Voivod's second release for the Hypnotic label (their ninth studio album overall), Phobos, follows the same path the band laid down on 1995's Negatron.
Fans of extreme metal sounds will obviously enjoy it, but will be a bit too much to handle for the crossover audience that the band aimed for on earlier releases.
The band (still the trio lineup of Negatron) projects a dense and closed-in sound, a far cry from the three-dimensional music on Nothingface.
Although the beginning of the title track may remind longtime fans of earlier material, the dream is crushed as soon as Eric Forrest starts in with his death metal vocal roar.
Interestingly, the U.K.
import version of Phobos contains two bonus tracks, which prove to be better than the majority of the songs penned by the band.
The first song, "M-Body," is a Jason Newsted (Metallica bassist and friend of the band) original, which contains eerily effective lyrics.
The other is a spirited cover of the King Crimson song "21st Century Schizoid Man," which is tailor-made for a metal band like Voivod, especially since subsequent bootleg tapes of Crimson performing the song live show them taking a heavier approach at times.
Still, just two worthwhile songs doesn't warrant purchase, especially since they can only be found on the more expensive U.K.
import edition.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Catalepsy IDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 01:15 | 2 MB | 5 MB |
| 2 | RiseDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 04:55 | 11 MB | 36 MB |
| 3 | MercuryDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 05:38 | 12 MB | 41 MB |
| 4 | PhobosDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 06:58 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 5 | BacteriaDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 08:08 | 18 MB | 56 MB |
| 6 | Temps MortDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 01:48 | 4 MB | 8 MB |
| 7 | The TowerDenis D'amour, Ivan Dorschuk, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 06:10 | 14 MB | 41 MB |
| 8 | QuantumDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 06:33 | 15 MB | 46 MB |
| 9 | NeutrinoDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 07:43 | 17 MB | 50 MB |
| 10 | ForlornDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 06:00 | 13 MB | 41 MB |
| 11 | Catalepsy IIDenis D'amour, Eric Forrest, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 01:07 | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| 12 | M-BodyDenis D'amour, Michel "Away" Langevin | Voivod | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 13 | 21st Century Schizoid ManEric Forrest, Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Michel "Away" Langevin, Ian McDonald, Peter Sinfield | Voivod | Play | 06:34 | 15 MB | 45 MB |
| 66 mins | 152 MB | |||||
| 66 mins | 450 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Cavalluzzo | Electronics, Electronic Sounds, Mixing |
| 2 | Danny Cohen | Photography |
| 3 | Denis D'amour | Composer, Guitar |
| 4 | Ivan Dorschuk | Composer, Electronics, Electronic Sounds |
| 5 | Eric Forrest | Bass, Composer, Vocals |
| 6 | Robert Fripp | Composer |
| 7 | Michael Giles | Composer |
| 8 | Greg Lake | Composer |
| 9 | Michel "Away" Langevin | Accordion, Artwork, Composer, Drums, Electronics, Electronic Sounds |
| 10 | Bruce Longman | Layout Design |
| 11 | Ian McDonald | Composer |
| 12 | Jason Newsted | Songwriter |
| 13 | Rob Sanzo | Mixing, Producer |
| 14 | Peter Sinfield | Composer |
| 15 | Tom Treumuth | A&R, Direction |
| 16 | Voivod | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 17 | Brett Zilahi | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |