SOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-Kronik (1998).
Voivod in the E-Force era released two proper albums. But they also released their first live album and this hybrid collection. So at this point, there were almost more albums with this in retrospect least popular lineup of the band.
Kronik, with the least inspiring album cover of all (the fact that Away doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it even calls into question the “realness” of the release) has eleven songs on it The first three tracks are remixes. It’s fascinating to hear these really really heavy songs remixed in a techno way. I know by this time there was a lot of really heavy techno bands, so this isn’t totally unusual, and Voivod has been experimenting with industrial beats on the last two albums as well. It’s just fun to imagine these as dance remixes and to speculate who these remixes were made for. “Forlorn” sounds a bit like Helmet here. E-Force’s voice is so manipulated as to be almost unrecognizable. The solo section is also manipulated in a weird way, making this song sound, if not very different from at least somewhat different. There also appears to be some throat singing thrown on to the end of the mix. “Nanoman” gets the royal treatment—skittery beats, sounds dropping out and a major techno drum beat placed on top of it. “Mercury” is given a very fast electronic drumbeat but not much else. But in this version it sounds very classic industrial.
The next three songs are outtakes from the E-Force era. “Vortex” has a pummeling guitar riff and some massively screamed vocals. “Drift” opens slowly with some spacey guitars and distant rumbles of drums. After 90 second the screaming noise kicks into high gear. “Erosion” has a some steady heavy sections in between the bludgeoning. They basically all sound like the could have come from Phobos.
The next song “Ion” appeared on the soundtrack to Heavy Metal 2000 the movie and was unreleased until this album. It has some very cool moments in it and is a little less brutal than a lot of their music from this era. I rather like it.
The final four songs are live. “Project X” and “Cosmic Conspiracy” are tracks from the E-Force era, and they sound very close to the studio versions. I actually prefer E-Force’s voice here, as it is more natural sounding. “Nuclear War” comes from the very first album. E-Force’s screams are not too dissimilar to Snake’s, although I miss Snake’s pronunciations. But the music sounds better than on the album. And then there’s “Astonomy Domine.” This is the first live recording of the band (and the only song form the pre-E-Force era that’s on a live record. So it’s exciting to hear them playing this more complex song. The recording quality is not great, sadly. But the problem (once again) is E-Force’s voice. The first verse sounds fine, but as the song moves along he starts screaming a lot more. And this song just doesn’t lend itself to screaming. It’s shame.
So this collection is for die-hards and for people who love the heavier period of Voivod (which is not a majority I would guess).
[READ: September 30, 2013] Room 237
This article looks at The Shining, the film by Stanley Kubrick. It briefly mentions the book by Stephen King, but only briefly. And actually this article doesn’t so much look at the film as it looks at a film about The Shining called Room 237. And, actually, Room 237 is more about the people who have obsessed over The Shining for years and who have come up with very detailed theories about the movie.
Some of the theories that these fans have (and which appear in the movie) include: (more…)
I Just Read About That... 