DIMENSION HATROSS

I'm a big fan of bands like Voivod that have a traceable trajectory of musical development from album to album. Dimension Hatross is the pivotal album in the Voivod catalog that marks the transition essentially from tech thrash into prog metal territory. The speed and intensity of killing technology has morphed into machine like technicality, increased melodic focus and catchier more intelligent song writing.

And wow! What song writing! So rarely does a riff or part of a song come along that is so good that it makes me wonder how the band wrote it and how I can write something like it. After about the 4th listen i realized that pretty much every song on this album has a moment like this, the solo in 'chaosmongers', the 'chorus' in 'macrosolutions to mega problems', the brooding minor harmonised guitar build up in 'pyschic vacuum' - it's all realised potential and artistic vision (except maybe the pretty awful batman themesong cover at the end haha).

The one thing I love above all else about this band is that they're just so unique and identifiable. However this is also one of the things that makes them a bit difficult to listen to, you don't really get many reference points for comparison to aid in digestion. It took me quite a few listens to get this album and I'm already a big fan of killing technology and nothingface so a decent investment of time is needed to fully appreciate - but it's well worth it if you know what you're getting into.