Album Review: Voivod, "Angel Rat"

VOIVOD are unpredictable – an immensely strange talent who were instrumental in the development of the techno-Metal/Thrash sound. Over the years their playing has progressed and developed through five LPs tackling the ongoing saga of the 'voivod,' the mythical creature they wove their musical adventures around. The new LP Angel Rat, on MCA and their sixth, represents a complete departure from both the 'voivod' story and also their past noisy musical style.

Angel Rat is no less strangely intelligent concept wise. They have based the lyrics on some Irish and Russian folk tales, and primarily on the Chaos Theory by James Gleick – heavy stuff indeed. Music-wise, it is a shock – 12 very complex melodies evident as usual, but the whole direction of the sound has changed. Perhaps it reflects Blacky's departure from the group. Now sporting three members: Piggy, Away, and Snake, the new Voivod is moody, melodic, harmonious, and layered.

A listen to the title track Angel Rat will reveal waves of melody. "What is this indie stuff?" my flatmate commented on hearing it. Hints of old memories of past incarnations of Voivod – the vocals but now softly matured, and tinges of their distinctive old guitar sound, drift in and out of the new manicured style.

I felt compelled to play RRRoooaaarrr and Killing Technology after listening to this, just to judge how wide the chasm between the old and the new was. It was like trying to compare LEONARD COHEN and MOTORHEAD. On their last tour in Canada, Voivod supported RUSH, once an inconceivable match – maybe this cemented their new sound.

I vaguely liked it – it is slightly boring and a remarkable change. It is a definite 'chill-out' record, and saying that VOIVOD have created a 'chill-out' record is staggering.

GRADE C+

Marion Garden
Riff Raff
January 1992

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!

2 comments:

Edwin Oslan13 February 2021 at 20:32
Man, you need to go back to 1992 and fire Marion Garden. What a lousy review! Angel Rat is awesome, and the review betrays someone who didn't really listen to the album. First of all, it's LESS complex than its predecessors, Dimention: Hatross and Nothingface, and it's more heavy psyche prog than tech thrash, but it still rocks. The fact that he doesn't even mention the producer, Terry Brown, betrays this reviewer's ignorance.