One of the most influential thrash metal acts of the eighties, progressive Canadians Voivod have never been content with sitting back and churning out the same record over and over again. A constant desire for change and reinvention has meant the quartet from Jonquière, Quebec has had to endure much unnecessary and often ludicrous pigeon-holing over the years. Post-Thrash. Punk. Speed. Proto-Industrial. Avant-Garde. Progressive. And even Nuclear Metal (whatever that is).
Tronos is a side-project born of many late-night conversations between the two of the more prolific creative forces in underground metal, Napalm Death legend Shane Embury and legendary producer Russ Russell. Joining them is the equally talented Dirk Verbeuren on drums, Billy Gould, Troy Sanders and Dan Lilker on bass and vocals by Snake from Voivod – there’s no shortage of talent on display here. Continue reading
The legendary Testament will be releasing their twelfth album, Brotherhood Of The Snake, on October 28th via Nuclear Blast, and have released an online game to get you even more excited for the new material. Continue reading
Voivod release their Post Society EP on Century Media records, their latest release which continues their career long war against pigeonholing. Opening with title track ‘Post Society’ one of the 2 new tracks on the album starts off with a fierce bass line from Rocky which rattles and rolls together with Away’s drumming. The slow section around the halfway mark dropping a bit of momentum, which isn’t immediately rewarded with Voivod’s spacey goodness.
‘Forever Mountain’ is a solid track and makes good use of syncopated rhythms, combining nicely with the jazzy guitar work. The overall track is lacking something which is hard to pinpoint. However, most notably it lacks the otherworldly quality of earlier releases.
Third track ‘Fall’ starts of quietly with some spoken vocals which gently build into a fairly pedestrian track, plodding along for the majority of its first half minutes. It’s only in the last half of the track that it comes alive and show some distinct promise. The last half feels more like the Voivod of old and makes me feel excited again for a new album.
Following on from that ‘We are Connected’ is a much stronger track which has a good vibe and energy about it and has a very similar feel to opener ‘Post Society’ with a good driving beat. This is followed by a cover of Hawkwind’s ‘Silver Machine’ is a harder yet faithful re-invention of the classic which is a very pleasing listen indeed. The original is rightly a classic and Voivod’s version certainly does it justice with Snake channeling his inner Lemmy to provide a suitable tribute to the departed legend.
Post Society essentially serves as a stop-gap for those waiting on a new album proper, it does only feature only two new tracks, two tracks previously released, and a cover. On that basis it’s almost inevitable that this EP whilst a very solid effort sadly falls a bit short of Voivod’s interstellar standards.
6.5/10
RICHARD PRICE
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