Voivod – Voivod (2003)

April 19, 2023

Notable for being the first album of Voivod’s to feature Jason Newsted on bass (who?), and to include the return of original vocalist Snake, after Eric Forrest’s departure. I’m a bit unclear on whether Eric left or whether Voivod 2.0 disbanded, before reforming with Snake and Newsted. Either way, this self-titled record was the product of the new line-up for the new millennium.

Despite the incredibly strong staffing on this record, Voivod S/T begins something of a downward trend in Voivod studio albums, at least within the decade of the 00s. I’m sure Piggy’s death contributed massively to this, in many ways. There must be a reason why Voivod S/T (when Piggy was alive) is a solid album, and Katorz and Infini (a similar style of music using Piggy riffs but released / assembled after he had died) are not so good.

Anyways, if you love Voivod’s dissonant riffing and interspliced headbanging sessions, but perhaps in a warmer, hard-rock kinda way (like Angel Rat but not as weird or tied to a particular place in time), then there is no reason that you shouldn’t enjoy this. But, you cannot escape from the fact that there are far, far better Voivod records out there.