I've been a fan of Voivod since my high school chum told me that their music was "annoying" back in '88. Thus, when I saw their name come up on MTV's Headbanger's Ball, I was sure to listen closely. What I heard was "Tribal Convictions" which I believe(d) to be a perfect song. And thus, my fandom was born.

Amazingly, while I have been listening to Voivod on and off for so many years, I only just found this site. I read a lot yesterday, but I am hoping that some of you could answer a few questions for me. Admittedly, I didn't read every post in the forum already and I *know* much of this has been discussed a thousand times before, so please bare with me.

1) I read that Mechanic screwed with ANGEL RAT and that specifically "Clouds in my House" and "The Prow" were not mixed to the band's liking. Are there other tracks on the CD that were remixed without the band's input? Am I to assume then that the versions I hear on the CD are not how the band intended them to sound?

2) Why exactly do so many people criticize the production of ANGEL RAT? I personally think the CD sounds great - every instrument is perfectly clear, and the bass response is satisfactory. Aside from NOTHINGFACE, it sounds to me to be the most well-produced Snake-era Voivod album.

3) Why exactly did Snake and the band part ways? I read something that suggested that Snake needed to resolve some addiction issues before returning for the new album. Is this the story which is most correct? I talked with a guy once who knew Snake personally but would not reveal the details. He only said that the other band members screwed him royally.

4) Back on ANGEL RAT - I understand there are early mixes available somewhere? Does anyone have these for download or should I be going to the trades page? (Unfortunately I don't have much that you others surely don't have, so that may lead me nowhere.)

5) Finally, if Mechanic forced Voivod to be more commercial for ANGEL RAT, why in the hell did they let them put the 17-minute "Jack Luminous" on TOL? Was this perhaps a concession for previously pissing the band off?

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Originally posted by izgoblin:

1) Am I to assume then that the versions I hear on the CD are not how the band intended them to sound?

When you say the band that assumes the collective and not *cough* everyone wanted AR to sound that way. I think that 3/4 of the band decided to go with how Terry Brown thought it should sound.

2) Why exactly do so many people criticize the production of ANGEL RAT?

I think people saw this as a turning point for Voivod, and for some the direction wasn't they had hoped for, less distortion and a cleaner sound, etc.

3) Why exactly did Snake and the band part ways? I read something that suggested that Snake needed to resolve some addiction issues before returning for the new album. Is this the story which is most correct? I talked with a guy once who knew Snake personally but would not reveal the details. He only said that the other band members screwed him royally.

I don't think Snake left because of an addiction, but this is circumspection on my part (but the addiction problems are old news from what I've heard and just came back up recently in public). I think he left because he, like Blacky before him, saw that without label support there wasn't a lot in the future for Voivod at that time. They were going to have to go backward to go forward. I heard he asked to come back at one point and the band said no. Only he could tell you if he was screwed royally but all's fair in love and war, lol.

4) Back on ANGEL RAT - I understand there are early mixes available somewhere? Does anyone have these for download or should I be going to the trades page?

Search on this forum and you'll find links to the pre-prod versions (recently remastered).

5) Finally, if Mechanic forced Voivod to be more commercial for ANGEL RAT, why in the hell did they let them put the 17-minute "Jack Luminous" on TOL? Was this perhaps a concession for previously pissing the band off?

Warcorpse said it, Mechanic no longer existed - and AR wasn't very successful (in the eyes of a major) so I don't think the label were very interested in the record.

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Originally posted by izgoblin:
[QB]
Why exactly did Snake and the band part ways? [QB]

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