UMUR "Negatron" is the eighth full-length studio album by Canadian metal act Voivod. The album was released through Hypnotic Records/Mausoleum Records in November 1995. It´s the successor to "The Outer Limits" from August 1993 and there´s been a significant lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger has left. As the bass parts on "The Outer Limits" were recorded by session musician Pierre St-Jean, and Voivod had not found a new permanent bassist, they were now both a lead vocalist and a bassist down. Enter lead vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest who along with remaining members Michel "Away" Langevin (drums) and Denis "Piggy" D-Amour (guitars) complete the trio lineup who recorded "Negatron". Voivod would work in this trio constellation (and also release the 1997 "Phobos" album) until 1998 when Forrest was severely injured in a car accident in Germany. During his recovery period the remaining members of the band felt that they weren´t able to continue and after Forrest left in 2000, Voivod shortly disbanded in 2001.

But´s that´s of course getting way ahead of the story, as the new trio lineup in 1994/1995 was a breath of fresh air and a new start for Voivod, who did taste limited commercial success with their three preceding major label releases, but never really broke through to the mainstream. "Negatron" signals the return to a much more harder edged and aggressive style of music, and it´s probably the most heavy, angry, and punchy release from Voivod up until then. While Forrest on occasion can deliver semi-clean melodic vocals (the chorus on "Nanoman" is the best example of that), he predominantly delivers raw screaming vocals and as the riffs and rhythms are also heavy, brutal, and hard edged, Voivod have never sounded more potent. When "Negatron" was released I remember being a bit baffled by the change of musical style and if you compare the psychedelic tinged progressive metal of "The Outer Limits" with the brutal thrash/groove metal (spiced up with some industrial tinged atmospheres) assault of "Negatron" it almost sounds like it´s two different bands playing.

That´s of course not the case and if you listen a bit more closely it´s still unmistakably Voivod playing. The signature dissonant riffs are in place, and so are the organic drumming, and the sci-fi themed lyrics and image. So it´s mostly the more raw vocals and the increased heaviness of the music, which make "Negatron" a different listening experience to the earlier material by the band. "Negatron" features a raw, heavy, and punishing sounding production, and it´s the perfect sound production for the equally raw and heavy material.

The eleven tracks, 57:24 minutes long album opens with the strong trio of songs: "Insects", "Project X" and "Nanoman". The latter being the melodic highlight of the album and one of the only times Voivod sound slightly like they did on the last couple of albums. But from there the tracks become harder and harder to tell apart and remember. It´s not that the rest of the tracks are of a poor quality or anything like that and listened to individually they are actually quite enjoyable and powerful material, but as a full album listening experience there´s not enough variation between the tracks. When Voivod try something a bit different they aren´t necessarily successful either. The closing track "D.N.A (Don't No Anything)" is for example a track where Voivod go all the way into industrial metal territory and it´s quite a tedious listening experience. It´s not a good way to end an otherwise decent album and I find that I have more fond memories of "Negatron" when I simply stop the album before "D.N.A (Don't No Anything)" and imagine that "Drift" is the last track on the album.

Upon conclusion "Negatron" is another unique release in Voivod´s discography. It´s harsh, heavy, and aggressive (and not nearly as progressive as it´s direct predecessor), which may turn off some of the fans of the last couple of releases, but while the abrasive nature of the sound production, the relentless aggression of the material can be a bit hard on the ears, and the album overall lacks a bit in the variation department, it´s still overall a good quality release from Voivod, showing their most heavy and brutal side. A bit unexpected upon release but with time I´ve learned to appreciate "Negatron" more and it´s overall a nice addition to Voivod´s discography. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.

Unitron With The Outer Limits, Voivod made an amazing meeting of space rock and alt metal that everything starting with Nothingface was leading up to. With Snake temporarily away from the band, and new guy Eric Forrest, the band does a near 180 in sound. Negatron is a blistering industrial thrashing beast of an album, and takes no prisoners.

While the mechanical ant on the cover is somehow even cheesier than the ones in the classic Sci-Fi film Them!, this album rains down as much sludgy groove as it can. Eric Forrest's red-faced screaming is so caustic and unapologetic, Insect says it all. He can do melody too though, in songs like Nanoman where he takes a Snake-esque approach to it. Musically it's along the lines of industrial bands like Fear Factory, Red Harvest, and Treponem Pal but with Voivod's unique touch.

