Voivod
Negatron

THE REVIEW

Always among my favorite artists not only in the realm of metal; the Canadian Voivod deserve enormous respect for their consistency, the dedication they've shown in their endless career that began in the early eighties in the icy province of Quebec; and that still continues today. Thrash Metal in constant evolution without ever pausing; no commercial concessions. Never, ever.

Negatron is the eighth album, released at the end of 1995 during a not particularly idyllic moment. In fact, the historic singer Snake had just left the group in a bad way; they were also dropped by the record label "MCA Records". They are on the brink of a black abyss, just one step away from putting an end to a creative arc that had been intense and deadly until then. But Piggy and Away, the two founding members, do not give in to adverse fate; they want to start again and do so by hiring the almost unknown singer and bassist Eric Forrest.

The resulting album is a product of the turmoil of the time; a heavy work that abandons the Progressive – Psychedelic outbursts of the previous two albums. A partial return to the visceral sound of the beginnings, adding to this rocky industrial partitions. The production and the sounds of all the instruments make the tracks hallucinatory, terrifying in their development; a disproportionate power that leaves one astounded during the listening.

Tremendous, obsessive songs; a new challenge that is once again won. Voivod are frightening right from the initial and apocalyptic "Insect" and in the subsequent "Nanoman" and "Negatron". A killer, inhuman, psychotic machine.

As a term of comparison, they can undoubtedly recall a rogue cross between the cybernetic Thrash of Fear Factory (who in the same year released the absolute Bible of the genre titled "Demanufacture") and the Groove Metal of Pantera's "Far Beyond Driven".

They will go even further, even farther with the subsequent "Phobos".

The subtle audacity of a choice; the courage to be Voivod!!!...COSMIC CONSPIRACY...

Ad Maiora.