Voivod
Target Earth
Century Media
2013
Leaving aside any kind of fanaticism about the band, while trying to be objective, none can tell that this Canadian band hasn’t offered or achieved things so as to be considered a cult band from the 80s. Considering the fact that this is the first album without their original guitarist Denis D’Amour, who was replaced by Daniel Mongrain, and that’s the first album since “Angel Rat” with the bassist Jean-Yves Thériault, I’m sure the fans were sorta anxious about the result.
“Target Earth” may offer the die-hard fans of the band what they wanna hear without changing its technical, heavy, noisy (at times), prog, thrashy metal approach… but it doesn’t excite in any part. The songwriting is lost somewhere along the way, while it sometimes becomes confusing concerning the direction they wanna follow with a song. The melodies are mostly absent while the production is not very dynamic or tight at all. Of course, there are good ideas here and there but not enough to hold on to eventually. Specifically, when Snake is “mimicking” Lemmy, the listening becomes so freaking intolerable.
I’m not tryin’ to be disrespectful towards the band here, after all I do own some of the band’s 80s-90s albums but I can’t understand how this album has gotten so much praise by the fans and press without being good at any part. Even the cover artwork is dreadful and sloppy. Certainly, we all have our musical preferences and many will disagree with my opinion but I’ll be glad for those guys who will still be listening to this album in a couple of years from now, for I can tell it will be left on the shelf gathering dust after a while. I was expecting something better, more focused and listenable but all I got is the opposite. This one may be the only “non-positive” review for this album on the web! At least, there’s a chance to read a different opinion here…
“Target Earth” may offer the die-hard fans of the band what they wanna hear without changing its technical, heavy, noisy (at times), prog, thrashy metal approach… but it doesn’t excite in any part. The songwriting is lost somewhere along the way, while it sometimes becomes confusing concerning the direction they wanna follow with a song. The melodies are mostly absent while the production is not very dynamic or tight at all. Of course, there are good ideas here and there but not enough to hold on to eventually. Specifically, when Snake is “mimicking” Lemmy, the listening becomes so freaking intolerable.
I’m not tryin’ to be disrespectful towards the band here, after all I do own some of the band’s 80s-90s albums but I can’t understand how this album has gotten so much praise by the fans and press without being good at any part. Even the cover artwork is dreadful and sloppy. Certainly, we all have our musical preferences and many will disagree with my opinion but I’ll be glad for those guys who will still be listening to this album in a couple of years from now, for I can tell it will be left on the shelf gathering dust after a while. I was expecting something better, more focused and listenable but all I got is the opposite. This one may be the only “non-positive” review for this album on the web! At least, there’s a chance to read a different opinion here…