Nothingface is the fifth studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Voivod. It was released by Mechanic/MCA Records on 1989. The album marked a change for the band, expanding their music into a more progressive rock/metal sound.[2] Several riffs are heavily influenced by Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", specifically the centre section of "Pre-Ignition".
| Nothingface | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio albumby | ||||
| Released | October 13, 1989 (1989-10-13)[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Studio | Victor Studio (Montreal, Canada) | |||
| Genre | Thrash metal, progressive metal | |||
| Length | 44:27 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Producer | Glen Robinson, Steve Sinclair | |||
| Voivod chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10[4] |
| NME | 9/10[5] |
| Rock Hard | 9.5/10[6] |
| Sputnikmusic | 5/5[7] |
Nothingface is Voivod's most successful album to date, and their only album to enter the Billboard 200 charts, where it peaked at number 114.[8] A music video made for the album's third track, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine", received airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball.
In 2005, Nothingface was ranked number 350 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[9] Loudwire named the album at number 23 in their list "Top 25 Progressive Metal Albums of All Time".[10] Kerrang! described the album as a "prog-thrash masterpiece".[11]
All music written by Denis D'Amour, Jean-Yves Thériault and Michel Langevin, all lyrics by Denis Bélanger, except "Astronomy Domine" written by Syd Barrett.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro/The Unknown Knows" | 5:56 |
| 2. | "Nothingface" | 4:14 |
| 3. | "Astronomy Domine" (Pink Floyd cover) | 5:30 |
| 4. | "Missing Sequences" | 5:49 |
| 5. | "X-Ray Mirror" | 4:28 |
| 6. | "Inner Combustion" | 3:48 |
| 7. | "Pre-Ignition" | 5:11 |
| 8. | "Into My Hypercube" | 5:03 |
| 9. | "Sub-Effect" | 4:29 |
Note: The original version combined the intro track and "The Unknown Knows" into one track. On later versions, both tracks were separated, with the intro track being either the first track or a pre-gap hidden track, which is followed by "The Unknown Knows".
