The Globe, Cardiff
Wed 3 Oct
Considered one of Canada’s Big Four of thrash by categorisers of the metal community, Voivod are now 14 albums deep and pretty beyond the ability of any standard label machine. There’s always been a giddy taste for cosmic horror literature on Voivod’s albums, superimposed over a constantly shifting and experimental metal style that might scare the bejeezus out of one of those afore-mentioned categorisers. “Classical, jazz, metal, they use the same 12 notes, so why not borrow some ingredients from other styles?” asks guitarist Chewy. “It’s refreshing.”
The Wake is Voivod’s latest and the subject of the tour, and while being almost 40 years on and missing several founding members would put most bands firmly into ‘not gone but forgotten’ territory, the energy of whoever is bearing the Voivod name nowadays is pretty exemplary; fresh, dark, heavy as hell, The Wake is a real blinder and puts many of the better-known American Big Four’s latest outputs to shame. Sticking with the cosmic theme, Voivod share a real odyssey of an album through genre exploration and an hearable passion for the craft that should be a right treat to hear live, and one of The Globe’s better metal gigs for a long time when they come to Cardiff.
Tickets: £19.61 Info: 07590 471888 / www.globecardiffmusic.com (JM)