Voivod Anniversary: Nothingface Released This Day in 1989

 

Voivod

It was 35 years ago on this day in 1989 that Voivod released NOTHINGFACE, the band's fifth studio album. It was released by Mechanic/MCA Records. 

My brother got a copy of this, which is how I got to know about it, and about this band. It sounded like nothing that I had ever heard before. While still staying true to metal, it sounded so futuristic, and also more complex. The musicality was incredible! Instantly, I began to listen to this album over and over again. It made me a fan of this particular band pretty much from that point onward. Not sure if this is my favorite album from Voivod, because The Outer Limits is also fantastic, even if it is different. But it sure seems to me now, as it did then, that this band was reaching it's peak, where what they were doing sounded so different, so unique, that it still stands apart even to this day. I was sure that they were going to be huge.

This album, and Dimension Hatröss, the album that preceded this one, just had a very different sound and feel to them than anything else that was around. The band had reinvented themselves with these two albums, but especially with Nothingface (in my opinion). And yet, the band would keep successfully reinventing themselves, literally numerous times over the course of many years. Their next album, The Other Side, was also quite different and innovative in it's own right. Nothingface and The Other Side are my favorite albums from Voivod. And again, I had assumed - wrongly, as it turns out - that many people would get into it, that this band's future would be very bright indeed. That they would be huge, one of the giants in metal, if not music, someday.

But they never really made it as big as I had assumed. They are a respected, even revered, band, even to this day. Many very well known and respected musicians are fans of Voivod. But they never made it as big as many other bands of the time made it, and that is rather a shame. This band was not only innovative, even pioneers on many levels, but they had a level of sophistication not only with their music, but with their lyrical content, which remains unique and exemplary even to the present day.

Back in the early 1990's, I listened to this album quite a lot. It's hard to believe that all of that was thee and a half decades ago now! And the band never did get as big as I had expected them to get, or still believe they deserved. Still, it is a great album that proved influential and unique, and deserves to be recognized and honored, especially on this, the 35th anniversary of it's release.

BRAVEWORDS EXCLUSIVE - VOIVOD NOTHINGFACE LIMITED EDITION SIGNED PRINTS NOW AVAILABLE July 7, 2022:

https://bravewords.com/news/bravewords-exclusive-voivod-nothingface-limited-edition-signed-prints-now-available