Voivod War and Pain was is the debut release from Canadian band Voivod from 1984. I have to say I’ve never given these guys a lot of time but they’re pretty bloody cool I have to say.
The album opens up with the song “Voivod” which reminds me of Venom a little in style but without the occult or satanic stuff. Meaning if you had religious parents you could play this stuff around them without them having a coronary attack.
The first song grabbed me in almost instantly and from the outset this is great quality metal. This being their first album the sound is still raw and the band are full of spit on this. Great stuff. The second song “Warriors of Ice” is great as well and its now that I realise how good this band is.
The band have a great punky edge to it, both in guitar riffs and some of the drumbeats that are used. The vocals that kind of cross over into punkier territory as well, but still sounding great to metal ears. I wonder if any of the punk scene in the day would have tuned into this?
As the album goes on with “Suck the Bone” and “Iron Gang” the band show off a variety of chops including bluesier stuff making this (especially considering it’s a thrash album) on of the most varied albums I’ve ever heard whilst still managing to keep a central or core feeling. No mean feat!
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