An album only worthy of the Voivod name, the Canadian thrash / space metallers were back at it again this year with eyes wide open. The Wake is full of killer thrash and prog and shows no signs of slowing down 14 albums in their career. The musicianship is top notch as always and comes to a climatic crescendo on the 12 minute closer “Sonic Mycelium”. The Wake takes the lucky #7 spot on our countdown. 

As BW scribe Ryan Owenson noted in his review, “What also strikes the listener is that The Wake is different from its predecessor, Target Earth. Where Target Earth is made up of a good deal of material that’s quite immediate (the influence of Blacky’s contribution?), the immediacy is replaced on The Wake by post-societies and forever mountains, both of which hold their own mysteries to unravel. 

“But don’t take that last comment as any sort of complaint. Voivod is still writing vital, illuminating songs that are joyous to discover and behold and the band feels as energetic and inspired as it ever has. There isn’t any rust or slowing down here, the stamina and creativity impressive in the face of Voivod’s almost 35 years of existence. 

“In the end, The Wake is such a celebration of what makes Voivod so entirely Voivod. We just can’t imagine how this album could have been written by anyone else. The Wake is Voivod, and Voivod is The Wake. Interconnected and interstellar.”