Lost Machine - Live

Lost Machine was recorded on the same tour that I last caught Voivod on, so the set looks mighty familiar, and that's a good thing, because I had a blast at that gig, and thanked several of them afterwards. Not the same DATE, of course, as I live in New England, but with this Quebec City recording, I feel like I can relive it all over again, and what's more, they sound excellent. The Canadians have put out a number of lives in the past, with the low point being Voivod Lives in 2000, and high water mark to Warriors of Ice in 2011, but it's safe to say this sounds almost the measure of the latter, with a great track list spanning a lot of their albums...not ALL of them, because you're not going to begin to cover 15 albums with 13 tracks, but let's just say there's a variety here that made the set an entertaining aural roller coaster.

"Post Society" starts out strong, setting the benchmark for how clean this is going to sound. They've always been a band that excelled with the single guitarist, because the rhythm section is so interesting that there's always plenty to captivate you, and Chewy's tone here is fucking phenomenal. His rhythms might sound a little thin, but they're so clean and perfectly played, and his leads are wild. The bass also sounds awesome, and Away's drumming is as proggy and energetically balanced as in the studio. Snake is also on point, an entertaining frontman to experience, and that wastoid punkish quality to his voice sounds like he hasn't aged a day since the 80s. They rifle through new excellence like "Obsolete Beings", "The End of Dormancy", "Iconspiracy" and "Fall" as they were classics, rubbing up against fan favorites like "Psychic Vacuum" and their "Astronomy Domine" cover, but also took me by surprise with "The Prow" from Angel Rat, which I remember being stoked to see in person. They also do the titular "The Lost Machine" off The Outer Limits, duh, which is also had an unusually potent presence on stage with their odd sci-fi projections playing out on the screen behind them.

Lost Machine: Live is an awesome presentation of the band, and no matter what track selection they had come up with, provided it wasn't all from Negatron, the quality would have probably been the same. Yes, I am biased, this is my favorite group in the universe and they can do no wrong (not even Negatron was that wrong), but it's another cool live album that maintains peak professionalism while never lacking the vibrancy and creativity that has always driven them. Mandatory for fans and collectors, and still well worth a listen for everyone else too.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Most progressive rock and metal bands are interesting to listen to on studio records but fail to deliver the goods on stage in form of an energetic live performance. Quebec's progressive thrash metal quartet Voivod manages to accomplish both and has heavily focused on touring the world in recent years. Lost Machine - Live is an excellent testament to the group's unique style that celebrates its fortieth birthday this year.

A band with such longevity has an incredible number of albums to pick songs from for its set list. In this particular case, the band found a flawless balance. This recording includes recent pieces such as the dreamy, meandering and psychedelic ''Fall'' or the creative, dystopian and hypnotizing ''The Dormancy''. The album also includes fan favourites from the early years such as the airy, melancholy and mellow ''Into My Hypercube'' and the catchy, energetic and fast ''The Prow''. The band also managed to include some rarely played material such as the futuristic, menacing and rhythmic ''The Lost Machine'' and the adventurous, imaginative and scary ''Psychic Vacuum''. The set list will therefore please both fans of old date such as myself and potential new fans.

This record has other significant strengths. The production is organic, dynamic and authentic. The chemistry between the four band members is phenomenal. The tight drum patterns, dynamic bass guitar sounds, otherworldly guitar sounds and psychedelic vocals are four essential ingredients to a unique sound that has always distinguished this band. Lead singer Denis Bélanger's communication with the crowd in Quebec City is highly entertaining and underlines the intimate feeling during the show that concluded the band's long tour close to home. This will enable some fans to practise their French as well. The cherry atop the cake is Michel Langevin's unique cover artwork and the beautiful booklet.

At the end of the day, Voivod's Lost Machine - Live is certainly one of the band's best, if not the group's greatest live record to date. It's a worthy addition to the collections of faithful fans and new fans alike. The thirteen songs clock in at a generous seventy-four minutes and offer a lot of replay value. Since the band regularly varies its set lists, Voivod's live albums are always welcome. The only thing that is missing here is a filmed version of the concert that might have captured the concert's energetic spirit even better.