Album DescriptionAvailable in:
"The Wake" is the fourteenth studio album, and eighteenth release overall, by Canadian heavy metal band Voivod. The album was released on September 21, 2018 through Century Media Records.
The artwork was done by drummer Michel "Away" Langevin. It is also a concept album, and the first Voivod studio album to feature bassist Dominique "Rocky" Laroche, who replaced Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault in 2014.
‘The Wake’ tells the story of the demise of the human race at the hands of a terrible force unleashed from under the seas. The story swirls with lysergic intensity like such classics as ‘Naked Lunch’, ‘War of the Worlds’, and ‘1984’. Reality is questioned in a chaotic maelstrom shaped on a sonic canvas that only Voivod can create. Snake’s lyrics provide a vast palate for your imagination to run wild.
User Album Review
What makes ‘The Wake’ a masterpiece is the beautiful cinematic weave of music throughout the album. Each song creates a scene which fade in and out of each act to move the story forward. The story begins with “Obsolete Beings”. The swirling miasma intro breaks into a looping gallop of drums and bass with chunky guitars and elegant arpeggios. Soon we hear one of many wonderful guitar solos by Chewy. He makes his guitar sing with lyrical beauty. The ethereal break near the end of the song changes up the timing as Snake croons “Is there some use for mankind?”
While the album is a concept in total, you can pull apart each song to enjoy on their own. One standout song is “Iconspiracy”. The opening of the song features chunky metallic riffs before upending the song in the middle with a sharp staccato riff accented with a string section. This phrase accelerates into a shredding guitar solo that is hammered home by the frantic pulse of drum and bass.
‘The Wake’ by Voivod is musical perfection of the highest order. On this record, the band has created a cinematic progressive metal masterpiece which yields a twisting tale of mankind’s demise. Few bands have spent their entire careers ingeniously creating art that is as compelling and provocative as Voivod. ‘The Wake’ stands at the top of an impressive catalog of musical endeavors that will intrigue new and old fans until we vanish beneath the seas.
Reviewed by Chuck Marshall for metalwani.com.
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments