ALBUM REVIEW

Voivod

Target Earth Century Media ¬¬¬¬ out of five Voivod is timeless. That doesn’t mean the Quebec progressive/thrash metal band is frozen in stasis. Rather, it’s a testament to its uncompromising insistence on ever-changing, experimental futurism, with every album existing outside of contemporary style in some alternative universe where guitar pickups are wormholes and drumbeats ripple in gravity wells.

The band’s 13th studio album is the first to feature guitarist Daniel (Chewy) Mongrain instead of late founding guitarist Denis (Piggy) D’Amour. Intricate and multi-faceted, Target Earth is complex without being convoluted, layered without losing the artillery-scarred aggression that so defines Voivod. This isn’t the polished, industrial precision of Meshuggah; this is a war machine made by mad scientists, fuelled by gristle and hash oil. On songs like Kluskap O’Kom, Denis (Snake) Bélanger’s vocals are strained, menacing and mysterious, like a warlock lifting weights. And while Mongrain’s guitars aren’t quite as jagged as D’Amour’s, tracks like Mechanical Mind and Kaleidos show them to be every bit as inventive and intriguing.

Podworthy: Kluskap O’Kom

AL KRATINA