by Greg Prato

Arguably the best of the Denis Belanger-era Voivod albums, Nothingface is highly recommended to just about any aficionado of twisted, original heavy metal or prog rock. Although the album's roots are in progressive rock, the group knows when to lay off the virtuosic overkill and play it straight. A superb, tripped-out cover of Pink Floyd's early psychedelic masterpiece "Astronomy Domine" is the album's highlight, and its video aired numerous times on the early-'90s MTV show Headbanger's Ball, introducing many to the band for the first time. Vocal melodicism is stressed heavily on Nothingface, with Belanger's vocals pushing such tracks as "Missing Sequences" and the title track, as do guitarist Denis d'Amour's jazzoid-metal guitar riffs. The group's lyrics may be hard to decipher for some (relying heavily on themes of science fiction that often paint unsettling pictures), but ultimately help complement what the group is doing musically. Nothingface also turned out to be their most commercially successful album, making an appearance on the Billboard charts. Jason Newsted of Metallica has praised Voivod as one of his favorite metal bands on numerous occasions, and after hearing Nothingface, it's easy to understand why.