A View From The Back Of The Room: Voivod (Live Review By Rich)

Voivod & Bio-Cancer at The Globe, Cardiff

Not only did they release one of the finest albums of the year but Voivod are also on tour celebrating their 35th anniversary of existence as a band and so it was off to The Globe for an evening of celebration with the band.

This was just a two band bill with no local support so kicking off the proceedings were Greek thrashers Bio-Cancer (6).  Bio-Cancer are a very high energy band playing lightning fast thrash metal at insane speeds so it was a shame that the sound worked very much against the band with both guitars completely buried underneath a wall of vocals, bass and drums. The band played with plenty of energy and enthusiasm but the poor sound definitely ruined the performance for me.  I’m not overly familiar with Bio-Cancer’s material so I couldn’t tell you what songs they played but there was very little variation between songs with most following the same sort of pattern. Also whilst fine on record the frenzied shrieks of frontman Lefteris can get a bit jarring when experienced live.

After 35 years of existence and a sound that is very uniquely their own I think it’s safe to use the tag legends with headlining band Voivod (9).  Hitting the stage to a rapturous roar of approval from the audience Voivod ploughed through a set of new material, classics and rarities in their first ever appearance in the Welsh capital. The band were clearly having as much fun as the audience with lots of on stage beers, plenty of laughing and joking plus some silly and highly amusing instrumental doodling. It always makes such a difference when you clearly see a band enjoying themselves onstage and for me it really enhances the live experience. As well as providing plenty of fun the band also provided some seriously good music.

New material from The Wake sounded absolutely phenomenal with Obsolete Beings and Iconspiracy getting huge roars of approval from the crowd whilst there was plenty of classics from the band such as Post Society, Technocratic Manipulators, Order Of The Blackguards, Overreaction and live staple Voivod.  The band also dug out some lesser played tunes such as The Prow from Angel Rat and Into My Hypercube from Nothingface. With 35 years of experience the performance was absolutely watertight with drummer Away and bassist Rocky holding down the twisting complexity of the rhythm section and guitarist Chewy positively channeling the spirit of the late great Piggy. Frontman Snake doesn’t have the strongest voice live but his on stage presence and warm demeanour makes you completely ignore any vocal shortcomings. Voivod left the stage to thunderous applause and roars of love and appreciation from the audience and at the end you just wished they could have played for longer. A hugely successful first appearance in Cardiff for the Canadian legends. Let’s just hope they return sometime soon!