1984 was not only the year that I got into metal 
) ), but also the year that the debut album of one of the most original metal bands around saw the light of day:
Voivod´s "War And Pain".
Actually, I didn´t become a Voivod-fan before the end of 1988 when I decided to give "Dimension Hatröss" a try and liked it immediately. When I recently noticed that Voivod´s debut got re-released in a 3 CD-box, I thought that this might be a good occasion to finally complete my collection of their studio-albums. I mean, 3 CDs for the price you usually have to pay for one (16.99 to be precise) doesn´t sound like a bad deal!
Now this is what you get:
Disc 1 contains a remastered version of their debut "War And Pain". As I´ve never heard the original recording I can´t say in how far the sound has been improved. As for the songs themselves, I think that "Killing Technology" is still the best album of their thrash metal-period, but I really do like songs like "War And Pain", "Live For Violence", "Black City" or "Nuclear War". And Voivod definitely had already created a very original style way back then which sounds very different from any other thrash metal band I could think of. Another aspect of this album which I think is worth to be mentioned is the fact that you can hear the bass-playing quite well!
In addition to the remastered version of "War And Pain", disc 1 contains Voivod´s demos "Anachronism" (3 songs from their very first live show in June 1983) and "To The Death" (3 songs from the "Metal Massacre 5" sessions in January 1984). Well, the word "sound-quality" isn´t the first, neither the second, nor the third, but rather the last thing to enter your mind when listening to these demos, but, hey, the year was 1983/84, so what could you expect? I guess this is as underground as you can get!
On disc 2 you get "Morgoth Invasion", a live demo from december 1984 featuring a complete show with 16 songs including some from their second album "Rrröööaaarrr" and two cover versions, Venom´s "Witching Hour" and Slayer´s "Chemical Warfare". As regards the latter, I´m not really sure if it´s just me (because of the bad sound) or if there really are some slight timing-problems. However, in spite of the rather poor sound-quality, this live recording still has a certain charm, also due to Snake´s partly French, partly English announcements between the songs.
Finally, disc 3 - a CD-ROM - contains a biography from 1985, some comments from all four original band-members (also printed in the CD-booklet of the bonus disc), the lyrics of "War And Pain" (also printed in the CD-booklet), all songs from discs 1 and 2 (in mp3-format? - haven´t checked it yet), a live-videoclip, some pictures of the band and the single members, some drawings by Away, wallpapers and screensavers.
At least those who like Voivod´s thrash metal songs and haven´t already got their debut (don´t know if there are any around here) should seriously consider getting this 3 CD box. Those who already have got the debut album have to decide whether the bonus-stuff they get with this 3 CD box is worth buying the album a second time or not.
) ), but also the year that the debut album of one of the most original metal bands around saw the light of day: Voivod´s "War And Pain".
Actually, I didn´t become a Voivod-fan before the end of 1988 when I decided to give "Dimension Hatröss" a try and liked it immediately. When I recently noticed that Voivod´s debut got re-released in a 3 CD-box, I thought that this might be a good occasion to finally complete my collection of their studio-albums. I mean, 3 CDs for the price you usually have to pay for one (16.99 to be precise) doesn´t sound like a bad deal!
Now this is what you get:
Disc 1 contains a remastered version of their debut "War And Pain". As I´ve never heard the original recording I can´t say in how far the sound has been improved. As for the songs themselves, I think that "Killing Technology" is still the best album of their thrash metal-period, but I really do like songs like "War And Pain", "Live For Violence", "Black City" or "Nuclear War". And Voivod definitely had already created a very original style way back then which sounds very different from any other thrash metal band I could think of. Another aspect of this album which I think is worth to be mentioned is the fact that you can hear the bass-playing quite well!
In addition to the remastered version of "War And Pain", disc 1 contains Voivod´s demos "Anachronism" (3 songs from their very first live show in June 1983) and "To The Death" (3 songs from the "Metal Massacre 5" sessions in January 1984). Well, the word "sound-quality" isn´t the first, neither the second, nor the third, but rather the last thing to enter your mind when listening to these demos, but, hey, the year was 1983/84, so what could you expect? I guess this is as underground as you can get!
On disc 2 you get "Morgoth Invasion", a live demo from december 1984 featuring a complete show with 16 songs including some from their second album "Rrröööaaarrr" and two cover versions, Venom´s "Witching Hour" and Slayer´s "Chemical Warfare". As regards the latter, I´m not really sure if it´s just me (because of the bad sound) or if there really are some slight timing-problems. However, in spite of the rather poor sound-quality, this live recording still has a certain charm
, also due to Snake´s partly French, partly English announcements between the songs.Finally, disc 3 - a CD-ROM - contains a biography from 1985, some comments from all four original band-members (also printed in the CD-booklet of the bonus disc), the lyrics of "War And Pain" (also printed in the CD-booklet), all songs from discs 1 and 2 (in mp3-format? - haven´t checked it yet), a live-videoclip, some pictures of the band and the single members, some drawings by Away, wallpapers and screensavers.
At least those who like Voivod´s thrash metal songs and haven´t already got their debut (don´t know if there are any around here) should seriously consider getting this 3 CD box. Those who already have got the debut album have to decide whether the bonus-stuff they get with this 3 CD box is worth buying the album a second time or not.
