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Rating: What could have been, is, but will no longer be so.
One year ago, we lost the great Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, guitarist and founding member of this band, one of the best metal formations ever, always a step ahead of the rest, capable over the years of transitioning from the very violent beginnings in the name of the most uncompromising thrash metal to a crossover between '70s psychedelia and the most intelligent metal.
Voivod never missed a beat, adored by fans and critics alike over 25 years of career, they delivered at least four masterpieces that will remain cornerstones of metal. As I was saying, a terrible illness took Piggy last August, but not before he managed to record all the guitar parts for this album and the next one which will probably be released next year.
Saved inside his personal computer, they were taken up by his travel companions and formed the skeleton for the composition of the ten tracks presented here. The album is the continuation of the previous "Voivod" (2003), which marked the return of the old singer Denis "Snake" Belanger and the permanent entry of former Metallica bassist, Jason Newsted.
The songs are definitely less experimental than previous works but they reach back to that urgency of the beginnings with a very garage-punk attitude, yet, mind you, remaining 100% VOIVOD! Michel "Away" Langevin's work on drums, always the mastermind of the Voivod project, is as usual perfect and precise.
The opening entrusted to The Getaway is symbolic of the new path undertaken by the band, raw and direct sounds almost like Cyber-Techno Motorhead. Even the lyrics have temporarily abandoned the Fantasy-Space saga of the Voivod character to land on socio-political grounds. Dognation is martial in its progress and recalls the periods of Angel Rat (1991). Great riff on Mr. Clean, heavy After All, and Odds & Frauds. Red My Mind and Silly Clones confirm the rock spirit of the four, very direct, especially the latter, a ride that can still remind of Motorhead, with Jasonic's bass pulsing like never before.
No Angel has a chorus that sticks in your brain, never to let go, The X-Stream is the fastest of the album with its stoner-punk pace featuring great Snake on vocals and Newsted's heavy bass. Everything wraps up with Polaroids, tense from start to finish with Piggy’s guitars prominently featured, especially with the central "solo." A brilliantly crafted album, considering the way it was assembled. An album that perfectly summarizes Voivod's career and could have acted as a bridge to the future of a group for whom the future was its existential reason. Perhaps I have been somewhat partial in judging this work, but the conditions in which it was conceived and my love for these Canadians played a determining role. Now we can only wait for the second part of this work next year and see what the four survivors decide to do, but in light of Denis D'Amour's legacy, I believe it will be incredibly difficult to replace him.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
07 Silly Clones (03:17)
Go back to main menu
Pick up the icon
Made for you
Which one
Will look the best?
The transformation
Is in process
Made out of vanity
Everything
To reach eternity
100 percent restored
Biologic generator
In tubes
The liquid flows
The plasma
Feeds you by a hose
It's one new you indeed
But the results
Aren't guaranteed
In the valley
Of silly clones
Rebuilt people
To the bone
In the valley
Of silly clones
Where the people
Turn to stone
In the valley
Of silly clones
People made of
Styrofoam
In the valley
Of silly clones
Where the people
Die alone
09 The X-Stream (04:58)
There is the need for speed
Everything that exceeds
The point of no return
And this one's gonna hurt
All set before your eyes
A human sacrifice
It's time to clear the ramp
Who wants to take a chance
So let's roll
All night long
I like the smell of fuel
I got myself a bruise
The only time it's real
It's when I shift the gears
A few in every town
The death defying clowns
Gather with all their rigs
And kids are burning wheels
Yeah let's roll
All night long
Always pushing it to the X-Stream
Metal
One game to entertain
The gain is the pain
You might crash in flames
Or jump off the planes
The pavement's made of stones
In parts with broken bones
But you ain't out of luck
You live around the clock
Yeah let's roll
All night long
Always pushing it to the X-Stream
Metal
1001...1002...1003...Open
Another world record
And this one missed the curve
What's gonna make me stop
Who's gonna take my guts
One split second and go
One tire had to blow
C'mon and give me five
I died of what I liked
So let's roll
All night long
Always pushing it to the X-Stream
Metal
1001...1002...1003...Open
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