Scribed by Sandre the Giant
We’ve talked a lot about Canada’s favourite thrash band this year on the Killchain, and if anything it has allowed me to really get a handle of their discography in a way I hadn’t really before. I even skipped over the 20th anniversary of their self titled record because it’s one I am just not familiar enough to write a full piece. Well, Voivod are back on our list again, this time with the 30th anniversary of 1993’s ‘The Outer Limits’; an album that appeared right as thrash as a genre was in trouble. But then again, Voivod have never really been your average thrash band are they?
An album that really came at a crossroads for Voivod as a band, and the whole of the thrash genre. First, the band. This was the first Voivod record without iconic bassist Blacky until his 2008 return, and the final record with Snake on vocals until his 2002 return. If anything, the fact that the band managed to release a record that holds up amongst their more classic records is noteworthy in itself, but now we come to the second problem; thrash was just about dead in 1993. Well, ok maybe not dead but death metal was taking its place as the premium genre for speed and ferocity and the world’s biggest thrash band had left the genre almost completely two years earlier on ‘The Black Album’. Thrash wasn’t entirely sure what it was going to do, and a lot of the legends of the late 80s started having some crisises of identity. People love to blame grunge for killing thrash, but it’s as much ‘Enter Sandman’s fault. Oddly enough, I think Voivod were one of the bands that survived the thrash desert years by being themselves; they may have a lot of the genre hallmarks but they’ve never really sounded like anyone else have they? That versatility was their saving grace.
The Outer Limits’ is another example of that trademark. The likes of Moonbeam Rider’ and ‘The Lost Machine’ are dropping some serious groove in there, while the more oddly structured tracks like ‘Le pont noir’ or ‘Time Warp’ keep you reminded of exactly who you’re listening to. They do a blinding cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Nile Song’, as well as their longest track by a country mile, the seventeen minute plus Dream Theater-esque ‘Jack Luminous’. ‘The Outer Limits’ is definitely the Voivod album that showccaes their progressive streak the best, a decision that may have benefitted their long term survival as a band in the mid to late 90s. The more traditional thrash band either struggled or disappeared, but Voivod just kept Voivoding and thank Korgüll the Exterminator that they did. The world of metal would be much poorer without them. I mean, the cover art gimmick with the comic book style cover and the fact you needed 3D glasses to view the booklet art is just so off the wall brilliant as an idea. A microcosm of what makes Voivod so timeless.
https://www.facebook.com/Voivod
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