Experimental music – or, at least, music that is classified as
\none particular genre and doesn’t quite fit into it – is always very
\nhard to adjust to. It took me a long time to learn to appreciate
\nKing Crimson – I couldn’t do so when I was younger, but as I’ve
\ngotten older, I’ve found the pleasure in their music.<\/p>\n
Canada’s Voivod is another case of experimental music – if
\nanything, you could call them the heavy metal version of King
\nCrimson. And while there are some moments on their latest release
\nPhobos<\/i> that demonstrate why this band has lasted for well
\nover a decade, it is often hard to get through in one listen.<\/p>\n
The band – bassist\/vocalist Eric Forrest, guitarist Dennis
\nD’Amour and drummer Michel Langevin – have best been known as a
\nthrash metal band, but their music has always had quite a bit of
\nexperimental aspects to it. While the biggest experiment I heard in
\nthe music – metal meets industrial – might not be considered
\ngroundbreaking, throw in a touch of ambient noise – ah, now, we’re
\nonto something!<\/p>\n
Too bad it doesn’t work out perfectly on paper – oops, CD. Some
\nsongs like “Quantum,” “Forlorn” and “Neutrino,” just don’t take off
\nlike Voivod would have liked them to. In fact, by the time you get
\nto the midpoint of
\nPhobos<\/i>, it becomes rather difficult to listen to. (To be
\nhonest, I had a hard time getting through Voivod in the late ’80s
\nwhen they were the next big name to break, but this is a better
\nsounding product than some of the older material.)<\/p>\n
Ironically, where
\nPhobos<\/i> falls is also where it succeeds. Songs like “The
\nTower” kick in the right amount of industrial into the mix, making
\nthe song quite enjoyable. Likewise, the title track, “Bacteria” and
\n“Mercury” are more listenable than some of their album cohorts.<\/p>\n
One song, “M-Body,” might succeed thanks to a collaborator on
\nthe tune – a bassist named Jason Newsted. Perhaps you’ve heard of
\nhim, and the little band he’s with called Metallica? Surprisingly,
\nwhatever hand Newsted had in this song, it still sounds like
\nvintage Voivod – and this, eventually, is a very good thing.<\/p>\n
The experimental circle comes to fruition with their cover of
\nKing Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man,” a cover which is not
\nonly close to the bone, but is executed damned well. You can tell
\nthe difference between the two versions (King Crimson’s is a tad
\njazzier sounding), but Robert Fripp should look upon this version
\nwith great respect.<\/p>\n
Overall,
\nPhobos<\/i> is an album that’s for the diehard Voivod fans. If
\nyou’ve only heard a little Voivod, this will still be an
\nentertaining listen, if not a tad challenging. For the newcomer,
\nit’s just as good a spot to start in the Voivod catalog as any –
\nbut expect to give this disc at least five listens before you
\nreally get into it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7491],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39188","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-voivod","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39188"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}