Voivod
War and Pain
[Metal Blade]
Voivod are mostly known these days (it seems) for their unique style
of avant garde metal which has influenced and inspired many a band.
And I can't deny it, they were fairly innovative...the problem is,
innovative doesn't always mean interesting. While they may have reaped
critical acclaim and accolades with their mid-to-later day records, I
personally found them to be quite boring (but yes, innovative...*yawn*).
Now, lets travel back in time to 1984 - the year "War and Pain" was released. Voivod had already gained attention in the underground through various demo and live tape releases (along with a staunch work ethic when it came to answering fanzine interviews - they often went above and beyond the call of duty, including lots of exclusive artwork from drummer Away), and the rest of the world was starting to take notice as well because of the track "Condemned to the Gallows" which appeared on Metal Massacre V (one of the only two good tracks on that LP, the other being Hellhammer's "Crucifixion"). Voivod had inked some kind of record deal with Metal Blade (who ripped them off to the nines it turns out, or so was the story floating around years afterwards), and *BOOM*, "War and Pain" was released. And this was one monster of an album...
Reaction to the album was very vehement - those who had been following Voivod's path instantly took to it, as it veered very little from the thrashy material on the demos...but the rest of the world wasn't sure what to make of this. Ultimate metal posers, "Kerrang" magazine gave this a totally carving review - they decided to have a "three bad albums head-to-head" to determine who was the worst - the three ? Slayer's "Show No Mercy" (deemed shit, but they also said Slayer might be good if they learned how to write a song and slowed things down), Bathory's self titled debut (declared "total rubbish"), and Voivod's "War and Pain" (the reaction to this album was SO intense, they even printed "Come back Bathory - all is forgiven" and "Bathory *play* crap, Voivod *are* crap). Quite funny, considering a mere few years later, all three LPs would appear in a "Top 20 most essential thrash albums of all time" article put out by Kerrang in one of it's "Megametal" issues - further evidence that all magazine above the underground level are a complete waste of time and run by morons who simply jump on whatever bandwagon is passing their way - fuck glossy magazine - support your local xerox fanzines!!!
Now, getting back on track, lets talk about the album. The production was basic, yet thick without being too bottom heavy...the guitars roared with vicious metallic squeals (yes, I know, that sounds cheesy, but you have to hear the album to understand), the drums were thundering, and the vocals...well, they were *different* to say the least. Snake's "singing" was probably the biggest hurdle between them and general acceptance...while his voice had all the graininess that was mandatory at the time, it was the occasional shining through of his French-Canadian accent that would undermine his often powerful delivery of the lyrics...needless to say, French in any form just isn't a very powerful language. The music itself was also quite different from your run of the mill American thrash at the time - the closest comparison that I can make offhand would be death/thrash metal version of Discharge, but with an extra *something*. It was gritty, thrashy, heavy, but it also had a lot of interesting guitar passages where chords would just suddenly jump out of the song in ways you would never expect them to (this was later on to become part of what defined the "avant garde" styling of Voivod).
This album is brilliant - it is a much overlooked classic from the pioneering days of the entire thrash/black/death metal scene, and just like a lot of material from that time, it seems to weave in and out of all three of those genres at once...too chaotic to be thrash, too thrashy to be death, and not satanic enough to be black, but somehow managing to be all at the same time. The next Voivod album would see them furthering this approach and producing one HEAVY motherfucking album, but for my money, this is the album to get - it still had that vital energy that only debuts often have, where the band doesn't quite have it's style down to a "T" yet, but exudes so much energy in the process of getting there, it more than makes up for it. Essential...
© 1999 chorazaim
Now, lets travel back in time to 1984 - the year "War and Pain" was released. Voivod had already gained attention in the underground through various demo and live tape releases (along with a staunch work ethic when it came to answering fanzine interviews - they often went above and beyond the call of duty, including lots of exclusive artwork from drummer Away), and the rest of the world was starting to take notice as well because of the track "Condemned to the Gallows" which appeared on Metal Massacre V (one of the only two good tracks on that LP, the other being Hellhammer's "Crucifixion"). Voivod had inked some kind of record deal with Metal Blade (who ripped them off to the nines it turns out, or so was the story floating around years afterwards), and *BOOM*, "War and Pain" was released. And this was one monster of an album...
Reaction to the album was very vehement - those who had been following Voivod's path instantly took to it, as it veered very little from the thrashy material on the demos...but the rest of the world wasn't sure what to make of this. Ultimate metal posers, "Kerrang" magazine gave this a totally carving review - they decided to have a "three bad albums head-to-head" to determine who was the worst - the three ? Slayer's "Show No Mercy" (deemed shit, but they also said Slayer might be good if they learned how to write a song and slowed things down), Bathory's self titled debut (declared "total rubbish"), and Voivod's "War and Pain" (the reaction to this album was SO intense, they even printed "Come back Bathory - all is forgiven" and "Bathory *play* crap, Voivod *are* crap). Quite funny, considering a mere few years later, all three LPs would appear in a "Top 20 most essential thrash albums of all time" article put out by Kerrang in one of it's "Megametal" issues - further evidence that all magazine above the underground level are a complete waste of time and run by morons who simply jump on whatever bandwagon is passing their way - fuck glossy magazine - support your local xerox fanzines!!!
Now, getting back on track, lets talk about the album. The production was basic, yet thick without being too bottom heavy...the guitars roared with vicious metallic squeals (yes, I know, that sounds cheesy, but you have to hear the album to understand), the drums were thundering, and the vocals...well, they were *different* to say the least. Snake's "singing" was probably the biggest hurdle between them and general acceptance...while his voice had all the graininess that was mandatory at the time, it was the occasional shining through of his French-Canadian accent that would undermine his often powerful delivery of the lyrics...needless to say, French in any form just isn't a very powerful language. The music itself was also quite different from your run of the mill American thrash at the time - the closest comparison that I can make offhand would be death/thrash metal version of Discharge, but with an extra *something*. It was gritty, thrashy, heavy, but it also had a lot of interesting guitar passages where chords would just suddenly jump out of the song in ways you would never expect them to (this was later on to become part of what defined the "avant garde" styling of Voivod).
This album is brilliant - it is a much overlooked classic from the pioneering days of the entire thrash/black/death metal scene, and just like a lot of material from that time, it seems to weave in and out of all three of those genres at once...too chaotic to be thrash, too thrashy to be death, and not satanic enough to be black, but somehow managing to be all at the same time. The next Voivod album would see them furthering this approach and producing one HEAVY motherfucking album, but for my money, this is the album to get - it still had that vital energy that only debuts often have, where the band doesn't quite have it's style down to a "T" yet, but exudes so much energy in the process of getting there, it more than makes up for it. Essential...
© 1999 chorazaim