Live Review: Voivod – Manchester

Live Review: Voivod – Rebellion, Manchester

12th June 2026
Support: Midnight, Cryptosis
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price

Back at the Rebellion Bar in Manchester for one of the most anticipated events of the summer – for me, anyway. While the masses have braved the elements and relocated to Leicestershire for the Download festival this weekend, and are enjoying Limp – and probably soggy – Bizkits, we’re ensconced in the smouldering heat of Rebellion for one of the most Metal shows on the calendar this year.

Dutch destroyers, Cryptosis, have been able to witness the co-headliner carnage first hand every night on this tour, and as the last English date arrives, the three-piece is in devastating form. Firing up with a spooky intro, Faceless Matter gets things moving, with smoke pots and some serious power trio action. This is the most metal you’ll see: pure, unadulterated dedication to the craft of pummelling an audience. Blending uncompromising pace with atmospherics and a blackened thrash approach pays dividends as they move into Reign of Infinite, also taken from last year’s Celestial Death sophomore record. There’s a Venom energy in the vocal delivery of Laurens Houvast, who evokes the classic metal of back-in-the-day by playing shark-fin guitar.

Rhythm section of bassist Frank te Riet and drummer Marco Prij create a rock-solid platform upon which Laurens can operate, with Marco setting the precedence for the evening for superlative drumming. It’s Cryptosis’ first time back in Manchester since 2022 and their shows with Vektor, and they appear to have recaptured that thrashing momentum into The Silent Call. Third newbie of the night, Absent Presence, slows things down but increases the intensity for a doomy head-bobber; In Between Realities speeds thing right up again. It’s back to the 2021 debut for the closing duo of Death Technology and Transcendence, arriving as they do with youthful exuberance and blasting smoke pots. What a way to start the show!

It’s rammed solid for Athenar and his blackened thrash machine that is Midnight as they continue to celebrate fifteen-years of their debut full-length, Satanic Royalty. Another three-piece, masked and mysterious, Midnight blast off by going way back to the very beginning with demo track, Unholy and Rotten’s classic heavy metal sound. Second record, No Mercy for Mayhem is represented by the infectious chorus of Evil Like a Knife’s speed metal assault; it’s a foot to the floor riotous number that sees the first surfer heading over.

Then it’s a full play through of the debut record from the title track’s dirty riffing and thunderous bass lines to the thrashing beats and crash-ending of Shock Til Blood, it’s another punishing masterclass of how to do Metal. Classic gallops colour Necromania, Black Damnation veers between caveman aggression and precision technicality; Rip this Hell suggests being a ballad before ripping into something heavy and intense, and Lust Filth and Sleaze is primed to make you break the speed limit.

Athenar admits his love for the United Kingdom and its history as far as heavy music is concerned, leading into the very Venom speed metal of Violence on Violence. He even helps a surfer onto the stage without missing a bass beat during Savage Dominance, before calling for Manchester’s best football chant, admitting he’s drinking water, and waxes lyrically about the dubious benefits of Carlsberg Special Brew. Climaxing with the abrasive punk attitude of Fucking Speed and Darkness and the Metal-as-Fuck F.O.A.L. – or Fuck Off and Live – it’s hard to imagine watching a support band that makes you forget that there’s a headliner to come on. Even more so when Voivod is that headliner, but such was the nature of this Midnight set.

Whispered concerns were being muttered of how Voivod could follow what Midnight just did, but you don’t have forty-five years under your belt, fifteen records, a bunch of EPs and Live albums, as well as a rabid fan-base and limitless respect for ingenuity for nothing. Impossible to define and even more impossible to emulate, these Canadians have forged a career from being utterly unique and following their own path. The crowd appears to have thinned out a little after Midnight’s set, but those of us left are ready to pay homage to one of Metal’s most innovative and enduring acts.

With no new record to promote, other than the live Symphonique album, the band use this opportunity to take Manchester on a whistle-stop tour of their vast discography. Experiment and Tribal Convictions, both from 1988’s classic Dimension Hatröss album start the set, bookending the more contemporary – though no less essential – Obsolete Beginnings from The Wake. The organisation of the tracks show that Voivod have never really stood still, and their progressive, spacey extremity was as vibrant and vital in 2018 as it was in 1988.

After the hypnotism of Tribal Convictions, it’s back to the Eighties and the Rrröööaaarrr record for the balls-out thrashing of Korgüll the Exterminator, as Chewie blasts those old riffs like they were his very own. Nothingface’s The Unknown Knows has a grooving pattern and Snake scats over the mid-section as only he can; he admits to needing to stretch his vocal cords out a little for the only detour into the Eric ‘E-Force’ Forrest era material, Nanoman, and to his credit, Snake does a credible job outside of his usual comfort zone.

A war-torn Tornado follows; Snake and bassist, Rocky, drape covers over their heads in tribute to Midnight, before smashing into the debut album’s title track, War and Pain. This is what a sweetly purring machine looks and sounds like, with every facet operating at prime levels. Chewie’s fretboard is almost down to the wood in most places and behind the kit, constant and founding member, Away, might look like a university professor, but he’s the scourge of any drums he sits behind.

Graphics on the rear screen spool through a series of album art inspired images which, when studied, are deeply disturbing. Deep cut, Condemned to the Gallows, the first song the band ever recorded and included on 1984 To the Death… demo, has started to get played more of recent years, after spending four decades in storage. Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine sums up Voivod to perfection with it’s spacey, progressive vibes, it’s as much their song now as it is Floyd’s. Leaving only the band’s eponymous song, Voivod, to bring an end to the set and the evening.

Were Voivod in any danger of not competing with Midnight? Possibly not, but when two awesome band like this lock-horns, the only winner are the folks with the tickets in their hands. We’re only halfway through June and there’s already been so many great gigs this year that December’s End of Year poll is shaping up to be a joyous headache.

Photo credits: Rich Price Photography