Voivod

In moderate proximity to '80s Thrash, Montreal's Voivod brought forth a violent, complex sound with roots closer to bands like King Crimson, Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd than any of their contemporaries (note their legendary cover of "Astronomy Domine"). Somewhere between the violent Thrash attacks and the twisting textures of Psychedelia, Piggy's guitar grinds with absurd intricacy. Away's frantic percussion and Blacky's roaring, low-end ferocity generate time signatures that shift like the paranoid strategies of guerrilla warfare. The war is decidedly against a nihilistic future: Snakes' vocals echo with harrowing speculations, investigating the chaotic divisions between technology and humanity with cyberpunk cynicism.