Short Reviews [Voivod - 2023 - "Morgoth Tales"]

Voivod have consistently been one of the most interesting bands to come out of the thrash scene and these days they are warmly embraced by progheads as they are who are way more into metal. There have been quite a few line-up changes over the years, with drummer Michel "Away" Langevin the only constant, but co-founder and singer, Denis "Snake" Belanger, returned more than 20 years ago while the current line-up has been incredibly stable for the last nine years with Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (guitars) and Dominic "Rocky" Laroche (bass). To celebrate their fortieth anniversary the band selected songs from the first half of their career, going all the way back to 1984, and re-recorded them with the current line-up along the new title cut. In a nice touch they also invited back past members Eric "E-Force" Forrest (vocals, bass) and Jason "Jasonic" Newsted (bass) to play on the song they each originally recorded. It is certainly interesting to hear how the band have changed over the years, and it is nice they have put the tracks in original release order, so as we work through there is that progression. Voivod are often grouped with Sacrifice, Razor and Annihilator as part of the "big four" of Canadian thrash, yet to my ears they have always had an element which set them well apart from the rest of the crowd, being way more technical in their approach, never afraid to move in a different direction and their riffs are so sharp and jagged that they need to be classified as dangerous weapons. More than 40 years after their inception they are still taking music in different directions, and it is interesting to hear just how relevant this music is all this time on from when they wrote it. The earliest song is "Condemned To The Gallows", which originally appeared on 1984's 'Metal Massacre V' but it is still exciting and cutting today. The most recent song is "Rebel Robot" from their 2003 self-titled release, so there is nothing from the last five albums, but in many ways that makes sense as they look back over their history and concentrate on the earliest. For those who have yet to come across Voivod (the question there must be, "Why?"), then here is a nice way to sample their catalogue with modern recording techniques from a band who really know what they are doing. This is thrash being taken to totally different level.