VOIVOD Angel Rat (1991) Vinyl LP RSD Release (2022)

By 1991, Voivod had already released four records that rewired what thrash metal was supposed to sound like. Angel Rat was their left turn into something stranger and more melodic, and the purists lost their minds about it, which was probably the point.

Recorded with Killing Joke's Youth producing, Angel Rat sits in a genuinely odd space between progressive metal, post-punk atmospherics, and something that doesn't have a genre name yet. Piggy's guitar work here is as alien as ever, Blacky's bass holds the whole warped structure together, and Snake sounds like he's narrating transmissions from a dying satellite. The album divided people in 1991 and has been slowly vindicated ever since, which is the trajectory every interesting record follows eventually. The 2022 RSD pressing comes in deep purple with lime monster green swirl vinyl, which is almost too appropriate for a band whose entire aesthetic has always been science fiction horror by way of the Quebec underground.

Artist: Voivod. Album: Angel Rat (1991). Format: Full length LP. Deep purple with lime monster green swirl vinyl. Limited RSD 2022 release. Country of origin: Canada. Fans of: Dark Angel, Coroner, Toxik, Destruction.