I don’t know about you but it always swells my heart when a band I have followed through the years is still making fresh and invigorating material and not simply going through the motions as a nostalgia act. Voivod are a prime example as their 15th studio album proves, just over 40 years since they laid their first demo material down. One wonders what fuelled these thrashing mad teenagers back in 1981? Aside from the music it was probably youthful dreams and inspiration from the science fiction and futuristic visions that their music entangled itself in. Perhaps they were ploughing through novels by the likes of Moorcock, Aldis, Asimov, Ballard and Dick. Maybe it was the films that were coming out and anticipating dystopia. This was the year Connery was in the deep space Western void of Outland, when Max Rockatansky was wandering the wastelands as The Road Warrior, there were Galaxy’s Of Terror to explore, evil aliens down caves in Inseminoid and of course head exploding Canadian home grown horrors from Scanners. Nobody expected to be sitting here listening to a new album so far in the future and of course it has not come easy for these pioneers, memories of the fallen (RIP Piggy) have followed them through this limitless journey.
The good news is they are still targeting earth and taking us to the outer limits and there is no denying that there are new worlds still to chart. In the words of guitarist Chewy this is “pure Voivod” and despite the trickiness of conceiving ideas during lockdown the band sound incredibly co-ordinated and together. ‘Paranormalium (great title) with shrill guitar sonics and tumbling motifs takes up the journey and sounds like a poltergeist throwing things haphazardly around a haunted house. The technological impetus flows through the album and it never stands still for a second. Full of dizzying motion you are in for a tumbling journey over the 48-minute 9 track album as it lurches manically from pillar to post. It will screw with your head especially when combined with the ever-inventive visual accompaniments that the band have forged with various collaborators and the striking imagery of drummer Away’s fantastical cover-art. Melody is intricately fused. Vocalist Snake hitting the harmonies on the title track perfectly and the players positing progressive almost jazz like motion that shape-shift all over the place. Yes, this is possibly more of a brain-bamboozler of an album than we have had in a while but it is focussed and despite the “tech” embellishments gets in the head without crossing the delicate bridge between accessibility and pretentiousness. After a few listens I found myself caught in the grip of being invaded by the signature thrust and motion of its jaunty melodies in my head, with no possibility or desire to escape from them.
Extremity is not forgotten as the band suddenly move into frantic bursts and build on songs such as ‘Planet Eaters,’ with its undeniable message to the folly of rich space tourists but they stick to the time limits with things never outstaying their welcome. At 6:44 the longest number ‘Memory Clock’ allows them to both calm the turbulence momentarily with a slow limbering build up and project a somewhat sour and dour atmosphere which suggests all is not quite right on planet earth. I get that feeling of looking back at the past with fond memories, it may not have been perfect but compared to where we find ourselves today the future has certainly come and bitten us. This is a theme that crops up again on ‘The World Today’ but before we get there the album’s most compulsive track ‘Sleeves Off’ proves a bruising future pit monster with its upbeat grooves and compulsive at odds “I don’t like it” vocal clamour. There’s an overriding feel of pessimism about the album even without the lyrics being completely available, track titles like ‘Quest For Nothing’ project a hopelessness and ‘Memory Failure’ the closure perhaps a futility that we are all destined for a doomed dementia. Snake’s vocals kind of enforce this but the future is unwritten and glimmers of hope shine through. Perhaps it’s a case of reading too much into things but with the music being so unsettling and in near turmoil one cannot shrug this overriding vibe. The journey is a bit like reading an old 2000AD Future Shock but it is here right now, we have arrived and it is very much a jolt to the system to realise it.
You can put all this aside though and rock out with a collection of songs that have that classic Voivod drive and intensity about them and if that doesn’t bring a smile to your face and you leave you with a vision that things will return to normal, nothing will. All hope is not lost and you will be able to look forward to supping an ale whilst bouncing around to these songs live as these hardened road-dogs are able to hit the live stage once again. Until then Synchro Anarchy will provide plenty to digest and keep us all very much connected. Voivod’s legacy lives on, long may it continue.
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply