Band:	Voivod
Album:	Synchro Anarchy
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	February 11, 2022
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

Disc I
01. Paranormalium
02. Synchro Anarchy
03. Planet Eaters
04. Mind Clock
05. Sleeves Off
06. Holographic Thinking
07. The World Today
08. Quest For Nothing
09. Memory Failure

Disc II [limited 2-CD edition]
[Live Return To Morgöth]
01. Post Society
02. The Unknown Knows
03. Ravenous Medicine
04. Psychic Vacuum
05. Obsolete Beings
06. Technocratic Manipulators
07. Fall
08. The Prow
09. Order Of The Blackguards
10. The Lost Machine
11. Korgüll The Exterminator

Yep, they're still kicking ass and quirky as hell 40 years later.

After Voivod proved they could carry on just fine post-Piggy with Target Earth and The Wake, expectations were a bit high for 2022's Synchro Anarchy. And the extraterrestrial, UFO - lovers have delivered again. This is, in many ways, the logical "next step" for the band after their two preceding albums, and it brings a bit of all of their various approaches to the table. There's some of the punchy, thrashier Voivod on tracks like "Paranormalium" and "Quest For Nothing." Mostly Voivod's signature groovy, midtempo sound dominates, as on "Planet Eaters" and "Sleeves Off". And there's even some of the dreamier, more abstract Voivod at work here on the longer tracks like "Mind Clock", the band possibly channeling influence from some of the weirder albums in their back catalog like The Outer Limits.

The most enjoyable aspect of Synchro Anarchy is really in how powerful a "new old" feeling it offers the listener. Make no mistake: the same band that recorded classics like Dimension Hatross and Nothingface is at the helm of this bad boy right here. Yet at the same time, this album also feels like noticeably different from any previous Voivod material. Most particularly, I can't ever remember the band's bass sounding this good. It's delightfully audible, and Rocky and Chewy (bass and guitar, respectively) have a wonderful chemistry here that honestly conjures thoughts of Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, with respect to how well they play off each other and don't just mimic each other's riffs note for note.

Snake's vocals, much like the music itself, take a pleasantly diverse approach as well, alternating between shout-snarls, his characteristic, hypnotizing wails, and even a quieter, more whisper-like approach during Synchro Anarchy's more melodic moments. I cannot remember him sounding quite this good and wide ranged on either Target Earth or The Wake. And Away remains strong on the kit as usual, laying the rhythmic foundation for Voivod's prog/thrash shenanigans and also still blessing the band with his distinctly bizarre landscapes and alien beings via his artwork (see album cover).

Now into their fifth decade of recording, with Synchro Anarchy Voivod enter the 2020s on a significantly high note. Part of it is simple momentum, the band catapulting off the success of their two previous albums, but there seems to be some other element at work here, that gives the band an extra boost and makes this album sound like the most fun they've had playing music in years. There's something here for fans of virtually all the various approaches Voivod have taken over the course of their career, and with Synchro Anarchy Voivod succeed yet again at being what they've been for decades now: relevant, and not to be classed with contemporaries, past or present.