strongest release of the band's career. It reminds of the greatest moments of the discordant, psychedelic thrash of "Dimension Hatross" and the heavy, science fiction rock of "The Outer Limits". It is really a throw back to Voivod at their strongest. Their last few albums with Snake back on vocals and Metallica's Jason Newstead on bass only hint at the quality that this album brings. It features the heaviest and most brilliant guitar playing of Piggy's career. Mind blowing, psychedelic guitar solos and discordant, machine-like chords abound. Jason Newstead's bass playing has never sounded so heavy and aggressive. Snakes' vocals sound as inhuman, cybernetic, and aggressive as ever. In fact the band sounds very cohesive, It's hard to imagine that Piggy was not there during the recording and that his guitar tracks were used untampered with, exactly as he recorded them.

All tracks are great on this album. Dissonant, frightening, and catchy. Some of my favorites include "God Phones", "Global Warning" and "Deathproof". On "Infini" Voivod masterfully blends psychedelic thrash metal with trippy, cyber/space rock. An impressive album indeed, and a fitting, final note to their career. Highly recommended.

MASTODON: CRACK THE SKYE

Mastodon's latest release "Crack the Skye" is somewhat of a departure from the visceral heaviness of their previous works. It is slower, minus alot of the metal riffing that Mastadon is famous for, and features more melodic vocals. What you have instead is a sprawling, prog rock opus, filled with complex beauty.

How to describe the sound on this disc? It reminds of the heavy psychosis and dissonant psychedelic space metal of Voivod, circa "Dimension Hatross". There is a strong King Crimson influence, with highly experimental guitar work and complex time signatures. I also hear a strong Coroner influence with some dark, discordant, depressive mid-paced progressive thrash guitar playing. And Sabbath. Mastodon at times on this album channels the spirit of Ozzy, with some vocals sounding akin to his, and with some quality doomy frayed nerve endings riffing. What this album lacks in pure speed in aggression it makes up for in complex, beautiful. and frightening layers of sound. Listen to this disc on a good set of speakers or headphones. The production is very full and deep, and you won't want to miss any nuances. Lyrically, "Crack the Skye" is a deep, somewhat abstract, psychedelic science fiction concept album, akin to the sprawling concept works of Voivod. All the tracks are great, and once again, this an album that must be listened to as a whole as the songs flow into each other without breaks. Highly recommended. It is not the Mastodon you may be used to, but I promise that "Crack the Skye will not disappoint.

VOIVOD: THE OUTER LIMITS

Voivod's "The Outer Limits" (1993). This is my personal favorite Voivod album. From the 3-D cover art (3-D glasses are enclosed), to the super catchy, streamlined progressive sci-fi metal, to the 1950's futuristic paranoia and nostalgia of the lyrics, this is a must have for any fan of psychedelic space metal. This is Voivod at their peak, combining the heaviness and dissonant psychosis of "Dimension Hatross" with the progessive rock of "Nothingface", and the outright space pop of "Angel Rat" with startling results. This is the true sound of futiristic sci-fi cyber metal. "The Outer Limits" is a good title because this album throws you right back into that time frame and the mood of the classic television series... a stark, innocent black and white world where the future is unknown and paranoia and fear looms around every corner...with outrageous story lines that keep you glued to the screen, or speakers in this case.

Snake's vocals are superb, cold, robotic, and human at the same time. Piggy's guitar playing is at it's peak, channeling all sorts of discordant psychedelic demons while cranking out one irresistible riff after another. He even plays the bass tracks on this album as well. Away's drumming is as always perfect, with plenty of double bass. His artwork also graces the entire album. His 3-D artwork is one of the highlights of this disc to me. I love throwing on the 3-D glasses on and looking at the way out there artwork while soaking the music in...

This is hands down Voivod's best release. Sadly, after this album, the band would re-structure and reshape their sound into a more commercially beneficial avenue with a different singer...a more death metal style with growling vocals but still way out there heaviness. This version of Voivod just didn't suit me but they soon reformed with Snake back on vocals and Metallica's Jason Newstead on bass. More on their new re-incarnation later.

For now, it is "The Outer Limit's". I can't think of a favorite song. All are great. I love the robotic opener "Fix My Heart"...and the lost in the cold depths of space "Lost Machine". There is also a cover of Pink Floyd's "The Nile Song", and the lengthy space opera epic "Jack Luminous"....

I love Voivod and I will always blog about their material whenever I get a chance. "The Outer Limits" is truly their greatest album...it makes me feel as if I'm caught in the deepest and darkest realms of pulp science fiction with no desire to escape.

Here's "Fix My Heart"...

Voivod- Fix My Heart - Voivod

...and "Time Warp". Enjoy. This is a hard to find album. It's back in print on CD as a limited re-issue. I remember buying it on tape as a brand new release at a special price of $5.99, 3-D glasses included. This is the copy I still have to this day.

VOIVOD: DIMENSION HATROSS

Voivod is a highly original French-Canadian, progressive, futuristic cyber-metal band. Their material throughout the 1980's was very guitar heavy and thrash metal oriented infused with psychedelia and highly experimental guitar work and rhythms. They got some of their strange sound by playing riffs from 1970's prog rock bands backwards, and their agonizing first album "War and Pain" demonstrates this. My favorite album of theirs from the 1980's is their masterpiece "Dimension Hatross"(1988). It is one of the heaviest, well written, addictive yet disorienting metal albums I have ever heard. The dissonant, psychedelic, and machine-like guitar playing of Piggy is inhuman. The relentless drumming of Away and the aggressive and distorted bass playing of Blacky add fuel to Piggy's guitar work. Snake's vocals are chillingly cold and cybernetic yet tuneful. The lyrics are creative and very science fiction oriented. "Dimension Hatross" is about a cyborg from outer space, The Voivod, who creates a micro-galaxy of his own design. As the album progresses you see some of the events that unfold in this galaxy and the problems that arise from being the creator of your own universe.

"Dimension Hatross" is an album that I have never grown tired of. Listening to it today, it still sounds at least 100 years ahead of it's time. In late 1989, Voivod would release "Nothingface", a highly melodic and polished prog-rock masterpiece, and would venture into a phase of more accessible sounding yet still adventurous and excellent music...but that is for another day. From their cyber-thrash days of the 1980's, "Dimension Hatross" is their best release. Highly recommended.

Here's "Tribal Convictions" and Psychic Vacuum".