Canadian space thrashers Voivod are celebrating forty years of bringing metal to mortals in the manner you might expect from them… on the road. Given the rising costs of touring this band has become a labor of love. I have seen Voivod multiple times going back to the 80s and while I only listen to them a fraction of what I did growing up, they always hold a place in my heart that inspires me to catch them whenever they land in town. They have a knack for picking hungry young band which forces Voivod to dig into their reserves and bring the A game. When I first saw them on the Nothingface tour Soundgarden opened up for them, as they toured to support “Louder Than Love”. Soundgarden’s live energy was at its peak then, forcing Voivod to turn up their post-apocalyptic heaviness.
I saw Voivod in a similar position when Amenra opened for them. The Belgian sludge warriors were crushing, and Voivod responded by splitting the difference with half the set bustling with their earlier punk-influenced thrash, and new prog epics taking up the rest of the setlist. This time around Imperial Triumphant was in tow with a different brand of weird than what Voivod brings, but it worked well.
At their Florida stop the tour came to the Floridian Social Club. Which is more of a theater in feel, or even space that fused more with Imperial Triumphant’s art deco motif. Local support came in the form of Tampa Death metallers Vacuous Depths, who grind out a dense blackened style of death metal, and Heaven’s Gate, which is the crossover thrash project involving Tony from Iron Regan/Municipal Waste and the drummer from Cannibal Corpse. Both bands went over well with the receptive crowd. Having lived in the Tampa Bay area for two years now, the metal scene is not as big as I expected given its death metal history. But the scene that is there is very supportive of the bands that do brave the heat to come through.
Imperial Triumphant had yet to grab me with their studio releases, but they proved to be pretty impressive live. The stage seems to be more their element which is odd when you consider how they add so many layers of sound in the studio. Their strength was the serpentine grooves that slither from their instruments. Less black metal than commonly heralded by the press, in fact they had more of a progressive death metal feel. They inspired me to go back and revisit their catalog with a different set of ears.
Voivod’s surviving members are 58-year-old singer Snake and 59-year-old drummer Away. Away’s drumming shows that the years have been kinder to him. He gracefully pulled off the wide range of dynamics their career has spanned from the thrashing punk of their earlier “War & Pain” songs to the more recent prog outings. They even played one of the heavier 1990s songs that served as the forerunner to what Meshuggah does today.
Snake’s voice has held up well enough for him to still be able to pull off the bulk of the k of the thrash era screams on the song “Killing Technology” which they opened with. Their 13-song set might have leaned toward their newest album Synchro Anarchy, but even then they only played three songs from it. Was this enough to satisfy the dude next to me who kept yelling for “Tribal Convictions?“ Well, when you have a career as long as Voivod tackling the entirety is not going to be possible. I thought they did a good job on touching almost every album, and was impressed that even Angel Rat and Phobos were represented. Phobos perhaps more so since it acknowledged the period without Snake.
https://youtu.be/MJFNUeIBiDk
While the band became known for writing conceptual albums rather than singles, when framed in their live set, it is evident not only how well the songs aged, but how they stand on their own when taken out of context of the album’s narrative. However, given the winding nature of their arrangements, Voivod was taking requests, the tour was obviously very rehearsed with little room for improvisation, with the setlist not varying much from show to show. Sure there is that moment where Jason Newsted joined them for a song at one gig, but aside from that it’s business as usual without feeling like they were punching a clock, as the enjoyment of their songs is retained after four decades. You can hear how they have influenced bands like Meshuggah and Tool, with their dystopian brand of prog metal. Voivod embraces their legacy as a labor of love, if they roll through your town make sure to catch them as it’s a history lesson in metal.
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WORDS BY WIL CIFER