Description
High Roller Records, reissue 2024, slipcase, extensive booklet, 2 bonus tracks
Mastered by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY
Territory restictions! EUROPEANS ONLY!
Snake – vocals
Piggy (R.I.P. 2005) – guitars
Blacky – bass
Away – drums
01 Killing Technology
02 Overreaction
03 Tornado
04 Too Scared to Scream
05 Forgotten in Space
06 Ravenous Medicine
07 Order of the Blackguards
08 This Is Not an Exercise
09 Cockroaches
Formed in Jonquière, Quebec, in 1982 by vocalist Denis “Snake” Belanger, guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour, bassist Jean-Yves “Blacky” Thériault and drummer Michael ”Away” Langevin, Voivod recorded a series of demos before catching the eye of Brian Slagel and signing a deal with Metal Blade Records. The result was the band’s furious debut album »War And Pain«, which was released in August 1984. At the time, all four members were sharing an apartment in Montreal, existing on 150 dollars welfare a week. With school already behind them, they were free to rehearse nearly every day, leading to the creation of their sophomore album »Rrröööaaarrr«. While the album was recorded, almost all their equipment was stolen from the rehearsal room. In order to raise funds, the band along with their manager Maurice Richard organized the legendary “World War III” festival. And this is were they met Karl-Ulrich Walterbach, who convinced Voivod to sign for his label Noise Records. Following 1986’s »Rrröööaaarrr«, Voivod’s second album for Noise was called »Killing Technology« and is widely considered to be the band’s biggest creative and sonic leap. It was recorded in West-Berlin under the watchful eyes of Harris Johns, hitting the market in 1987. Less frantic compositions such as “Tornado”, “Ravenous Medicine” or “Killing Technology” quickly distinguished the Canadians from their thrash contemporaries. “For »Rrröööaaarrr«, we produced it ourselves with our sound engineer in a run-down school with no money,” explains Michael Langevin in the book »Damn The Machine. The Story Of Noise Records« by American author David E. Gehlke. “All of a sudden, we had professional surroundings, a real studio with a real producer and a label to back up the finance. It was step by step. We might have slowed down a little for »Killing Technology«. We were able to play the parts, and it has a lot of variety. It’s my favourite-sounding album, and the perfect mix of thrash, prog, and hardcore, to my ears. It’s definitely a pivotal album.”
MATTHIAS MADER
