𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 3, 2022 — Voivod released their seventh full-length studio album, The Outer Limits via Mechanic / MCA Records. (Apple Music or Spotify)
(Pictured is the original CD release, autographed by Denis “Snake” Bélanger, Denis “Piggy” D'Amour, and Michel “Away” Langevin)
Background:
The album features a cover of the Pink Floyd song, The Nile Song, and Voivod's longest song Jack Luminous, tracking in at 17 minutes and 26 seconds.
When originally issued, the CD came with a miniature pair of 3D glasses in order to view the booklet art. The text in the upper right corner of the album cover reads "𝙽𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟾" to represent that it is actually the band's eighth release overall following the compilation The Best of Voivod.
The Outer Limits was the final album to feature vocalist Denis Bélanger until his 2002 return.
It was also Voivod's first album without original bassist Blacky, who had left the band before the release of the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful 1991 album Angel Rat.
Uncomfortable with the idea of bringing in an immediate replacement for Blacky, Voivod opted to have session musician Pierre St-Jean play bass guitar for the recording of the album.
Reissues:
In March 2018, the album, along with Nothingface and Angel Rat, was reissued on CD in Japan as a budget edition.
In 2021, record label Real Gone Music released the album on limited edition blue vinyl and red vinyl editions.
Critical Reception:
In his book Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal, Canadian music critic, and author Martin Popoff from Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles gave the album a rating of 9/10.
Germany’s Rock Hard magazine rated the album 9.5/10, stating;
“…𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚍: 𝚅𝙾𝙸𝚅𝙾𝙳. 𝙽𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚎‘𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝟻𝟶 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎. 𝚅𝙾𝙸𝚅𝙾𝙳 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚠𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖𝚜.”
Calling the album “𝙰 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚎𝚗𝚍 (?) 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚛𝚊”, Sputnikmusic rated The Outer Limits 4.5 out of 5 stars, while concluding:
“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙻𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚙𝚝 𝚅𝚘𝚒𝚟𝚘𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚋 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖𝚜 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝. 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎-𝚞𝚙 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎, 𝚍𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚢’𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍’𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚍 – 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚛 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢, i𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 – 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚍 𝚅𝚘𝚒𝚟𝚘𝚍 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚎𝚛𝚊. 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚛𝚊, 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢.”
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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