Voivod
Nothingface
[MCA/Mechanic]


After becoming media darlings and violating my "everything French is pretentious shit" rule with 'Dimension Hatross', VoiVod took another musical turn and unleashed this album to moderate success. 'Nothingface' is significantly more dependent upon melody than any of the albums that preceded it and yet I can recall hearing little talk of "selling out" at the time. Perhaps that's because 'Nothingface', although musically more accessible than the early albums, is still too mired in reclusive insanity to ever make the Metal Edge hot list. Songs like "Unknown Knows" and the storming "X-Ray Mirror" are theoretically catchy in places, but the band's reliance upon jagged, acid-damaged tempo shifts (and this album's cold, eerily distant production) keep them firmly placed in cult territory. Even so, 'Nothingface' signalled a shift into rock and roll that would last until 'Negatron'...but it was rock and roll of the highest order. Apart from the not-bad-but-predictable Pink Floyd cover, "Astronomy Domine", 'Nothingface' smolders from start to finish with an otherness that's by turns endearing and weird. Mix metal with psychedelia and boil for one light year in an android's skull to get a taste. If 'Hatross' didn't prove it, this one did: VoiVod was moving into areas where "hard music" had never been. 'Nothingface' is different from its predecessors in every area except quality...even success couldn't ruin this band. Not bad for a bunch of damn Canadians.


© 1999 craig