Initial Impressions: Weapon: Embers and Revelations

Weapon has been getting a lot of hype for this album and a little bit of negative publicity for trademarking the name "Weapon" forcing other bands called Weapon to change their names.  Bad publicity aside, I decided to take a flyer on the band due to the hype for the album.  Plus, they are from Canada and Canada is awesome.

Taking influence from a variety of deep underground black and death metal bands and twisting those influences into a darker, filthier sound, Weapon has definitely crafted their own unique sound on this release.  Weapon blurs the line between black and death metal so convincingly that it is hard to discern whether the band is a blackened death metal band or a black metal band with death metal leanings.  The line is ever-shifting throughout this album.  All that is unimportant however in light of how good this release actually is.

This album features an incredibly dark atmosphere.  That mixed with the impressive riffwork and pulsing drumming combine to create one hell of a sound, pun not intended but definitely a happy accident.  It is a very occultish sound, the kind of music you would expect to be played at a Satanic mass, if you attend such things.  I don't.

This is definitely an impressive release.  I remember the band having some hype surrounding their previous album but for some reason did not act.  I am glad I decided to check them out this time around.  

Initial Impressions: Voivod: Infini

Wrapping things up for my recent Voivod pickups is the band's latest album, which was released in 2009.  This was rumored to be the final Voivod album.  It was the second release after the death of longtime guitarist and founding member Denis "Piggy" D'Amour.  The album, like its predecessor, uses original recordings that Piggy recorded prior to his death from cancer.  It is something of an innovative idea and allowed Voivod to live on for a couple of albums.

It was recently announced that Voivod has a new album coming early in 2013 with a new guitarist.  This is the last recording Piggy will likely appear on but the band has found a way to keep going.

Well enough of that, how is the album?

It is certainly a catchy album.  Many of the songs stick after listening to it.  Like the prior album, it feels very stripped down, but this makes sense given the cut-and-paste nature of the recording.  It is impressive that the band was able to make this work.  The songs are all simple and straightforward without any of the progressive noodling that Voivod has used in the past.  Again, given the nature of the recording none of this is at all surprising.

Like the rest of Voivod's recent material, this is a grower.  I did not care for it much the first time I heard it, but it has grown on me.  Perhaps their self-titled will as well with time.

Initial Impressions: Voivod: Voivod

Continuing on with my recent Voivod kick, comes this album.  This is Voivod's tenth full-length album and their first one with former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted.

This is a very stripped-down album.  Most of the spacey riffs and sci-fi weirdness that typically accompany Voivod albums has been taken away.  What is left is still obviously Voivod, and I think that most people familiar enough with the band would be able to identify it as such.  But it is missing a lot of what made the band interesting in the first place.

This was a highly anticipated release at the time.  It was the first album with Snake back in vocals and there was a sense of excitement with Newsted coming aboard.  And there are definitely some good moments on this release.  All of the songs have a hard-driving feel to them and many of the riffs are very impressive.  Piggy has always been a terrific riff-writer and that ability shines through on this release.  The songs are definitely catchy.

The problems are as mentioned earlier, that there is a dearth of what made Voivod truly special on this release.  The riffs still have the typical Voivod feel but the band feels like a shell of its former self.  It feels more like a band trying to be Voivod than Voivod itself.

This is by no means a bad album, but it does not hold a candle to Voivod's first five albums.

Initial Impressions: Voivod: Katorz

I have been on a bit of a Voivod kick again lately which lead to the purchase of three of their newer albums. This was probably stirred by news of the band's upcoming album, but I do not really know for sure.

Katorz is Voivod's eleventh full-length album and was released in 2006.  To say that the band had changed somewhat since their heyday in the 1980's to this album is a bit of an understatement.  I was previously mostly familiar with the band's first five albums, although I had heard the sci-fi progressiveness of Negatron as well.  This was really one of my first forays into their later material and what I heard was kind of surprising to me.  I did not expect the same sound that the band perfected in their earlier material, but this was quite a bit different than I expected.

There is definitely still a weird science fiction vibe carrying through most of the material on this album.  The riffs in particular sound almost mechanical, which is something that Voivod had been doing for years.  For the most part though this a much more stripped-down version of Voivod.  Gone are most of the progressive metal meanderings and in their place are some just straightforward rock/metal/punk songs.  The riffs are heavy and feature a lot of groove and the vocals have a dirty rock sound to them.

This is kind of a grower, but I found myself enjoying it more and more with each listen.  The first song definitely captures attention early on and the rest of the songs really do nothing to lose it.  Do not go into this expecting Nothingface or Dimension Hatross and this will be an enjoyable album.

FMA Reviews: Mortör: Shoot 'Em Up

Originally reviewed here.

Canada's metal scene is another one that is somewhat underrated, but they have churned out some amazing groups across all genres. Crytopsy, Kataklysm, Voivod, Razor, Sacrifice, and Slaughter are just a few of the death and thrash metal bands that have called Canada home. Mortör is another band to have come up out of the Great White North.

Mortör has only been active for a few years at this point, but this is already the second full-length from the Quebec natives. All of the songs are fairly short, with only a couple breaking the four minute mark. This makes for a tight, punch-filled album that is unapologetic in its take-no-prisoners approach.

Based on the song titles and album art, it would appear that subtlety is not exactly Mortör's strong point. This is an album about war and death, make no mistake about it. The music does well to match the imagery. Mortör plays groove-laden death/thrash. Points of reference include Panzerchrist and Dekapitator. Mortör uses a lot of bottom-end in their riffs, giving a deep, rumbling feeling, not unlike the sound of tanks on the move. That added to the precise rhythms of the riffs give off a mechanical vibe. Mortör is a war machine.

The only real complaint I can even come up with is that the songs tend to run together after awhile and there is no real standout here. There is no one moment that I think back to as a great moment after the album is over. Although the dueling guitar melodies in "Locked and Loaded" come close.

Yet another impressive Canadian band. This band has a bright future.

My Favorite Metal Band from Canada

In general, I like Canadian metal. That being said, it was very difficult to decide on a favorite Canadian band. Some like Slaughter did not last nearly long enough. Others like Cryptopsy soiled their reputation with some godawful releases. Still others like Kataklysm are good, but not terribly interesting.

Then there's Voivod. Voivod was an excellent punk/thrash metal band in the beginning, then moved in more of a thrash direction. Then things got weird and experimental. That's when Voivod really shined the brightest though. Their spacy progressive weirdness certainly separated them from the rest of the pack. Voivod continued in more of a progressive direction and now bear little resemblance to the original band, yet they are still good. Weird indeed.

NOTABLE SCENES: Canada had a great thrash metal scene in the 1980's and also some damn good speed metal bands before that. In the late 1980's some very interesting death metal started to evolve as well.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Slaugher
Sacrifice
Razor
Exciter
Gorguts
Cryptopsy
Annihilator
Anvil
Into Eternity
Strapping Young Lad
Kataklysm
Neuraxis