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Rating: Dan Mongraine... What’s the best way to celebrate the fact that my idols didn't leave with "Piggy"? I'll do it by re-listening to their most controversial work after a long time. "Angel rat" at the time surprised everyone a bit, critics, the record label, and especially the fans who weren't yet accustomed to the Canadian combo's constant stylistic shifts. And it surprised me too. Surprised, not disgusted, mind you. On the contrary...! Once I had the CD in hand, I realized that the ultra-lysergic cover and the cold, bizarre, and grotesque lyrics wouldn't help me in my decryption task. But, like all other Voivod works, I had to dissect and analyze it carefully to truly feel it as my own. Complicating my life was Jean Yves "Blacky" Theriault's departure and his six-string bass. Blacky still appears in the credits, though.
On the first listen, what strikes you are the less sharp, warmer sounds (after "Nothingface" it didn't take much), as well as production and sound finally worthy of a major label. A very radio-friendly heavy metal album in terms of sound but equally complicated on a deeper listen, with frequent electronic layers and never dull bass-guitar lines. There are thrash and punk rhythms, but rock is king. Seasoned with a good dose of psychedelia, especially in the frequent bridges. To confirm all this, there's the straightforward rock of "Panorama" to open, followed by the lysergic interludes of "twin dummy" and "best regard" with a reverberated but very powerful bass, the moments of madness like "Nuage fractal", the ballads like the title track and "freedom" which introduce us to the apocalyptic finale: "A. global destruction B. Blown up in flames C. Polluted oceans D. Seas of disease... None of the above!".
The lyrics, as said, are a series of little fairy tales, always sinister if not downright sick, and always with a moral. But above all, always with a good dose of poetry that replaced the expressive ice of previous works. In the case of "Twin dummy", a ventriloquist and his puppet are abandoned by the circus... "Dummy says, 'Til the end, My dear friend, My right hand" the psycho-fantasy of "Nuage fractal" with a phrase I find autobiographical "We get lost, in this chaos, Too soon for us, to be in touch...", the splendid journey of "The prow": "Lorelei, I have thee, in front of my ship, Cutting waves, at full speed, Savouring the trip..." ending in the cold world of the techno-slave "Golem": "Whatever to serve my master, Anything to save my master". Not a concept anymore, therefore, but a collection of figures, characters, and situations that recreate a sensation of chaos and which figuratively are represented one by one on the cover. If I really need to find faults, I'd say "The outcast" doesn't take off, and is forced. While "Nuage..." was probably meant to be the point of contact between the more cyber Voivod and the new Voivod, but it's practically identical to "Chaosmongers", it's a case of self-plagiarism.
So, as was said, Dan Mongraine. Certainly replacing Piggy is difficult but not impossible, at least in terms of interpretation. Dan is a chubby guy (but oh, we'll see what nickname he chooses...) with flowing blond hair, former guitarist of Marryr (?), a good headbanger but above all a good guitarist. There’s a video circulating online of "Tornado" dated 2008 and the kid does well. New album? Moreover, on bass, it seems I've recognized Blacky who, excuse me for thinking so, is a true Voivod, while Newsted, beyond his friendship with Away, was an attempt to build a new audience. However, Voivod is still here, they exist, and I apologize for this ramble.
Just to conclude, "Angel rat" is another great album from a great and very unfortunate band that I'm sure will continue to offer us exceptional musical moments and even if it weren't so, they've already left us with an incredible series of masterpieces. The Voivod can have a clean conscience with everyone...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Panorama (03:13)
Walking down an alley
Deep in blue neon
A dead end for today
Under skyways worn
Concrete from far below
Rising up above
Surrounded by shadows
Garden without gods
All are strangers alike
All riding the blind
The purple of blind
The purple of their eyes
In reverie unwind
Circling sub-city
A rainbow appears
To calm down the fury
To calm all the fears
This random occurance
Is only a sign
Of the incoherence
In the clockwork mind
A symphony of our time
Recalling the past
People in a decline
Denying the vibrations we're made of
Somber drama
Rolling down hill
Panorama
All is so still
Anyway, anyhow
Anyhow, anyway
End of all reason
Is what I go through
Yes, it is what I go through
Slip-sliding nation
Is what they must do
Yes, it is what they must do
Over the greying landscape
Under a deadened sky
Sitting on a mountain
I will stand aside
As I am a witness
I turn a blind eye
I am feeling helpless
But it passes by
Is this a modern legend?
Maybe a fairy tale
Just a future requiem
Cutting along the fiction that we're
Made of
03 Clouds in My House (04:48)
Zoning in a hall of glass
plasma flowing from a cask
piercing overtones
mainline into my back pack
it's full of clouds in my house
a grey hive, humming white souls
frenzy reviving the room
energized by many flumes
drip-drop, on my head
wakes me from a thousand moons
circle dance inside the cave
all movement brings a message
larvae, in their holes
waiting for a summer daze
04 The Prow (03:50)
There you are, you're with me
Protecting all my crew
I carved you, from a tree
My vision is you
Lorelei, I have thee
In front of my ship
Cutting waves, at full speed
Savouring the trip
Down the mirror of the waterline
Leaning over underwater life
Hidden treasures of the seven seas
I'm starboard to nowhere
On the Milky Way
Howling wind, salty air
Tearing at the sails
Looking down the crow's nest
Gliding in the sky
Without sound, going west
Boating on the fly
But some day
You'll go home
Far away
On your own
Dans la mer
You'll go down
Go down where
You belong
06 Twin Dummy (03:07)
Dummy says
I have dreams
Frightening screams
I have dreams
Dummy says
It's too late
Big mistake
It's too late
The circus left without me
And I'm alone with you now
Dummy says
Stay with me
Talk to me
Stay with me
Dummy says
Holiday
Come and play
Holiday
Big top
Carousel
Cotton candy
Where am I?
Fun house
Acrobat
Fortune teller
All of me, all fades away
Dummy says
My dear friend
Here you stand
My right hand
Dummy says
'til the end
My dear friend
My right hand
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