Review Summary: A godless endeavor in rewriting the alphabet of progressive rock.
An ancient Hellenic proverb says that nothing stays hidden under the sun for too long (
Ουδ*ν κρυπτόν υπό του ηλίου). This proverb also applied for Voivod, the quirky metal act from the French speaking province of Quebec in Canada. In a somewhat awkward appointment with fate, the immense artistic success of their previous album,
Dimension Hatross, their extensive touring with already established thrash metal bands such as Kreator and their overall and ever-growing fame in the underground, turned some heads from the major music labels over the band’s side for close inspection. Eventually, Voivod signed a contract with the major label of Mechanic/MCA records. Only a year after the release of their tech-thrash masterpiece
Dimension Hatross, Voivod release their new album,
Nothingface, a godless endeavor in rewriting the alphabet of progressive rock.
In
Nothingface, Voivod stray away from tech-thrash, while they thoroughly emphasize on those highly inventive/original prog ethics that made
Dimension Hatross (more) and
Killing Technology (less) masterpieces in their respective domain. The rhythm section of Away and Blacky, always detached from the prevailing trend of a band’s rhythm section either thrashing (or tech-thrashing) everything in its way or having their members’ heads conditioned with tons of hairspray, becomes even more volatile yet firm with respect to the past. The evolution and the welding of the ensemble or rhythms per song, are second to none and this comparison includes critically acclaimed progressive rock bands such as King Crimson or Pink Floyd, to name a few. The same apply with Piggy’s guitars, while the ever-present punk element in his previous work is almost (but not completely) absent here. The elements that prevail come in the form of subtle yet apt psychedelic leads placed when least expected or asymmetrically frenzied rhythm guitars, being on par with the equally arrhythmic rhythm section. The punk element in here, holds exclusively due to Snake’s i(c/r)onic vocals. The lyrics continue to evolve around sci-fi affairs, only now the latter are far more abstract and sinister when compared to the loose but clearly set lyrical concepts of
Killing Technology and
Dimension Hatross.
The change in song writing ethics brought a corresponding change in the sound production as well. Voivod cease their fruitful collaboration with Harris Johns and trust the console to Glenn Robinson. The sound production is an acquired taste. The overall sound is the cleanest the band had ever had, yet it feels “clinical” not always in a good sense. Rhythm section, vocals and lead guitars are sounding as they should, but the suppressed distortion levels of the rhythm guitars take something away from the record’s overall dynamics, without compromising, however, in the least, its pioneering progressive rock nature.
Overall, the band is so notoriously confident of its capabilities so as to perform a superb cover of a Syd Barrett song, “Astronomy Domine”, amplifying the dynamics of the latter by a factor close to infinity. In a severe twist of a metaphor, it’s as if Voivod set foot in
Nothingface to fully realize the Uncertainty Principle of that mad Physics scientist Heisenberg, who proved that the momentum and the position of an electrically charged particle could not be simultaneously determined with apt accuracy. The dedicated tracking of the ever changing dynamics of each song will inherently undermine the
complete realization of the subtle beauty that lies in the myriads of details. If the focus shifts to the aforementioned details, the failure in
fully capturing and digesting the intelligent evolution of each song will be imminent. This perpetual battle between form and detail is what makes
Nothingface of infinite musical worth.
In conclusion, with
Nothingface Voivod wear the wings of Icarus to fly as close to their sun of inspiration and they scandalously get away with it. This album simultaneously ties and unties the Gordian knot, giving multiple beautiful headaches to those who will wish to come closer to its end dynamics and to the band, only both are pretty much like the nothing-face of the record’s cover. Open in every possible interpretation, capable of accomplishing
anything.
