To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Canadian thrash/prog metallers Voivod have revisited and re-recorded earlier material from 1984 – 2003 and thrown it into a 2023 flavoured pot and called it Morgoth Tales. There is one brand new song, the album’s title track. The band have chosen some of their more obscure material to go back to and given the songs a new lease of life. I’m not really into bands re-recording/mixing old material, the reason we liked it in the first place is because of how it sounded back then. Voivod however, have done a great job here. Crystal clear production values and superb performances reminding us just how influential a band Voivod are.
The track listing is as follows:
Condemned To the Gallows (2023 Version) [Originally on Metal Massacre V Compilation, 1984]
Thrashing Rage (2023 Version) [Originally on “Rrröööaaarrr”, 1986]
Killing Technology (2023 Version) [Originally on “Killing Technology”, 1987]
Macrosolutions To Megaproblems (2023 Version) [Originally on“Dimension Hatröss”, 1988]
Pre-Ignition (2023 Version) [Originally on “Nothingface”, 1989]
Nuage Fractal (2023 Version) [Originally on “Angel Rat”, 1991]
Fix My Heart (2023 Version) [Originally on “The Outer Limits”, 1993]
Rise (2023 Version, feat. Eric Forrest) [Originally on “Phobos”, 1997]
Rebel Robot (2023 Version, feat. Jason Newsted) [Originally on “Voivod”, 2003]
Morgöth Tales [New Song]
It’s nice to hear ex band members Eric Forrest (E – Force) and Jason Newsted (Jasonic) on the tracks Rise and Rebel Robot respectively. This really is a quality album; the bands diversity is highlighted beautifully. Voivod can sound like Celtic Frost one minute and like Rush the next. The musicianship is other worldly at times, they really are masters of their craft.
Here’s what drummer Michel “Away” Langevin commented about Morgöth Tales: “’Morgöth Tales’ covers 40 years of space exploration. It was exciting for us to revisit a more obscure part of the Voïvod catalogue, from thrash-punk to prog-metal to…? The title track is a new song, which we started writing in the tour bus and hotels during the Opeth European tour in November/December 2022. It has the vibe of the experimental music we are doing nowadays, with a new twist, I think. We also had the great thrill of getting E-Force and Jasonic involved on this album. I hope you’ll dig it, Chewy, Rocky, Snake and I certainly had a blast recording it. All aboard and ready for take-off!“ Morgoth Tales is released via Century Media Records on July 21st on the following formats: Limited CD Jewel case in O-Card and Digital Album formats will also come with a cover version of the Public Image Ltd. track “Home” as bonus.
Buy Here
Author: Kenny Kendrick
Recent Comments