GMD Poll: Voivod's Discography Ranked

Dimension Hatröss (1988)
Killing Technology (1987)
Rrröööaaarrr (1986)
War and Pain (1984)
Nothingface (1989)
Angel Rat (1991)
Target Earth (2013)
The Outer Limits (1993)
Phobos (1997)
Infini (2009)
Katroz (2006)
Voivod (2003)
Negatron (1995)
 
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1. Nothingface (1989)
2. Dimension Hatröss (1988)
3. Target Earth (2013)
4. Killing Technology (1987)
5. The Outer Limits (1993)
6. Katorz (2006)
7. War and Pain (1984)
8. Rrröööaaarrr (1986)
9. Angel Rat (1991)
10. Phobos (1997)
11. Infini (2009)
12. Negatron (1995)
13. Voivod (2003)

Something like that. I'm still relatively new to Voivod, but I'm glad to have finally clicked with them. Super interesting band.
 
OK I've worked my way through their first six albums, and while the music has progressed from the first two, and I can appreciate both their influence and their influences, the band is basically ruined by Snake. Awful tone, cadences, and times, even vocal control. Even when a song catches me at the start, I can't help but think to myself "fuck that hack is gonna start singing and ruin it." I know he leaves the band for a few records, so maybe there's hope for respite in the near future.
 
I don't own most of their later music, so I probably won't participate in this thread. I'd still like to see the rankings at the end. It will help me decide if I want to buy the stuff that I don't have.
 
OK I've worked my way through their first six albums, and while the music has progressed from the first two, and I can appreciate both their influence and their influences, the band is basically ruined by Snake. Awful tone, cadences, and times, even vocal control. Even when a song catches me at the start, I can't help but think to myself "fuck that hack is gonna start singing and ruin it." I know he leaves the band for a few records, so maybe there's hope for respite in the near future.
I think he has a voice that suits the band perfectly. It's not technically perfect but his melodies, lyrics and phrasing more than make up for his technical shortcomings. He's also relatively versatile - he can do rough and aggressive or sweet and melodic/harmonised when the music calls for whatever.

I don't own most of their later music, so I probably won't participate in this thread. I'd still like to see the rankings at the end. It will help me decide if I want to buy the stuff that I don't have.
I don't think any of their albums are really bad except for maybe the self-titled, but this stands head and shoulders above the rest of their later output imo.
 
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I think he has a voice that suits the band perfectly. It's not technically perfect but his melodies, lyrics and phrasing more than make up for his technical shortcomings. He's also relatively versatile - he can do rough and aggressive or sweet and melodic/harmonised when the music calls for whatever.

Couldn’t disagree more. There are so many songs that he single-handedly ruins, i.e. most of Killing Technology. Having a guy do sloppy, sour punk rock crap over that sort of technically precise music is an awful clash. And he’s no more versatile than any other human being on the planet. Anyone can make their voice sound harsh or soft. Can they do it well? That’s the real question, and for Snake, the answer is a resounding no. He sucks at both styles. Thus far, I would say his performance on Outer Limits is the only one that is inoffensive, probably because he takes the fewest risks. There a few tracks on Angel Rat where he gives a passing performance (by passing I mean, “oh shit our singer has strep throat. Can any of the roadies sing for tonight’s show?”).

I was hoping the new singer would be better, but it took one song from Negatron to realize what a steaming pile of shit I was in for. If I never hear that album again it will be too soon. Phobos was nowhere as bad, but still not good.

Now for the “Snake’s back!” era. Not crossing my fingers...
 
Couldn’t disagree more. There are so many songs that he single-handedly ruins, i.e. most of Killing Technology. Having a guy do sloppy, sour punk rock crap over that sort of technically precise music is an awful clash. And he’s no more versatile than any other human being on the planet. Anyone can make their voice sound harsh or soft. Can they do it well? That’s the real question, and for Snake, the answer is a resounding no. He sucks at both styles.
Voivod have a punk aspect to their sound that doesn’t just come from the vocals so it’s not like Snake is the only member venturing into that territory, and it’s not like he sounds like John Lydon snarling over Watchtower or something. They strike me as a band that learned to play as they went, so I guess you could call all of them ‘hacks’ if you wanted to.
Clearly Snake is more versatile than someone who can only do one thing. Just because you don’t like the sound of his voice doesn’t make it not so.
 
I got into them basically in order of their musical progression so none of the unrefined punk elements stick out much to me. War and Pain was the first album I heard by them and I went in order from there.
 
Voivod have a punk aspect to their sound that doesn’t just come from the vocals so it’s not like Snake is the only member venturing into that territory, and it’s not like he sounds like John Lydon snarling over Watchtower or something. They strike me as a band that learned to play as they went, so I guess you could call all of them ‘hacks’ if you wanted to.
Clearly Snake is more versatile than someone who can only do one thing. Just because you don’t like the sound of his voice doesn’t make it not so.

Yes, they clearly have a punk influence which is the main reason I don’t like a lot of their music, even the stuff that is clearly well-written. But notice I’m not ripping them for that. The musicians improved at an exponential rate to that of Snake. I will say, as I get into their later works (Outer Limits, S/T) Snake’s vocals do improve (not to good, but at least to the point where they’re not constantly detracting from the music), but that’s about 4-5 albums after the musicans took a quantum leap forward. That means for most of their “classic era” you have a technically sharp band playing with a super sloppy and unskilled vocalist.
 
>thinks the vocals on In the Nightside Eclipse are good
>complains about the vocals in Voivod being sloppy and unskilled

:wave:
 
1. Dimension Hatröss
2. Killing Technology
3. Nothingface
4. The Outer Limits
5. Angel Rat
6. Target Earth
7. War and Pain
8. Phobos
9. Rrröööaaarrr
10. Negatron
11. Katorz
12. Infini
13. Voivod
 
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:tickled: Comparing growling to screaming? Might as well compare him to a rapper. How about an apples to apples comparison instead?

I'm going to admit that I ruined my own joke by posting In the Nightside Eclipse instead of Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk in my previous post since I never really listen to either album, while still wondering how someone could think the clean vocals on Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk are actually good.
 
tbh Snake's vocals were my biggest stumbling block for getting into Voivod, but he's perfect once you understand the full context of them within the band. People with low metal IQs are never able to appreciate unusual vocal approaches, however.
 
I'm going to admit that I ruined my own joke by posting In the Nightside Eclipse instead of Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk in my previous post since I never really listen to either album, while still wondering how someone could think the clean vocals on Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk are actually good.

That's a weird comparison. First of all, there's about 5 minutes of singing on Anthems. Moreover, the singing is mostly used as a complimentary element, often embedded deep within the mix. I will grant that Ihsahn is not a very refined singer at this point in his career and at times pushes the limits of his range, but even at this raw stage in his career, he's superior to Snake. That's an awfully desperate straw to pull at to try and defend a hack lead singer who is front center on entire albums, butchering song after song. Now if we were to move beyond the faulty analogy of comparing an entire discography to about 5 minutes of music and actually compare Snake's canon with Ihsahn's canon it would be an even more laughable comp as Ihsahn has developed into a very refined singer.