Negatron

Album review

It's hard to believe that the same band capable of composing such superb (and criminally overlooked) progressive-metal masterpieces as Nothingface and Angel Rat would resort to the more conventional heavy metal sounds of their inconsistent earlier albums. With the addition of new bassist/lead singer Eric Forrest, Voivod promptly rejected the unconventionality that set them apart from the rest of the metal pack, since Forrest's vocal style is more similar to the growls heard so commonly in death metal. Maybe being dropped by the major label Mechanic/MCA after record sales began to sag brought on the change in direction. The obvious difference between Negatron and past triumphs is that the majority of the album blends together, with very little variation. Which is very surprising, since variation and texture were major ingredients in Voivod's original sound. After hearing such cuts as the title track, "Insect," and "Nanoman" (the later contains a guitar riff popularized in the Metallica song "One," then copied by a million other metal bands), the decline is obvious. Too bad Voivod decided to reinvent themselves as a straight-ahead metal band and shun their progressive side.
© Greg Prato /TiVo