YES! Target Earth brings the Rock. Voivod lives!
The Canadian progressive metal legends are celebrating their (gasp!) 30th anniversary with their new release Target Earth. This is a special release for the band for many reasons. Most significantly, that it is the first release of new music since the tragic death of Voivod‘s former guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour (R.I.P. Piggy).
Voivod has released material since his passing based on his in-progress work, but Target Earth is all new Voivod. No one can ever fill the creative, innovative and powerful guitar style of ‘Piggy’, whic h was the backbone of Voivod‘s unique sound. That said, the soul of Piggy is clearly alive in the mind and fingers of new guitarist Daniel ‘Chewy’ Mongrain. You hear pure Voivod spirit pulsating through Target Earth on every track. It’s astonishing!
As with all Voivod albums their music will pull you in hundred directions before slamming you down breathless: fast, slow, start, stop, loud, soft, aggressive, tumultuous, strange, weird, powerful… Target Earth carries on this tradition offering ten provocative tracks and nearly an hour of innovative metal. Be warned, Voivod‘s material is dense and complicated and will turn off anyone wanting simple straight-forward metal. Voivod can exhaust your brain with its colourful enigmatic style. However, those who crave a deeper, substantial and potentially more rewarding experience will love this new release. I’m sure you could listen to Target Earth a hundred times and still hear new things. There is so much going on with each track….so much Voivod.
Appropriately the album Target Earth starts with the song Target Earth. The music begins with a crushing ‘blower‘ bassline by Jean -Yves ‘Blacky‘ Theriault. It doesn’t take long into Target Earth to recognize the established ‘Voivod‘ sounding guitar work now by ‘Chewy’ is alive and well. ‘Chewy’ brings the frantic and dizzying guitar style to new and impressive levels. As the guitar rages Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger’s vocals snarl and sound at home against the mercurial soundscape.
After the impressive opening song the curiously entitled song Kluskap O’Kom begins with bizarre chanting. It reminds me of the laughing pigs from Angry Birds… if they were a Marvel Villain doing an ‘evil laugh’. Very strange. Musically the track is solid and rocking with drummer Michel ‘Away’ Langevin pushing the momentum with an aggressive beat. The song is punctuated with some backing vocals which are uncommon in Voivod songs.
Voivod are at their prog best with the track ‘Mechanical Mind’. The song even starts off with percussion sounds like something off of Rush’s A Farewell to Kings, a classic progressive rock album. There are so many time changes and odd vocal melodies on the track it’s bewildering.
Another standout track is‘Resistance’ with its numerous pace changes, interesting musical cul de sacs and powerful ending. There is plenty of Voivod strangeness on Target Earth but there are also numerous catchy melodies, memorable riffs, beautifully brutal bass-lines and bombastic drum patterns. The material is well produced, thoughtfully crafted and musically persuasive. A few tracks might wear out their welcome for some listeners as many are six plus minutes. However if you don’t like a moment of a Voivod song just wait sixty seconds because it will change to something else.
Target Earth is audaciously challenging music and the album is an unconditionally brilliant addition to the Voivod catalog. It’s a fidgety complex journey that pounds and grinds, ultimately pushing progressive metal into some fantastic and inspiring neighbourhoods. A must for fans and anyone who enjoys melodic progressive metal. Forward speed!
Target Earth is now out on Century Media Records.
Review by Dave Guzda.
