Voivod

Warriors Of Ice

Sonic Unyon 2011

Warriors Of Ice manages to capture these Canadian legends in the live environment, fully showing why, even after all this time, they are masters of metal.  The live set showcases songs spanning their entire career from 2 cuts from their latest album Infini (Global Warning and Treasure Chase) all the way back to the band's roots with tracks like Voivod and Nuclear War.  The set opens with Voivod and you can hear the crowd is way into Voivod's performance with their sing-alongs to the chorus.  The intersong banter is almost all in French which shouldn't be a surprise since this performance was recorded at a 2009 show in Montreal.  I even enjoyed the short soccer sing-along before Tribal Convictions from Dimension Hatross.  I was surprised that one of the songs that really leaped out of the speakers to me was The Prow from the Angel Rat album.  But in general I think that the whole set stands out really well, capturing the essence both of the songs' intent and the live energy.  The production sounds really good and when taken in this context the band's material seems surprisingly consistent across the course of their career.  Some of the tracks to be found throughout are Ripping Headaches (Rrroooaaarrr), The Unknown Knows and Nothing Face (Nothingface), Ravenous Medicine and Tornado (Killing Technology) and so forth.  The album closes with what is arguably the song that brought Voivod mainstream attention, their superb cover of Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine.  I'll be honest, I am not really a big fan of live albums, but Warriors Of Ice really reinvigorated my interest in Voivod and illustrated why I loved them in the first place.  This is a band that truly deserves the title, LEGEND.