Negatron often gets a bad rep, maybe because of how much whiplash it is after the previous three albums or maybe it's the new vocalist. Whatever the reason, Negatron is a great rage-filled monster mosher.

Conor Fynes 'Negatron' - Voivod (4/10)

For whatever reason, there came a point in Voivod's career where everything went to hell. up until 'The Outer Limits', Voivod were releasing album after album of classic, engaging, and even groundbreaking material, turning the thrash metal world on its side with a spacey, forward-thinking approach. Sadly, Voivod's vocalist Snake Belanger leaves after an impressive tenure with the band, and in comes his replacement, Eric Forrest. Not to mention that Voivod is just a three-piece at this point, the band has all but split up for all intents and purposes. What is left is a hollow shell of a band that once created some of the best albums metal has ever seen. Although the band would eventually pick themselves back up with Snake's return, 'Negatron' and its follow-up 'Phobos' represent the darkest period of Voivod's career.

AWhile band members have changed, so has the style. The music here would be completely unrecognizable from Voivod's signature prog-thrash sound, were it not for Piggy's distinct style of playing. Incidentally, Piggy's dissonant edge is the best thing about 'Negatron'. As for the rest, Voivod has gone down a fairly lo-fi avenue, throwing away their growing sense of melody in exchange for aggression and noise. In a sense, it is quite like Voivod's two earliest albums, but as all 'back-to-roots' albums usually end up, it doesn't possess the same power. Eric Forrest's contributions are the biggest disappointment. Although some of his vocals manage to get a strong aggression across, he usually sounds like he is trying to scream parts that should have been sung by Snake. Perhaps this is just a fan's bias, but the music feels the loss.

'Negatron' is a darker album than much Voivod work, and that does work to its benefit. I think that the style they chose to go in here is not inherently bad, but the uninspiring songwriting and lackluster ideas lead the album down a path to mediocrity that is best left forgotten by Voivod and their fans.

kluseba After several line-up changes, Voivod continued as a trio and explored a completely new territory. From a warmer and progressive rock sound, they went to a cold and industrial sound which is very uneasy to listen to. Heavily shredding and dissonant guitars, heavy weight drums sounding like thunder and an aggressively roaring base guitar create the new musical universe of Voivod. The more physical and technical the creature Voivod becomes in the lyrics and stories, the more industrial and artificial becomes the sound of the band. Alongside with this comes the voice of the new singer E-Force which is more shrieking, more aggressive and more desperate than the voice of their previous and actual singer Snake. I would say that the voice of E-Force fits perfectly to the new sound of Voivod and he is doing and appropriate job.

All those changes are very interesting and innovating but the fact that pulls this album down is that is very uneasy to listen to. It is very depressive, very intense, but it is always repeating itself and after some really good songs in the beginning, it gets annoying and dumb to listen the whole time to this heavy and weird stuff. The listener needs a little break, a little change of style, a little time to breathe or think, but Voivod don't show any mercy or pity and continue always in the same style. The album slowly pulls you under in a parallel universe or even directly in hell , literally and musically.

Songs like "Cosmic Conspiracy" have many breaks, are very strange and they only grow on you after you have listened to them at least several times. Some songs like the very dumb "Planet Hell" or "Project X" are even more strange and difficult to listen to and I don't get an approach to them. That is really frustrating, because I've spent a lot of time on those songs and listened to them carefully.

The highlights of this album are the straight and fresh sounding opener "Insect" which introduces you directly to the new universe of Voivod, the atmospheric and epic title track "Negatron" and "Nanoman". This last song is somehow the "hit" of the album, he is very straight, very diversified and has a very simple, but intense chorus and an amazing guitar solo. I got directly addicted to this song and it is without any doubt one of my favourite ones of the band.

In the end of the album, there are sadly some filler songs that are really just disturbing, annoying and dumb. With a few breaks and one or two easier songs, this could have been an even more diversified album, but as it is today, this album finds rarely its way in my radio or music centre. With their next effort "Phobos" Voivod had corrected their mistakes and created a really disturbing masterpiece while this album was their first try, the experimentation towards a new kind of sound and universe.

Sure, there is a lot to discover here, but it's really heavy and weird stuff that you can't listen to very often.