The wonders mankind can accomplish - A review of Voivod's The Wake

Voivod's The Wake is one of the very best records I have ever heard in my life and easily the greatest record in the band's already stunning career. The Wake is progressive yet accessible. It's heavy yet psychedelic. It's melodic yet aggressive. It's complex yet concise. It features the band's trademarks yet enters new territory. 

The four musicians have excellent chemistry. The drums are precise like clockwork. The bass guitar is domineering and technically impressive. The guitar riffs are out of this world as they don't only equal but surpass original guitarist Piggy's legendary style. The vocals are more diversified than ever, meandering from harmoniously soothing passages to desperate screams. 

The group even added string sections to a few select songs that blend in perfectly as they give the record a cinematic, epic and timeless touch. 

The lyrics and concept are intriguing from start to finish. Voivod has written about loose concepts before but these eight songs here gel perfectly as they complement one another organically. 

The vibrant production does this complex musical accomplishment justice. 

The cover artwork is as hypnotizing as the music and typical for drummer Away's signature style. 

Everything fits on this album without any flaws. 

People often try to compare Voivod's contemporary records to efforts from the early years. This doesn't work here. Voivod has accomplished something completely new which is a highly entertaining space metal journey with elements from all its different phases and new soundscapes that show an excitingly open-minded band. 

Progressive thrash metal groups like Vektor get lots of attention and certainly deserve it but Voivod is on a different level, its very own level. I certainly don't want the quartet to retire anytime soon but if it did, it would leave on its highest possible note, with an incredible magnum opus that certainly deserves to be called this way. Voivod's The Wake is an album for the ages. If we ever had to send one single piece of art to an extraterrestrial society, to show it what wonders mankind can accomplish, I would send this record without a doubt.

Do you think I exaggerate? Go listen to this album from start to finish and tell me I'm wrong. If you don't have enough time for the whole experience, listen to mqagnificent album closer ''Sonic Mycelium'' that revisits and rearranges musical themes and lyrics from the seven preceding songs without ever getting redundant and making twelve and a half minutes sound as entertaining as it gets.

This is album of the year, album of the decade and maybe album of the century material.

Final rating: 100%