WAR AND PAIN

Sometimes when you need a slap in the face you listen to Metallica's Kill'em All or Slayer's Show No Mercy, but when you need a strong kick in your ass you should listen to this one. It's no use to say how original band is Voivod but back in 1984 they didn't differ much from thrash pioneers of those times. With one exeption. They just played that kind of music very raw and wild. It's kind of hard core punk energy in that. At the time band was influenced mostly by Venom and Motorhead. You can hear it especially in crazy bluesy riffs (played 10 times faster than pioneers did) and wild yelling vocals. Angus Young once said that no music has such power as rock and roll and he knew what he was saying. Listen to Suck Your Bone and that solo. Motorhead? Sure why not. It's raw power everyone enjoys that and it's not lighter than Slayer's Black Magic in fact it's heavier. That bass part at the end of Warriors On Ice sounds like taken from Zepp's Dazed And Confused. It's neraly the same thing. The song itself is one of my favorite ass kickers ever. Lots of Black Sabbath sounds appear in the title song. There are couple of riffs that sound like taken from the first Sabbath album and the song entitled: Black Sabbath. Blower bass power ... yeah this is Motorhead-like song. Very fast and grinding. Live For Violence is one of my favorite on this release. It sound a bit like Exciter on Heavy Metal Maniac but of course more powerful. It's really hard to find weak point of this album. Although it's not my favorite Voivod release it still remains among my favorites maybe because it's the first Voivod album I've heard and maybe because it's the most powerful Voivod release with so much rock and roll (next album is probably even more aggressive but lack of rock and roll vibe). To sum it all. If you want kickass album in oldschool style pick this one. It's worth of listening and thrashing to that.