Quebec's
Voivod has endured its share of ups and downs over 40 years. From personnel changes and tragedy (the 2005 death of founding guitarist
Denis "Piggy" D'Amour), to splits, reunions, stylistic changes, label headaches, ebbs and flows in popularity, they've seen it all. During the 1980s they were the prophets of sci-fi-influenced recordings such as
Killing Technology,
Dimension Hatröss, and
Nothingface. During the '90s they layered in heavy neo-psych and hard and stoner rock on
Angel Rat, and metal classicism on
The Outer Limits and Voivod. The woolly, ambitiously experimental
The Wake set another high bar and won a Juno award.
Synchro Anarchy employs the same lineup as its predecessor for the first time in a decade. Their instantly discernible yet angular sound is evidenced within 15 seconds on opening track "Paranormalium." It showcases Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain's razor-sharp, dissonant guitar shards in a meld of jagged prog metal, careening thrash, and doomy stoner rock. Dominique "Rocky" Laroche's upmixed, punishing bassline collides with Michael "Away" Langevin's thunderous drumming which alternates between blastbeats and hard-grooving death metal swing.
Denis "Snake" Belanger's vocal tightrope walks between a whiskey sneer and a grainy roar, rising above insane shifts in time signatures as his lyrics explore social, cultural, and economic pessimism. The title cut is catchy on the surface as the band's fierce display of musicianship sees each member meet the composition's rigorous demands and exceed them. Mongrain's playing is jaw-dropping; his intricate yet pluralistic approach weds his long developed garagey jazz-rock approach to
Piggy's semi-atonal takes on proggy thrash and death metal. Chewy blurs sounds from the technologically burdened human world with those of the natural one. On "Planet Eaters,"
Snake's lyric is dredged in dystopian futurism, even as he illustrates the dangers of living in a dreamlike world. The band invokes both
Frank Zappa and
Meshuggah with jarring meter changes and dynamic transitions. A moody, fingerpicked electric guitar meets rumbling tom-toms in the intro to "Mind Clock." After
Snake delivers the opening verse in a near croon, the mode changes. Dissonant overtones ring and rattle before the time shifts and returns as syncopated thrash. "Holographic Thinking" commences with a punchy guitar and drum chug before Mongrain -- whose playing is a highlight throughout -- begins to add jarring asides, filled with neo-psych riffing that recalls
Led Zep's "Immigrant Song." Rocky and Langevin writhe atop
Snake's disturbed vocal. The nihilistic "Quest for Nothing" is driven by Langevin's syncopated drumming and a refracted guitar vamp that holds the tension between roaring death metal and proggy thrash, with a nearly funky cadence!
Voivod understood that
The Wake would be a daunting album to follow, so they didn't try. Instead, they indulge a "kitchen sink" approach on
Synchro Anarchy. Their compositional creativity is at once complex and sophisticated while remaining inherently accessible. They match a ferocious appetite for muscular musicality with intricate attention to production details and rigorous energy. ~ Thom Jurek