Voivod are a band that have undoubtedly had a massive impact on the metal world at large. Their strange and mechanical sounding brew of thrash and progressive music on albums like Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross having pioneered an entire genre of technical thrash metal as well as influencing many metal bands of all subgenres to come. While they would go on after those albums to switch up their style a lot, going into alt (Outer Limits) and even pop (Angel Rat) territory as well as exploring industrial music, their beginnings were much more humble
They were founded in 1981 when guitarist Piggy (Denis D'Amour) was searching for musicians to start a band with, coming together with Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault) on bass duty and highschool friend Away (Michel Langevin) on drums. These two funnily enough didn't know how to play their respective instruments at first, something that would surely add to the sloppy charm of their first two records. They split up to develop their skills and reformed again in 1982 with vocalist Snake (Denis Bélanger). After a few live shows and demos they were picked up by Metal Blade Records and set out to record their debut album in 1984 - War and Pain.
The apocalyptic landscape that the album is set in is a product of Away's love for science fiction, conspiracy theories and the Cold War, as well as Snake's love for raw energy and the maniacal nature found in punk music. They created this fascinating world together called Morgoth (inspired by LotR) where a nuclear war caused by man devastates the planet and wakes up the planet's Voivod, described as both brutal and nihilistic warriors and guardians of balance in the universe. This Voivod is infuriated by the stupidity of Morgoth's inhabitants and is hell-bent on punishing them in the wickedest of ways using nuclear weaponry of his own to wreak havoc across the planet.
And the music portrays that perfectly! The style on this album is largely a tribute to Venom and Motorhead. Punk-infused thrashing speed metal undoubtedly also influenced by the likes of Metallica, Slayer, fellow Canadians Exciter and so on. It starts off with sounds of chains and heavy breathing until Snake kicks things off yelling at the top of his lungs: "VOIVOD!!!" and the band erupts into a furious speed-thrash onslaught. Snake's vocals have changed a ton throughout their career, being far cleaner on later albums, however on their early records his vocal performance is far more energetic and raw, sounding like a ferocious dog set loose, and more akin to that of say Razor's Sheepdog. His vocals are totally unhinged and give an appropriate voice to the homicidal maniac they're portraying. A+ job on that front, it's probably one of if not my favorite vocal performance across speed and thrash metal.
And as the vocals are unrelenting in their uncaring violence, so is the music. Piggy's guitar leads resemble that of roaring war engines and nuclear weapons decimating the vicinity. Usually bands would still have a riff playing beneath the leads serving as a base, this album doesn't have that. You're either getting very loose riffs or unhinged solos, never both at once. Instead, Blacky's thick blower bass rumble more than makes up for the lack of a rhythm guitarist. His bass work serves as a great foundation for for the rest of the band to unleash their fury in a way that I can only describe as radioactive. It's an omnipresent rumble of battle, be it the foreboding march of war on a track like "Nuclear War" or the kickass pounding intro on "Warriors of Ice". Alongside Blacky in the rhythm section are Away's thundering and d-beat-loving drums relentlessly pounding. He's actually fairly creative with them and they add a ton to the overall sound of the album, be it intensity and energy to the raw maniac assaults or in the moody atmospheric segments.
Songwriting-wise this is very much akin to early extreme punk-influenced metal and especially early teutonic thrash legends Sodom in terms of sophistication. For the most part, you'll be hearing the intense thunder of a war band decimating the lands, it's very loose, raw and sloppy. This first half of the album is immensely catchy and fun, especially on a track like "Suck Your Bone" that probably has the catchiest (and probably dumbest) chorus in their whole career. However, they do mix it up on the latter half of the album with more atmospheric segments and mid-tempo riffing. And this is what Voivod have always excelled at - atmosphere. You can't help but imagine a devastated town laying in ruins as our brutal anti-hero casts a wicked smile on the bodies beneath his feet. The final track, "Nuclear War" is probably the most interesting track on here as well as being the longest. It starts with a dark brooding intro before going into a mid-tempo marching/galloping riff that holds up for most of the song slowly ramping up to the grand finale of what sounds like an atomic bomb falling before erupting again into the fast primitive assault of the first half of the album.
This album is a thrash metal gem. Even if it isn't as creative and influential as their later releases it is still an essential part of their discography and a must-listen for every maniaxxxe thrasher out there. Not only is it important to the development of the band's sound but it also served me as a gateway into music with filthier and rawer production that I simply couldn't listen to prior. I've been listening to it a ton recently and it has grown to be one of my favorites and thus felt the need to write about it. Go put it on and have some fun.